Mike Crowley

What I do:
I support policy implementation and communication on the agency’s national initiatives, including climate change, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Tribal Co-stewardship.
 
How I ended up working there:
In 2020, interned with the US Fish and Wildlife Service during my SPP summer internship and worked as a contractor with the agency. Through my internship and support from my professors, I obtained a Direct-Hire Authority in 2021 following my graduation, and in 2022 I was contacted by a hiring manager and recruited to my current role.

The best part of my job:
I love how many amazing projects I get to work on, and that I can make direct, meaningful impacts to national policy implementation. The projects I support are agency wide, crossing departments and regions, and require tailored communication strategies to ensure agency staff have access to information and support they need. Policy is understood differently by different people, and a refuge manager from Idaho has different implementation needs than a Biologist in the Everglades, or a Wildlife Officer in Arizona. I work to ensure all staff has the tools and resources they need to successfully implement national policy.

A recent exciting work experience:
I am most excited about my work on Tribal Co-Stewardship of all federal lands and waters under Deb Haaland’s Joint Secretarial Order 3403 and Directors Order 227. This work is re-defining the way we fulfill our Tribal Trust Responsibility and how we work in all facets of the agency. I was recently nominated to serve on the leadership implementation team, and we launched a series of Tribal listening sessions. I am developing the new national framework for co-stewardship and was able to write Director Martha William’s video message to Tribal leadership. There is something so incredible about hearing your words and ideas about successful policy implementation being said by the Director of a federal agency with over 5,000 employees.

How the School of Public Policy prepared me for my career:
I could not do the work I do without what I learned at UMass Amherst’s School of Public Policy. My classes taught me the essential tenets of successful policy implementation, like mission orientation and policy analysis, and I utilize them daily in my work. It’s incredible to think that in three years I went from my senior year at UMass to leading national policy for the federal government, and it would not have been possible with the 4+1 program at SPP.

Advice to students considering a degree in public policy:
Understanding policy is such an integral part of so many jobs. If you are working for a public agency, or even just supporting work funded through federal grants, understanding policy will be a vital part of the work you do. It provides a unique, interdisciplinary perspective that makes you stand out to supervisors and hiring managers. I work in a field I love and am already fast tracked for leadership because of my policy expertise. There is no better way to be able to do fulfilling work and making a real difference than SPP.

Future plans:
The agency I work for is a true home, and I look forward to working here for decades to come. I have already accomplished more than I ever dreamed possible in just a few short years, and I can only imagine what I will get to do in my work in the years and decades to come.

Crowley Delivers on Conservation Promise
Michael Crowley MPP ’20 has been working in the conservation field for more than a decade. Following a long tenure as Caretaker and Guide for Mass Audubon, Crowley chose to further his education at UMass Amherst in conservation and, ultimately, in public policy with a focus on indigenous peoples' rights.

During his summer internship and practicum at SPP, Crowley sketched out the planning and policy framework for the preservation of 1000 acres of critical bald eagle habitat along the Rappahannock River in Virginia. The goal was simple: protect the land and return it to the Rappahannock Tribe. Crowley's blueprint would become the basis for the Chesapeake Conservancy's purchase and subsequent donation of the land in December 2022.

"This project was an amazing success, and I was one of the original two US Fish and Wildlife Service staff who initially worked on this with the Chief of the Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia."

(February 13, 2023)

Link to article

Posted February 2023