I have been busy up until now earning the PHD in Public Administration in my native Korea, at Seoul National University. I feel very strongly that earning the DPA degree in the United States would enhance my long-term goal of making major contributions to public administration studies here in South Korea. I am also someone with broad internationalist tendencies and I think of myself as a citizen of the planet. This is why I have spent countless hours dedicated to my work with amnesty international on behalf of political prisoners, especially with respect to prison conditions in North Korea. Thus, I feel that my application to your program is strengthened by the highly international flavor of my professional spheres of interest, thus being able to make important contributions to diversity and inclusiveness in your distinguished program.
I was born and raised in Seoul in South Korea, now a modern metropolis and an increasingly international city. I earned my Master of Public Affairs at the end of 2010, from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at ____ University, after earning my Master’s in this area from Seoul National University. Now, I'm finishing my doctorate here in Korea and hope to enter a doctoral degree program in America in the same field. I have grown enormously as a human being throughout my studies in both the US and Korea. I plan to continue to develop my network of professional ties so that my struggle for improved public administration in Korea will unfold as part of a global struggle against corruption and political repression.
My application to your program is supported by my extensive professional experience. After I finished my MPA in the SPEA at XXXX University, I worked as a research analyst at the Center for Performance Evaluation and Management at the Korean Institute of Public Finance. I performed extensive research into government projects in this position and I have become keenly interested in performance management as well as the art of program evaluation. I have now reviewed all pending government projects for the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Unification, and Ministry of Strategy and Finance. This has been a wonderful chance to meet diverse public officials and to discuss numerous government projects.
I am also incredibly pleased to have participated, along with other research analysts, in the writing of a book, the Manual of Developing Performance Indicators. This book is widely used by public officers in all ministries of South Korea, to help in the development of performance indicators. While writing it, we grappled with both theories of performance management as well as practical methods for the development of indicators. Through the process of authoring this book as well as reviewing government projects, I have come to realize how much more fully I still need to learn about performance management and program evaluation, which is why I want so much to join your distinguished academic community.
I seek a rigorous immersion in an intensive program involving both theoretical models and practical applications for ongoing efforts to improve our evaluation systems. I hope to center my studies on a comparative analysis between South Korea and U.S.A. I have recently been closely watching the way that Europe and the U.S.A have been facing serious financial deficit problems.
I take comfort in my optimism concerning the many ways that performance management and program evaluation will play vital roles in the achievement of balanced financial systems. In the redistribution of resources that will undoubtedly unfold in unpredictable ways, it seems certain that performance management and program evaluation will play key roles in efforts to streamline the future of administration.
I have broad experience in public administration on both academic and public levels. This has helped me to achieve a balanced perspective on public administration and performance management research. Since I work with public officials who apply performance management in the field, I am sensitive to the kinds of problems that can occur when theory driven methodologies are introduced into the real world.
My dedication to my endeavors paid off when I won the Award for Best Paper in Public Finance and Economic Development in the 9th Annual Association of SPEA Ph.D. Students’ Conference, Interdisciplinary Scholarship in Public and Environmental Affairs in 2009. I have numerous publications, some of which are still under review.
I plan to make a career out of consulting with respect to government projects. And I feel strongly that my professional quest would benefit by my earning the PHD Degree at your distinguished university. I particularly look forward to a rigorous enhancement of the theoretical foundations of public administration. Your program will prepare me for a lifetime of research in administration in the context of Korea.
DPA Public Administration Doctorate Personal Purpose