PASA Executive Board
PASA Executive Board
President: Ty White, twhite97@uncc.edu
Tyshanae “Ty” White is currently in her second year of the MPA program at UNC Charlotte. In high school, she was chosen to be a student representative for the 2012 Democratic National Convention hosted in Charlotte, where she found her love of giving back to her community. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Appalachian State University. After college, Ty decided to serve with AmeriCorps. Her first year was in Philadelphia where she coached low-income high school students with their desires to get into college. In her second year, she served with Reading Partners Charlotte as a Volunteer Coordinator. She was tasked to build partnerships with teachers, parents, and community volunteers to provide students with the support they need to succeed.
Vice-President: Dominik Faunce pfaunce@uncc.edu
Dominik joined the MPA program as an early entry student in his fourth year as an undergraduate student here at UNC Charlotte. He’s now begun his first full year as a graduate student and as a graduate teaching assistant. He is interested in national security and emergency management and hopes to build a career working for the federal government abroad. He looks forward to a successful year for PASA as we come back from Covid.
Treasurer: Gina Merrell gmerrell@uncc.edu
Gina is in her first semester as an MPA student and excited to expand her knowledge of public administration. She has worked in local government and nonprofit organizations for 20 years, both in her home state of California and here in North Carolina. She has a great appreciation for public finance, compliance, and community engagement. In her free time, you can find her driving her 5 children around in Huntersville between soccer games and gymnastics. She is looking forward to meeting more of you and hopes she can be an asset to PASA.
Secretary: Open
Senator: Angel Rivera ariver21@uncc.edu
Angel joined the MPA program almost a year ago, so he’s halfway towards finishing the program! His focus is in Public Budgeting and Finance, and it’s quite the whoot! He also happens to be one of the Graduate Assistants for the Political Science and Public Administration Department, teaching the POLS 2220 Lab! For fun when he’s not participating in PASA and GPSG board meetings, he runs the campus Improv troupe and advise the 49er Improv Organization.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Suzanne Leland, smleland@uncc.edu
Professor Suzanne Leland is the MPA Program Director and faculty advisor to the PASA.
Professional Advisor: Mr. Curt Walton, wwalton2@uncc.edu
Mr. Walton is currently the Interim Associate Provost for Metropolitan Studies and Executive in Residence at UNCC, but is best known to MPA students as the former Charlotte City Manager from 2007 to 2013 and instructor for Public Budgeting & Finance. Mr. Walton is well-known and highly respected in our community, and we thank him for helping us connect and create opportunities with professionals and practitioners around Charlotte!
Contact Us
Master of Public Administration
9201 University City Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001
Director
Prof. Suzanne Leland
Phone: 704-687-5937
smleland@charlotte.edu
Administrative Assistant
Phone: 704-687-5974