2026 TSPPPA Newsletter

Message from the Director
Spotlights
Faculty Kudos 
Alumni Class Notes

Message from the Director

Warm wishes to our alumni who are making the world a better place – your continued involvement makes the Trachtenberg School community stronger every year. Thank you for helping students and alumni navigate their careers.

This fall marks our inaugural Trachtenberg Day designed by Advisory Council leaders to celebrate 20 years of Career Services. On Se‌ptember 9, we invite alumni to come together during our hybrid Trachtenberg Day Homecoming to reconnect and mark the milestone.

It will feature special guests GW President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, founding Trachtenberg Career Director Paul Binkley and current Trachtenberg Career Director Denise Fowler.

Our alumni helped launch our Executive Innovation Series, offering free leadership webinars for alumni and public service professionals. Summer sessions were well-received, with two more upcoming on October 8 and December 3.

Thank you to the alumni who once served in leadership roles in our student organizations – they're still thriving! This fall we welcome back leaders from those organizations including:

• Policy Perspectives, the oldest student-run journal in the country, now in its 34th year
• The Trachtenberg Student Organization Board
• The Women's Leadership Fellows Program
• The reestablished International City/Council Management Association Student Chapter.

Our strong student organizations are essential to keeping our Trachtenberg community inclusive and resilient as are our alumni.

Kathy Newcomer
Trachtenberg School Director    

Spotlights 

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Celebrating 20 Years of Trachtenberg's Career Services

This September, the Trachtenberg School celebrates 20 years of our Career Services. Thanks to the dedication of Denise Fowler and career coach Melissa Feuer, Trachtenberg has held an average career outcome rate of 94% for five consecutive years – with alumni making an impact in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

It's a legacy the Trachtenberg School celebrates through its Alumni Impact Honorees, spotlighting graduates who turn public service, leadership, and innovation into real-world action to embody the powerful ways alumni make their mark.

That same spirit inspired our Advisory Council to design Trachtenberg Day – our new annual day of giving, launching Se‌ptember 9.
 

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Advisory Council's Innovation Committee Helps Launch Executive Innovation Series

This summer, the Trachtenberg School launched the Executive Innovation Series, an initiative developed by the Advisory Council's Innovation Committee. Partnering with the GW Regulatory Studies Center (RSC), the series spotlights issues such as data governance, energy, program evaluation, and professional development.

The series kicked off with Emerging Trends in Regulation (and Deregulation), featuring GW RSC Director William Yeatman and GW RSC Founder Susan Dudley alongside Director Newcomer.

During the webinar, Public Sector Leadership in the Age of AI, Director Newcomer was joined by Cynthia Pierre, retired Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Frank DiGiammarino, CEO of NOW Matters, LLC; and Garrett Kephart, CEO of Earth Finance, Inc. to explore how public sector leaders can responsibly embrace AI.

You can register now for the next webinar Executive Innovation Series: Place-Based Change: Lessons from the Past, Strategies for the Future, slated for Th‌ursday, October 8, and save the date for another webinar on Thursday, December 3.
 

Faculty Kudos

Domonic Bearfield was awarded the Jonathan West Outstanding Scholar Award at the ASPA Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations.

Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff was selected to receive the Journal of Social Equity in Public Administration 2024 Best Article Award for Black Leaders in American Foreign Policy: History and Prospects for Overcoming a Racialized Bureaucracy at the 2026 Social Equity Leadership Conference.

Susan Dudley was inducted as a Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis 2026 Fellow.

Rachel Emas was selected to receive the Journal of Social Equity in Public Administration 2025 Best Article Award for Threats to Democracy: A Danger to Social Justice for All at the 2026 Social Equity Leadership Conference.

Sanjay Pandey, Michael Worth, and Holly Wahl, PhD '26, released a new book, Public School Education Foundations: Advancing Opportunity, Excellence and Innovation.

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