MPA Fosters Student’s Leadership Abilities

Ali Degirolamo’s passion for leadership has led to many amazing opportunities in her life. Her natural affinity for leadership paired well with the Department of Public Policy’s (DPP) Master of Public Administration (MPA) and allowed her to grow with the program. She feels that the DPP program has prepared her to achieve her goals of being employed in a position that facilitates leading and advocating for positive change in society. Degirolamo graduated in 2020 from her undergrad with a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies, and a minor in Gerontology (the study of aging, and the societal implications in and thereof), and will graduate this May with her Master in Public Administration.

Ali Degirolamo Profile Picture
Ali Degirolamo, MPA Student

The DPP is a great partner for people like Degirolamo whose aspirations and experiences pull them towards public service. Degirolamo went to UConn Waterbury for her undergrad and became very involved in the community. She was one of the first students to live in the new off-campus housing, the Brown Building, and became involved with the building owner’s public relations campaign by taking on the role of Event Coordinator and being part of the Marketing Team. Simultaneously, she became a member of UConn’s Associated Student Government (ASG), and was elected President her junior year. While President she worked closely with students and staff to organize and host events, and also focused on improving students retention and advocating for the educational programs available at UConn. 

Degirolamo began taking DPP courses in the Fast-Track program as a junior in undergrad, and was delighted that the DPP’s location in Hartford allowed her to still be very involved in the Waterbury campus and surrounding community. This was particularly beneficial when, as a senior, she was hired as the Press Intern for the Mayor of Waterbury, Neil M. O’Leary, and needed the flexibility to complete her courses and gain experience. As she started her Master’s degree in the fall and Mayor O’Leary hired her to serve full-time as a Mayoral Aide for the City of Waterbury, Degirolamo felt secure in her abilities to fulfill her roles as an Aide and a student saying, 

“I had full confidence in the UConn Professors to provide me with a solid academic foundation that would prepare me for a post graduate career, utilizing my passion for leadership in management.”

Indeed, the DPP did prepare Degirolamo to successfully take part in a myriad of projects and work closely with the Waterbury community as a Mayoral Aide. She conducts outreach that represents and advances the City’s public policies, while maintaining a leadership role in the planning, staging, and execution of City events. The pandemic required mobilization from local governments and Degirolamo worked hard since the end of March 2020 collecting daily COVID data, giving daily updates, and organizing mobile pop-up clinics aimed at bringing the COVID-19 vaccine directly to where seniors and people of color live in the City of Waterbury. Continuing to address the consequences of the pandemic, she participated in alleviating food insecurity by partnering the City of Waterbury with Bridge to Success and New Opportunities. They assembled free food boxes with fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products, for families to pick up. Additionally, Degirolamo joined in on the effort to encourage residents to fill out the Census. This task, due to the pandemic, was simultaneously challenging and critically important because the Census determines the federal funding needed for schools, programs like WIC, SNAP, Medicaid, public services, emergency planning, and many other important programs residents depend on. All of the knowledge and skills imparted from the DPP to Degirolamo were invaluable to her success of handling COVID as a public servant. 

Beyond COVID response, Degirolamo has demonstrated her leadership abilities in community building events. She planned and executed the annual Waterbury Artisans Marketplace event, where residents can purchase the finest artisanal products and handcrafted gifts in Connecticut, including jewelry, home goods, textiles, apparel, lifestyle products, gifts, wood, glass, pottery and more. Degirolamo was also proud of organizing donations from toy drives, various businesses, government agencies, and individuals, for the annual Police Activity League (PAL) Holiday Event. Approximately 2,000 toys were given out to 1,000 families with overwhelming support from the community. In another accomplishment for Waterbury, Degirolamo helped the City achieve the Sustainable CT certification by meeting high standards in a broad range of sustainability accomplishments to qualify for the prestigious Bronze-level certification. Degirolamo has an impressive capacity to lead, especially in tough times that require government officials to adapt quickly. The DPP courses and professional development events certainly equipped Ali Degirolamo with the ability to effectively channel her leadership into all of these amazing projects. We cannot wait to see where her passion and aspirations bring her.