Miranda (Mo) Vance

Title: Director of Guest Services

Employer: Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area

Degree & graduation year: Master of Public Policy and Administration, 2021

What I do: I lead a team of amazing people who help ease the daily burdens of families who need to travel for their child’s healthcare by providing food, lodging and transportation support.

How I ended up working there: I was encouraged to apply by a supervisor at my pre grad school job. I reached out to her near graduation and let her know I was looking for a position and she put me in touch with Ronald McDonald House - I am so glad she did!

The best part of my job: Doing work with a strong mission has always been so important to me, and the mission at RMH is one I feel so honored to support. Not only do we provide a safe, compassionate landing space for families navigating their child’s treatment needs, we also play an important role in expanding access to healthcare. Many of the families we serve here are from rural or low-income backgrounds, and may not be able to access the life saving care they need without the support they receive from RMH. We often discuss the cost of the medical treatments, but we don’t always consider the cost of travel, lodging, food, etc. for families who do not live near a hospital or specialist. When we are able to take those worries away parents can focus on what’s most important, which is caring for their sick or injured child.

A recent exciting work experience: Our House is growing! Each day, our House operates near capacity, and often with families on a waitlist for a room. We are planning to expand the number of guest rooms at our Salt Lake City campus, as well build an entirely new house about 30 miles away to support a new children’s hospital. I am excited to play a role in thinking about systems and logistics for an expanded operation. How do we build a team with a cohesive sense of mission and culture when we become more spread out? How do we sustainably (both financially and environmentally) feed double the number of people we are feeding now? How can we adapt to meet the changing needs of our partner hospitals? These are all questions that we are still figuring out how to answer, and I love stretching my brain and imagination to better serve pediatric patients and their families.

How the School of Public Policy prepared me for my career: SPP taught me how to manage relationships with multiple stakeholders, measure and demonstrate program impact, and think through complex issues. I often think of Dr. Jane Fountain’s lesson on “wicked problems.” Healthcare systems, and families’ needs within those systems, are so complex. I always want to build and encourage programming that maximizes benefits and minimizes harm, and the lessons I learned at SPP help me to think through the many ways to do that. I also use the skills I learned in Program Evaluation almost every day, as part of my role involves reporting the impact of our programs.

Advice to students considering a degree in public policy: I highly recommend studying Public Policy at UMASS Amherst. The lessons I learned in my program have been invaluable to me in my career. If you know you want to work with people and systems, but aren’t sure how exactly you’d like to do that, SPP is a great place to figure it out.

Future plans: I am hoping to grow with Ronald McDonald House! I have loved my time working with the charity and want to continue to work and learn here for a long time.

Posted June 2023