Dimple Patel worked on the BC government’s emergency preparedness for her first MPA co-op.

The holder of a business degree from Ontario’s Wilfrid Laurier University, Dimple Patel completed her first co-op with the Emergency Management Unit of the B.C. Ministry of Health Services, which has responsibility for preparing emergency plans for the province.

“Co-op is more about gaining experience and knowing how the government system works,” Patel says, adding that her School of Public Administration courses have been invaluable.

Former math professor Dean Slonowsky had his first MPA co-op placement at Our Place, in downtown Victoria.

Our Place, the non-profit society on Pandora Avenue in downtown Victoria, works tirelessly to help the homeless and others in need. It might seem like the last place you’d expect to find a highly qualified academic.

However, among those working there for a four-month co-op stint was Dean Slonowsky, a former Manitoba math professor who decided to enroll in UVic’s MPA program as a way of launching his second career in public administration.

Dean Slonowsky, armed with a PhD from the University of Ottawa, once toiled as a tenure-track math professor. But in the spring of 2009, his first UVic MPA co-op took him to Our Place, led by the Rev. Al Tysick.

During his co-op, Slonowsky – who has long held an interest on non-profit societies like Our Place – worked on strategic plans, policy analysis and performance indicators, learning more in those areas while fulfilling part of the requirements for the on-campus version of the UVic MPA degree.

Says Slonowsky: “I am very happy with the MPA program, for sure”.

MPA student Kyla Bottriell did her second and third MPA co-op placements at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa – then stayed on in a permanent position.

For Kyla Bottriell, who began her UVic MPA degree in the Fall of 2007, her second and third co-ops turned out very well: After working for two co-op terms at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in Ottawa, she ended up staying on as a permanent employee.

She says the School of Public Administration program played a major role in her success to date, providing both practical and academic competencies, thanks in part to the co-op experience.

Says Bottriell: “The University of Victoria’s MPA program afforded me the practical and academic competencies required for success in today’s public sector bureaucracy – the skills and lessons I gained no doubt impacted my employability.”