Paul Nagy admits that when he arrived at East Carolina University as a transfer student in 1980, he didn’t have the best game plan.
He got a job working the graveyard shift at the A&P, causing him to fall asleep in his classes during the day. He rented a room in a house 20 miles away with shoddy electricity and desultory roommates, isolating him from the connectivity of campus. He ended up failing five courses, something he attributes partially to “transfer shock,” or the tendency of students transferring from one institution of higher education to another to experience a temporary dip in grade point average.
“Even though I had a lot of troubles, I saw the value of the institution,” Nagy said. “I never wanted to stop with a bachelor’s; I always had aspirations for a master’s degree.”
Nagy’s mother, Mary Forrest, was an archetype of a non-traditional student. She was a single mom with two kids, teaching piano and struggling to makes ends meet when she decided to change her lot in life. The answer was enrolling at the local community college in Carteret County. She transferred to ECU to complete her bachelor’s degree and then a master’s, allowing her to become a director of information technology in the Carteret school district.
“My sister and I followed suit and did the same thing. We also went to Carteret Community College – the closest and most accessible, which allowed us to afford ECU,” Nagy said. At ECU, he sorted himself out and graduated with a degree in library science in 1983. With that momentum, he rolled right into the Master of Public Administration program in the department of political science, graduating in 1984. He and his sister now both have PhDs, starting from that transfer-portal foundation.
It was ECU’s Master of Public Administration program that shaped him the most, Nagy said.
“The broad latitude of options and career choices as well as the concepts of public service and giving back were very compelling to me,” he added.
ECU’s MPA program is geared for people interested in starting or advancing a professional career in government or nonprofit management and policy. Graduates have gone on to work as town managers, public affairs officers and policy analysts for NASA, the Red Cross and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others.
“To me, the MPA program at ECU prepares confident public administrators with the toolkits they need to manage these organizations that we rely on every day. It trains problem solvers for our current challenges and gives them opportunities to improve our society,” Nagy said.
Today, Nagy is the vice president of strategic planning & analysis at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. He helps students avoid the dreaded transfer shock when transitioning to the neighboring University of South Florida.
“The approach I learned at ECU really inculcated the approach I take to the work I do today. I’m very grateful for that,” he said.
That gratitude manifested in a $25,000 donation to the Drs. Paul & Rebecca Nagy Endowment for the Master of Public Administration Program. Made on Pirate Nation Gives last year, his support will help current and future MPA students.
“MPAs already have the mindset of service. We’re all about public service, giving back. This is an extension of that mindset,” Nagy said.
In recognition of Nagy’s commitment to the MPA program and his own success in the field, the department of political science named him a recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award this year. The department created the award in 2014 as a way of recognizing graduates who have excelled in their careers and communities. The awardees are nominated by a faculty member and the recipient is selected by a vote of the full faculty. Normally, recipients are given a trophy at the department’s spring graduation ceremony. Because of the ongoing pandemic, Nagy got his in the mail. It was still an honor, he said.
“I was humbled. I was practically speechless. It motivates me even more.”
