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Robert M. La Follette
School of Public Affairs
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Telephone: 608.262.3581
Fax: 608.265.3233

Last updated:
July 29, 2008

WELCOME New 2008 LA FOLLETTE STUDENTS!

This site was created specifically for incoming 2008 La Follette School of Public Affairs students as you begin to plan for life and your studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Welcome Newsletter
from La Follette School Student Association (LSSA)

Orientation Events

August 26 to August 29: La Follette Orientation

La Follette Dinner for New Students : Tuesday, August 26

Graduate School Orientation: Wednesday, August 27

Orientation Information

• Staff Contacts
• Current student contacts: LSSA Officers
• Information about You (Response needed)
• Courses
• Registration
• August Assessment Exams and Preparation for fall courses
• Practice Assessment Exams
• Paying for Graduate School
• Prerequisite Coursework
• ID Information
• Students with Disabilities
• Housing in Madison
• Campus Map
• UW Jobs
• Handouts

• On-Campus Resources

Staff Contacts

Mary Treleven, Student Services Coordinator
mtreleven@lafollette.wisc.edu

Professor Menzie Chinn, Associate Director of La Follette School of Public Affairs
mchinn@lafollette.wisc.edu

Mary Mead Student Services Office
mmead@lafollette.wisc.edu

Mary Russell, Career Development Coordinator
mrussell@lafollette.wisc.edu

LSSA: La Follette School Student Association
Lindsay Read (MPA), President: lread@wisc.edu
Lauren Benditt (MPA), Vice President: benditt@wisc.edu
Lilly Shields( Dual JD & MPA), Treasurer: lsshields@wisc.edu
Alison Patz (MIPA), Secretary: apatz@wisc.edu
Andy McGuire (MIPA), Alumni Coordinator: armcguire@wisc.edu
Maggie Carden (MPA), Community Service and Outreach Coordinator: mcarden@wisc.edu
Jeramia Cibulka (MIPA), Fundraising Coordinator: jcibulka@wisc.edu
Gail Krumenauer (MPA) & Tom Robinson (MPA), Graduation Co-chairs: gkrumenauer@wisc.edu and tmrobinson@wisc.edu
Dan Bush (MPA), Program Liaison: dpbush@wisc.edu
Catherine Hall (MPA), Social Coordinator: cnhall@wisc.edu

Information to Share: a short biography
Please send a one short paragraph biography about yourself. It should include the information that you wish your fellow students to know about you. In the fall we will compile all of the biographies with your pictures and give to all of you and to faculty. You can email the paragraph to Mary Treleven at mtreleven@lafollette.wisc.edu . If we do not hear from you, we will construct a paragraph from the information you provided in your resume and/or statement of purpose.

An example of a student biography from two years ago:

“Kate taught English in Changsha, China, and worked as a legislative assistant in the office of Legislative Legal Services, Denver. As an undergraduate she spent a semester abroad at University College in London. She interned for the Sierra Club in Denver and for Environmental Advocates in Albany. Kate expects to work on education policy at the state and federal levels of government.”

Courses: (More information will be sent to you in JUNE)

MPA students: If you are a Master’s of Public Affairs student you will register in July for these courses:

PA 818 (3 credits)
PA 880 (3 credits)
PA 874 (3 credits)
**PA 800 (1 credit)

This is a full load for most students. If you are interested in taking an additional course you can meet with me during orientation to fill out an overload form which will possibly allow you to take an additional course- Possibly 873 or 878.

MIPA students: If you are a Master’s of International Public Affairs student you will register in July.

PA 818
PA 880
PA 850
**PA 800
Possibly 873

Course descriptions: (These course descriptions are from last fall and will be updated this summer.) Both PA 818 and PA 880 will use the same textbooks as fall 2006.

PA 818: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~gwallace/PA_818/pa_818.html
PA 880:http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/Courses/PA880/PA880-syllabus-2007-fall
PA 874: http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/Courses/PA874/PA874-fa06-syllabus.pdf
PA 850: http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/Courses/PA850/PA850syllabus.pdf
PA 799: http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/Courses/PA799/pa799-fa06-syllabus.pdf
PA 873 http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/Courses/PA873/PA873-syllabus-herd-08.pdf
PA 878 http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/Courses/PA878/PA878-syllabus-sp08.pdf

Registration
You will be able to register for your courses beginning JULY 7th. Registration is web-based and accessed through your My UW account.
http://registrar.wisc.edu/timetable/fall/pdf/enrollment_guide.pdf

A helpful guide to your Student Center: http://www.doit.wisc.edu/myuw/promo/spring.html

Assessment Exams
Each year MPA and MIPA students are given economic and statistics assessment exams during orientation which will provide planning information to faculty and their teaching assistants for three rigorous courses: PA 818, PA 880, and PA 854. They will use the test results to plan for review sessions and study groups which will help you prepare for the coursework.

We cannot advise more strongly that all students review their introductory statistics, microeconomics, and in addition, macroeconomics for MIPA students during the summer. Faculty assume that you know and can utilize this material before the first classes of PA 818 and PA 880.

