CAMDEN — Community development brings together the often complex worlds of economic, political, legal, and social systems in an effort to improve and empower various aspects of local communities.

For doctoral students studying public affairs at Rutgers–Camden, the City of Camden is an extraordinary resource for comprehensive research and service.

Shaina Miller is earning her PhD in Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden.

“You couldn’t pick a better environment,” says Shaina Miller, a PhD in public affairs student at Rutgers–Camden. “You really get to put what you are learning into practice within our community.”

Miller, a native of Highland Mills in Orange County, New York and now residing in Camden, is one example of how students work alongside Camden residents while gaining critical real-world experience.

“You have the opportunity to make a difference by implementing best practices found in research, as opposed to just writing about them,” she says.

Miller is currently assisting Catholic Charities Behavioral Health Services in Camden with determining if they are able to provide cost effective mental health services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and if so, what the service delivery model might look like.

“I’m inspired to identify gaps in service delivery and develop strategies to provide Camden residents with access to the full array of community services,” says Miller, who earned her master’s degree in public administration from Rutgers–Camden.

Miller also received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and her associate’s degree in humanities from Orange County Community College.

“Through my coursework and research while at Rutgers–Camden, I’ve become passionate about health disparities, perceptions of healthcare, and how access to healthcare can be improved,” she says. “My experience here has directed me toward a focus on communities of concentrated need and finding solutions to challenges associated with that need with the input of community members.”

In addition to her work with Catholic Charities, Miller works at Opportunity Reconnect–Camden, a re-entry center that helps the formerly incarcerated successfully rejoin society. The center is run by the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers–Camden through a grant from the Nicholson Foundation.

At Opportunity Reconnect–Camden, Miller helps connect the formerly incarcerated to primary health care, education, housing, employment, and other social services that enable these individuals to make a successful return to their community.

“Re-entry is something I was very much drawn to from the start,” Miller says. “A lot of these individuals are coming out of prison without healthcare and I’d like to become an advocate to assist them in gaining access to primary medical care, in addition to numerous other dynamic needs they face upon re-entry.”

Miller also recently completed fieldwork at El Centro Daycare in Camden, where she researched children’s access to and perceptions of health and nutrition in the City of Camden.

“Rutgers–Camden is rich in resources to help you further your research interests with faculty committed to providing doctoral students with the opportunity to work alongside community members, helping them to advance the city while working toward a PhD, and conducting research that matters,” she says.

Rutgers–Camden’s PhD in public affairs is a doctoral degree program emphasizing community development. It is offered by the Department of Public Policy and Administration and consists of interdisciplinary coursework culminating in a doctoral dissertation. 

For more information on the program, visit dppa.camden.rutgers.edu/doctoral.html.

Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse
(856) 225-6759
E-mail: ejmoor@camden.rutgers.edu