MPA Graduate Propels Her Way to the Top

Alexia Green had to fight for recognition growing up. As the oldest girl of twelve siblings, including eight older brothers, Green describes her surroundings as “orphanage-like.” Although constantly being surrounded by siblings was often exciting, much of Green's professional success can be attributed to those interpersonal skills she honed within the walls of her parents' home.

“Growing up with that many people, you learn a lot of negotiation skills and how to interact with others,” she says. “Even learning how to share at a young age has advantages.”

It may have been easy to get lost in the crowd growing up, but Green's accomplishments in the public administration field make it hard not to notice her.

She started out majoring in Arabic for no practical reason other than the schedule looked good on paper. Post 9/11, the degree became particularly useful as the worldwide community turned its eyes toward the Middle East. Even Green became enthralled in the culture and put her language skills to use by studying the dating culture in several predominately Islamic Middle Eastern countries while she was a student.

As part of a yearlong Fulbright scholar program, she interviewed Jordanians and collected data on how students use cell phones to communicate with potential marriage partners. Because most relationships are arranged in that culture, Green wanted to find out how this modern technology had wedged itself between parental control and individual autonomy. In the end, Green's findings that students tended to still defer to parents were largely anecdotal, but her experience propelled her forward into significant roles within the Jordanian government.

Green made contacts with Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan through the Jordan River Foundation, a nonprofit organization designed to help women and children. For a month following her research, Green focused her efforts on the child safety program, which analyzes child abuse and what role the government should play in intervention.

“It's a pretty touchy subject because in Arab culture child abuse is a family issue, not a government issue,” she says. “For a long time it was unheard of for the government to just step in and take away a child that had been abused.”

The child safety program in which Green assisted is the first of its kind in the Arab world. Now, other Arab countries are starting to implement parts of its model.

Coupled with her international experience, Green made waves on the domestic front when, as a student, she was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, an honor conferred on less than 10 percent of all students who are nominated. To be considered a finalist, prospective fellows must be nominated by their graduate institutions, submit a résumé, and test within the top percentage on an aptitude test that examines grammar, spelling, logical reasoning, and personality. Once finalists are selected, they must accept a government job to become a fellow.

Green accepted a job as management analyst with USDA in the office of the secretary where she currently works. In this capacity, she looks at business processes and performance summaries to make sure they are on par with the government's goals.

Each experience, Green says, helps remind her of BYU's MPA program and how it has helped her get to where she is now.

“Once you start working, you realize every single class you took helps you in your job,” she says. “Even the marketing class has helped me. I learned how to market my program, and when I explained this to my director, he had no idea what that meant.”

After her brief, eighteen-month rotation as a presidential management fellow, Green will be allowed to leave the agency and pursue further goals or stay on in the agency and enjoy faster promotions. But whatever path Green takes, her BYU MPA will no doubt pave the way for more successes and opportunities to serve.

“BYU has a good service-minded program,” she says. “As cheesy as it sounds, the program helped me understand how I can use my skills not just to make money, but to make the world a better place.”