OHIO MPA student secures internship with National League of Cities

Spencer Johnson, a student of Ohio University’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program through the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, was recently selected for the Jeff A. Finkle Ohio University Economic Development Internship at the National League of Cities (NLC) in Washington, D.C.

Originally from Canton, Ohio, Johnson graduated from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in education in 2024. He taught social studies and government at Canton Central Catholic High School for a little over a year before looking to his future.

“I always knew that I wanted to get involved in public policy,” Johnson said. “I always knew that I wanted to find a way that I could involve myself with either the legislative process or education policy.”

Johnson found a way to get involved through the Voinovich School’s MPA Program, which he joined in April 2024.

“The one-year-rubric worked to fit my schedule,” Johnson said. “It had a lot of applicability to turning the lessons that we were learning in class into tangible work that we could see in Athens County.”

At the Voinovich School, Johnson works on the Economic Development Team where he conducts research and works on policy proposals. He has already seen the impact of his work throughout the greater Athens community.

“We've had a really heavy focus on the Chillicothe paper mill closure and the shock to paper pricing,” Johnson said. “We’ve been talking a lot about the skill shed analysis that needs to be done to replace the jobs that have been lost because of this closure.”

For Johnson, this is a clear and pervasive issue in the Appalachian region—but it’s his job to find ways to solve it and to help the economy heal from the “giant loss.” This work ties directly into the kind of initiatives he will contribute to while at the NLC.

The NLC serves as an advocate for more than 2,700 towns and cities across the U.S. working to better the livelihoods of their residents. Johnson will work on the NLC’s economic development team during his internship, where he will help create a grant tool funding kit.

This kit will aid NLC’s partners, specifically legacy and second-generation businesses, by helping them sustain and keep their businesses economically viable.

Johnson is “happy to represent the school” through this internship, and sees it as the next step to achieving his long-term goals.

“Economic development is a skill set that I'm constantly working to improve,” Johnson said. “I want to build the skills and dispositions that help make me a well-rounded employee or leader, especially in economic development. I also want to use this opportunity in D.C. to understand the legislative and advocacy processes.”

Anirudh Ruhil, director of the Voinovich Research Scholars Program, was part of the decision-making process to nominate and ultimately choose Johnson for this role.

“We had two excellent final candidates for this internship and the decision was a difficult one,” Ruhil said. “This was one of those cases where we wished we had two internships to offer! Spencer was ultimately awarded this opportunity because the research experience he has had in the MPA program maps very well to this internship. I am sure Spencer will fly the #Bobcat banner far and high!”