NASPAA - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration

public (pub-lik) adj.: Of or pertaining to the people; relating to, belonging to, or affecting a nation, state or community at large.

enterprise (ên-ter-priz') n: an undertaking, esp. one which involves activity, courage, energy, or the like; an important or daring project; a venture.

Deborah Rosenbloom, NASPAA’s Director of Public Policy and Law, has resigned from NASPAA (effective December 4) to accept a position as Senior Program Manager, Jewish Women International. Deborah has provided excellent service to NASPAA and its member institutions during her 5-1/2 years on our staff. Her NASPAA responsibilities have included the direction and implementation of community engagement projects, including the Small Communities Outreach Project for Environmental Issues (SCOPe); the promotion and marketing of MPA/MPP degrees to diverse constituencies; the design and implementation of NASPAA committee initiatives (e.g., the new Local Government Management Fellowship Program); the development of more effective NASPAA collaborations with government organizations and related NGOs; and the enhancement of NASPAA’s website. All of us will miss her leadership and contributions, and we wish her well in her new position. A search for a new NASPAA staff member will begin soon.

The International Committee of NASPAA is initiating an International Corner on the NASPAA website! The International Corner will be a way for NASPAA members to share the international dimensions of their programs with NASPAA colleagues. Institutions are encouraged to submit information about curricula innovations that show how their programs incorporate international, global, and transnational trends.

For example, the International Committee welcomes information about workshops, internships, capstones and other innovations that promote active learning in an international context. Tell other NASPAA members about your bilateral projects with universities outside the United States, as well as about your joint degree programs with international partners. If you have launched a graduate degree with a non-U.S. partner, consider sharing some of the details with other NASPAA member institutions. If your experience is in a particular region, share your reasons for your involvement in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, or Europe. The International Committee also welcomes news about research activities that involve international partners. Include key organizational and substantive details in your information.

The NASPAA International Committee encourages you to consider a submission to the International Corner. To do so, send your description to naspaa@naspaa.org. Please send your submission as a WORD document and limit your submission to no more than two double-spaced pages. Please include contact information as part of your submission.

The International Committee will review your submission. Submissions accepted by the International Committee will be posted to the International Corner of the NASPAA website for two to four weeks, starting in January 2004. [When submissions are posted, NASPAA will inform members about the website location of the International Corner.]

For further information, contact Jeffrey D. Straussman, International Committee chair, at jstrauss@maxwell.syr.edu. Other International Committee members are Sandra Archibald, University of Washington; Brian Atwood, University of Minnesota; Sonia Ospina, New York University; Mitchell Rice, Texas A&M University; Russ Smith, University of Nebraska at Omaha; and Robert Wilson, University of Texas at Austin.

2005 Annual Conference. In line with NASPAA’s policy of holding its Annual Conference in Washington, DC the year following each U.S. presidential election, the 2005 Annual Conference will be held in Washington, DC. It is critically important that hotel and other local conference arrangements be finalized as soon as possible. Jackie Lewis (NASPAA) has begun the process of exploring hotel alternatives, but we need to act now to confirm which one or more Washington, DC metropolitan area NASPAA member institutions are willing to serve as the host or co-hosts of the 2005 Annual Conference. All NASPAA members in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are encouraged to review the relevant sections of the “Criteria for NASPAA Annual Conference” (see link to the NASPAA website below) and to consider serving as a host or co-host of the 2005 Annual Conference. Members willing to serve as a 2005 Annual Conference institutional host or co-host should contact jlewis@naspaa.org by Friday, January 23, 2004, and earlier if possible, to confirm your willingness to serve in this critically important leadership capacity.

2006 and 2007 Annual Conferences. NASPAA President B.J. Reed has appointed a NASPAA Annual Conference Site Selection Committee to review proposals from NASPAA member institutions to host the 2006 and 2007 NASPAA Annual Conferences. The committee will make its recommendations to the Executive Council by late March 2004, for consideration by the Council at its April 2-3 meeting. Serving on the committee are Ed Kellough (University of Georgia), chair; Jim Perry (Indiana University and Purdue University, Indianapolis); and Michelle Saint-Germain (California State University at Long Beach); Jackie Lewis (NASPAA) will serve as advisor to the committee.

