Glendal Wright, a 1968 graduate of Missouri State University who majored in Public Administration and now lives in Kyiv Ukraine, recently reached out to MPA Director, Dr. Patrick Scott, and offered his thoughts about his education and the influence of the Political Science faculty on his career:
As I reflect over my career I have come to increasingly realize the quality of the education that I received at Missouri State University and the excellent faculty that provided me with a great amount of knowledge in the field of Political Science and Public Administration. There are two faculty, in particular, that I have come to regard as being very important in developing my knowledge and preparing me for further study in public administration and international development career. They are Robert Peace and Denny Pilant. I have great memories of both them and the support and guidance they gave me as a very young student in the program. As I went on to study at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and to begin a career in public administration the preparation they provided greatly contributed to achieving some success in this field.
I obtained my MPA at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University in 1972 where I had the opportunity to study under some of the great names in public administration. I spent many years working in public service in Washington DC, teaching in public administration programs and consulting to federal and local governments until 1991. At that time I went to Central and Eastern Europe and began work in supporting the transition to democratic governments in that region. This has continued over the past 25 years, but I have in recent years been more involved in this work in many countries in Africa and Asia that are also undergoing economic and democratic transitions. I have worked for most of the major international donor organizations, including UNDP, WB, ADB, USAID, and other bilateral donors.