Princeton University’s 278th Commencement will mark a special anniversary for the graduates of Princeton SPIA’s Master in Public Affairs (MPA) program. The 2023-2024 cohort of the two-year program will cross the stage as members of the 75th anniversary graduating class, harkening back to the program’s origins in 1948.

For three-quarters of a century, MPA alumni have gone on to meaningful careers in federal, state, and local governments — here in the United States and around the world — NGOs and nonprofits, the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and countless organizations large and small that change the world for the better on a daily basis.

In celebration of the hallmark anniversary, alumni from nearly every decade reminisce about their favorite memories during their MPA days.

What is your fondest memory from the MPA program?

“My classmates. I am still close to some people I cared about and thought highly of. Several professors were very influential: Dick Ullman was significant, Marion J. Levy was a remarkable character; he was thought-provoking and iconoclastic. Their support and challenges stay with me to this day.”

— Katherine Marshall MPA ’69, Operational Manager, World Bank, and former Princeton University trustee

“My fondest memory is that you could come out of a classroom intellectually really excited about a learning moment and the rigor with which a problem was unpacked, and you could just switch. You could go sit in the lobby and hang out with these amazing peers, your classmates, and just shoot the breeze. The excitement was at both ends — it was in class, and then with peers, my fellow students, who had these experiences and were fun, funny, and warm. These are lifelong friendships. The fact that you could blend tough intellectual rigor with enjoying who you were learning with — those memories have stayed with me.”

— Kanni Wignaraja MPA ’89, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Development Programme

“A fond memory I have of the program is going to Professor Cece Rouse's office hours. At the time, I was struggling with her class, and Professor Rouse took time to listen to what was going on. She gave me really fantastic advice, not just on how to approach her class, but also generally helping me understand what was and wasn’t working for me. What I really appreciated was her generosity in sharing some of her personal experiences that I could relate to. For me, it was a point that changed my experience at Princeton. I never went back to tell her how important that conversation was to me, and I wish I had. I think this experience illustrates the quality of the faculty at Princeton and the support that students have. Even if things aren't always going perfectly, you have the support that you need at the School, and they want you to succeed.”

— Laura Jaramillo MPA ’02, Advisor and Mission Chief, International Monetary Fund

“Ambassador [Dan] Kurtzer took our capstone seminar to Russia, which was unbelievable. For the school to provide the resources for that and to have the opportunity with my classmates is just amazing, and providing that type of experience is just so unique and so invaluable. To be able to go to Moscow, meet with government officials, go to St. Petersburg, meet with folks in the nonprofit and think-tank space, and then write a report was unique in any situation, but really unique to do in grad school. That was something that I speak to sometimes with people when they're considering the program, the level of access, and the dedication to learning that the program has.”

— Margaret Mullins MPA ’18, Former Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Defense

“I took Dr. Peter Singer's final graduate seminar, a retrospective on his enormous body of work, and presented to him a critique of his thinking on disability rights that I'd been developing for eight years.”

— Arthur Shemitz MPA ’23, Senior Associate, Centre for Public Impact