For PA 880 it is advised that you subscribe to Econweb, http://www.econweb.com. The information and problems found here will help prepare you for PA 880, Microeconomic Policy Analysis.

I’ve attached study guides from last year for PA 818 and PA 880 . Past teaching assistants for PA 818 suggest that you review your introductory statistics textbook and go over the problems at the end of each chapter. You will be expected to be familiar with the formulas and concepts.

Practice Exams and Review Information

Statistics Practice Exam

Statistics Answer Key

Microeconomics Practice Exam

Microeconomics Answer Key (Part 2 only)

Macroeconomics Review

Paying for Graduate School

Graduate Assistantships
A Graduate Assistantship is the general term for campus positions on campus for graduate students. They come in the form of project assistantships (PA), teaching assistantships (TA) or research assistantships (RA). These positions generally cover tuition, provide a stipend (stipends range according to percentage time worked), and health insurance.

Graduate Assistantships: PA/RA/TA (Student Job Center), http://jobcenter.wisc.edu
Classified Positions and other jobs (Office of Human Resources), http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/employment/employ.html

Other Funding
Students looking to fund their education can look at the various UW Web sites. These web sites listed provide a variety of useful information for students to utilize in their quest for funding.

Student Loans (Office of Financial Services), http://www.finaid.wisc.edu

Funding Resources & Proposal Development (Research & Sponsored Programs), http://www.rsp.wisc.edu/preaward/index.html
Private Fellowships and Scholarships Search (FastWeb), http://www.fastweb.com
Federal Loan Forgiveness Program: http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml

Foreign Language and Area Studies Scholarship (FLAS)
Academic Year FLAS fellowships are awarded for a full academic year to graduate students engaged in: a formal overseas or domestic program of full-time language and area studies coursework or full-time dissertation research abroad. The use of the foreign language in the dissertation research must be extensive enough to be able to consider the language improvement facilitated by the research equal to the improvement that would be obtained from a full academic year’s worth of formal classroom instruction.

Summer FLAS fellowships are also available and intended to help students gain the equivalent of a year's worth of college level language study. They support students enrolled in: formal domestic programs of intensive language study at the beginning, intermediate or advanced level; formal overseas programs of intensive language study at the intermediate or advanced level (5th semester and beyond); formal overseas programs of intensive study at the beginning level of languages for which appropriate equivalent instruction is not available in the United States

The FLAS, is offered through these centers: The African Studies Program, Center for East Asian Studies, Center for European Studies, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program, Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia, Center for South Asia, Center for South East Asian Studies, and Global Studies. The application is due around February 11th each year. Specific requirements may vary depending on the language. Please consult the relevant area studies program or the following website for further details and application forms: http://www.uw-madison-ces.org/FLAS_FAQs.htm

La Follette Project Assistantships

La Follette Project Assistantships are offered directly by the (1) La Follette School, (2) negotiated between UW faculty members and candidates, or (3) negotiated with other agencies on behalf of La Follette School students. These are not listed on the UW Job Board. With just a few exceptions both types are 33% PA positions, requiring 13.3 hours of work per week. They offer tuition remission, health benefits with a shared premium charge, and a stipend which in 2007 was about $8,224.47 for the academic year, paid monthly. They are reserved primarily for second-year or continuing students but sometimes offered to first-year students depending on the student’s interest and experience.

Prerequisite Coursework
If you will be taking a course or two to fulfill your requirements before beginning the MPA or MIPA programs, you must send your final transcript to Mary Treleven, Student Services Coordinator, La Follette School of Public Affairs, 1225 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706.

Obtaining Your University Photo ID Card
To be eligible for an ID card a student must be enrolled for classes and present some form of valid photo identification. For more information, office hours and location please refer to the Photo ID website http://www.union.wisc.edu/photoid/. Therefore, unless you are enrolled for summer courses you cannot get a photo ID until August.

Students with Disabilities
McBurney Disability Resource Center, 155 W.S. Middleton Library, Madison, WI 53706-1523. www.mcburney.wisc.edu ; (608)263–2741, (608)263–6393 (tty), (608)265–2998 (fax), email: mcburney@uwmadmail.services.wisc.edu .

The Center is the campus contact for students and guests with disabilities. Students needing disability-related accommodations, including requesting relocation of a course scheduled in an inaccessible facility, should contact the Center as soon as possible. For information on campus accessibility, contact the Facilities Access Specialist at (608)263-3021 (v), (608)265–5147 (tty); email: chotchkiss@fpm.wisc.edu; For accessible parking, contact Transportation Services at (608)263–6666 or see http://www2.fpm.wisc.edu/accessibility

Housing in Madison
This website is comprehensive and is the best place to start: http://www.housing.wisc.edu/

Campus Map
Detailed information is available through the Campus Information and Visitor Center’s website at http://www.civc.wisc.edu/map.html

Handouts

View pdf Student Handbook

View pdf Student Course Plan Worksheet-MPA

View pdf Student Course Plan Worksheet-MIPA