Rafael Baptista

When most people picture economic development, they think of smooth-talking men convincing companies to bring their jobs and investment to a community in exchange for infrastructure improvements and tax breaks....

Jerry Seinfeld once said, “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to...

The International Association of City/County Management (ICMA) recently published an article detailing how only 13 percent of local government managers are female. When I read the article, my initial reaction...

Over the last decade I have performed public debates and speeches in four countries and three continents in a variety of venues ranging from two-person rooms to theaters with hundreds...

When I started the University of North Carolina MPA program in August 2013, I knew that I had a passion for public service and that I was attracted to government work. But I wasn’t...

Despite serving on the Advisory Board of an organization dedicated to local government professionals, I came into my MPA program at UNC-Chapel Hill interested in federal government. But over the...

“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” President John F. Kennedy With those words and the creation of programs such...