Michelle Piskulich named president of global accreditation body

Michelle Piskulich named president of global accreditation body
Associate Provost Michelle Piskulich is president of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration.

Oakland University’s Michelle Piskulich is the new president of theNetwork of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration(NASPAA), the global accreditor of master’s degree programs in those fields. The organization has nearly 300 member institutions, which are spread across the U.S. and in 14 countries.  

 

Piskulich, who serves as OU’s associate provost for Academic Affairs, is in the midst of a three-year term on NASPAA’s executive council and committee. She was elected vice president at NASPAA’s 2014 annual conference. The vice president moves into the presidency at the next annual conference, she explained. 

 

“This is an exciting time to be leading our organization as it transitions from a U.S. nonprofit to one that aspires to be the global standard in public service education,” Dr. Piskulich said. “I can see opportunities to encourage our members to take advantage of the opportunities this change presents for joint research and internationalizing their curriculum.” 

 

She added, “I also see this as an opportunity to highlight all the good things happening here at OU both in the MPA program and at the institutional level. I have been talking a lot about how our university has embraced community engagement.  This is something NASPAA’s accrediting standards requires so I see this as an opportunity to highlight our efforts.” 

 

Following her one-year term as president, Dr. Piskulich will serve a year as past president. She has been active in many roles over the years, serving on various committees and task forces in areas of marketing, small programs, competency, peer review and accreditation and value of accreditation. 

 

Her responsibilities as president will include chairing the Executive Council, serving on the Executive Committee and presiding over the annual conference. She also will appoint committees, work closely with the executive director and her staff on upcoming initiatives and represent NASPAA at international conferences in Croatia and China.