Allison Hawkins is a first-year Master of Public Administration (MPA) student at the School of Government. She was interviewed by MPA student Audrey Shore for Impact, the program's alumni newsletter. Her father, Translyvania County Commissioner Mike Hawkins, was interviewed separately.

Allison Hawkins: It started at the dinner table

Faculty member Kimberly Nelson has been appointed to the editorial board for Public Administration Review, a journal dedicated to the theory and practice in public administration.

This article was first published in Public Management (PM) Magazine through the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in Washington, DC. Click here for the original.

What if we could tackle childhood hunger, develop local businesses, and create community jobs in the summer at the same time? There are millions of dollars in local food system sales being left on table and millions of children who could be served by an established program, if we can only figure out a local meal distribution system that works.

Mike Ruffin and his wife Robbie had finally taken the trip they had been planning for years: a whirlwind tour of European cities—London, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Florence, Innsbruck, Munich, Heidelberg, Boppard, Lucerne, and a final two nights in Paris. On their last night, Friday, November 13, they dined at a neighborhood restaurant and went back to their hotel, but not before a short walk to the Eiffel Tower and a cruise down the Seine River.