Experiential Education PREPARATION FOR PUBLIC SERVICE
Experiencing government in action
With a workforce of nearly 500 employees dedicated to serving more than 60,000 residents, Brandon Ford ’16 MPA says he often feels like he’s conducting an orchestra.
“Each section plays its own unique role in making sure there is a unified melody,” says Ford, who is the assistant township manager in Lower Merion Township, Pa. It’s a big job, and while Ford is committed to creating a harmonious community, he is equally devoted to mentoring the next generation of public administrators, ensuring that they, too, can orchestrate success in the complex and ever-evolving public sector.
About 40 undergraduate and graduate students from Villanova University's Public Administration program, all eager to deepen their understanding of local government management, stepped outside the classroom for an immersive opportunity to see public service at work when Ford hosted them at Lower Merion’s administrative headquarters on Lancaster Avenue, just three miles from Villanova’s campus. The trip aimed to connect theory to practice, highlighting multifaced and nuanced civic engagement.
The students toured the township’s police station, building and planning departments, finance operations and various other municipal offices, with each stop providing a window into how the areas collaborate to manage and serve the community.
“The idea is to take our students out into the field to see government in action,” says Theodore Arapis, PhD, associate professor and chair of Public Administration. “Unfortunately, many consider government a monotonous place to work, but experiences like this show our students how complex and diverse the work really is. Not every day is going to be the same.”
The experience was organized by the Villanova student chapter of the International City and County Management Association (ICMA), which is advised by Vaswati Chatterjee, PhD, associate professor of Public Administration, and generously supported by the Wolek Family. Ford was involved in the chapter as a Villanova student in the Master of Public Administration program, serving as its president, and he currently serves on the national ICMA executive board. He says there is a need to mentor a new generation of municipal leaders because many people in the industry are late in their careers.
“We don’t have a large enough pipeline to fill vacancies, so I’ve always stressed the importance of preparing the next generation,” says Ford, who was once counted among those future leaders. He was a social studies teacher when Ford decided to switch careers and pursue his MPA at Villanova.
“When I was a student at Villanova, I had the opportunity to work with mentors who taught me about city management. It gave me my shot,” he says. “I got to meet a lot of the folks whom I now call my colleagues.”
Ford is relishing paying it forward. Two Villanova students who participated in the visit have just started jobs in the public sector. Allie Garrett ’25 MPA is a special projects coordinator for Media Borough and Mia Badman ’25 CLAS, ’26 MPA is an executive administrative assistant in Haverford Township, reporting to the township manager. Both have served as president of Villanova’s ICMA chapter and connected with Ford to make the Lower Merion visit happen.
“Dr. Chatterjee encouraged us to take advantage of our strong alumni network and that’s how we met Brandon,” Garrett says. “We thought it would be great to show students what it’s like to work in a municipality, rather than host him on campus.”
The experience reinforced her career path.
“The Lower Merion employees were all so open to connecting with us and providing us with opportunities,” she says. “People in local government, by their very nature, want to help other people succeed. They want to have as large an impact on their community as they can and that includes mentoring the next generation.”
Badman is one of the first Villanova students enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ combined Bachelor-Master of Public Administration program, designed for undergraduate students interested in a public service career. She double-majored in Public Administration and Political Science as an undergraduate and was admitted to the combined program during her junior year. She began taking graduate classes during her final three undergraduate semesters.
“My undergraduate Villanova experience really set the foundation for me, so when I started taking graduate classes, it took everything to the next level, and I could see how it all translated to municipal management,” Badman says. “Many of my graduate instructors have municipal management experience, so they treat you not as students but as future colleagues.”
Badman and Garrett say they’re already applying the lessons they have learned to their full-time jobs, something Ford does regularly.
“I constantly draw upon my MPA experience at Villanova,” he says. “I was in their shoes not long ago, and it was because of Villanova that I’m here now. I think that’s a powerful message when you’re preparing these future leaders.”
Badman adds, “Someone told me that in any municipality, you’re always a stone’s throw away from another Villanovan. It really shows the value of the education you receive here. One of Villanova’s guiding principles—to have a sense of responsibility to your community—drives a lot of what I want to achieve in my career.”