NASPAA member institutions are encouraged to consider the possibility of hosting a future NASPAA Annual Conference. Any institution(s) interested in submitting a proposal to host (or co-host) the 2006 Annual Conference or the 2007 Annual Conference should review carefully the “Criteria for NASPAA Annual Conference” on the NASPAA website at http://www.naspaa.org/principals/conference/criteria.asp. Submissions from member institutions to host the 2006 or 2007 Annual Conference should be received by NASPAA (Attention: Jackie Lewis) no later than Friday, March 5, 2004. Member institutions with questions about the submission of proposals should contact jlewis@naspaa.org as soon as possible.

NASPAA, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA), and the Hispanic Network (H-Net) have jointly developed a new national Local Government Management Fellowship (LGMF) Program to encourage recent graduates from master’s programs at NASPAA member institutions to pursue careers in local government management. Approximately 15 Fellowships throughout the United States will be offered during 2004-2005, the pilot year of the LGMF Program. Each Fellow will be placed in a full-time, full-access, paid local government position that will be shaped through direct mentorship by senior local government employees and rotational assignments. Many local governments have expressed enthusiastic interest in hosting a Fellow; local government hosts for 2004-2005 will be selected in early 2004.

The complete application form, including instructions, for the 2004-2005 Program is available now at http://www.naspaa.org/principals/public_enterprise/documents/
LGMFStudentApplication2003.pdf. Completed applications must be received at ICMA no later than Friday, February 4, 2004. Please contact Rebecca Singer, NASPAA/ICMA/NFBPA project assistant, at singer@naspaa.org for additional information about the 2004-2005 Program and its application process.

On November 24, NASPAA President B.J. Reed (University of Nebraska at Omaha), COPRA Chair Jeff Raffel, and COPRA Managing Director Laurel McFarland (NASPAA) appeared before the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Committee on Recognition. CHEA will not announce its decision on COPRA’s application for renewed recognition until January 2004, but the session went very well. Most questions posed to the NASPAA/COPRA representatives were anticipated, and Committee on Recognition members commented several times about the positive changes that COPRA has made with regard to CHEA standards. For additional information, please contact copra@naspaa.org.

On December 3, about 15 NASPAA member institutions’ career services directors joined NASPAA staff Ken Tolo and Laurel McFarland for a meeting with the director and staff of the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) Program, Office of Personnel Management (OPM). [On November 21, 2003, President Bush signed Executive Order 13318 establishing the PMF Program; previously this was the Presidential Management Internship (PMI) Program. In addition to this name change, E.O. 13318 removes the hiring cap, expands participation to excepted service agencies, etc. For a copy of E.O. 13318, see http://www.whitehouse.gov; information about PMF Program changes is or will soon be available at http://www.pmf.opm.gov.]

The December 3 discussion was the latest in a series of dialogues that NASPAA has organized over the past six months between NASPAA career professionals and PMF/PMI staff to strengthen and improve the PMF/PMI Program, as well as to foster enhanced understanding within the PMF Program and OPM about NASPAA member institutions, their missions and programs, and their graduates. This meeting focused on the 2003-2004 PMF application and nomination process, which for the first time was entirely an on-line process. The number of completed applications for 2003-2004 was somewhat less than the total for 2002-2003, perhaps due in part to the electronic process and the length of the application form. This year, 2,503 applications were completed and then affirmed by institutional nomination coordinators; from these applicants, 1,278 PMF semi-finalists have now been selected and notified. Assessments of semi-finalists are planned from the second week of January through early February; PMF finalists will be notified in early to mid-March; and the 2004 PMF Job Fair in Washington, DC is scheduled for March 31-April 2.

The November 2003 issue of Public Enterprise summarized the impressive progress achieved by the Inter-American Network for Public Administration Education (INPAE) during the past several months under NASPAA guidance, including its formal creation, its first annual meeting in Panama City in October 2003, and the election of the first INPAE officers. Serving as INPAE President from 2003 until 2005 will be Dr. Oscar Oszlak, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) now has selected Dr. Oszlak to be the recipient of its 2004 International Public Administration Award. This new award honors a distinguished foreign scholar or practitioner for significant contributions to public administration in other nations. Congratulations to Dr. Oszlak! His selection to receive this award, which will be presented to him at ASPA’s 2004 National Conference, not only recognizes his outstanding accomplishments and remarkable career but also affirms INPAE’s leadership role in promoting public affairs education in the Americas. For additional information about INPAE, contact Ana Mejia at mejia@naspaaa.org.