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June, 20131
June, 2013
2013 Inspiring Women in Public Administration Conference 2-3 Thank You to our Conference Sponsors 4 Topics in Public Administration Courses 5 Alumni Profile: Julia Novak 6-7 Nonprofit Career Night 7
KUCIMATTERS: 8 The KUCIMAT Banquet Survey Your ICMA Dues Matter
GRADUATION 2013: Highlights 9-10 Meet the 2013 Doctoral Graduates 11-13
Super People, Activities & Achievements 14 KU PUBLIC MANAGEMENT CENTER: The Heart of True Leadership 15 Fall ELA Class Scheduled in Wichita
Get ready for ICMA 2013 in Boston 16
IN THIS ISSUE
Inspiring Women 2013:
having it all and making the leapOn April 17, 125 women came together in Overland Park, Kansas for our 2013 Inspiring Women in Public Administration Conference. As the photos capture, the day lived up to the conference name. Framed around the theme of “Having It All/Making the Leap,” speakers shared stories and offered insights to create an encouraging space for attendees to consider their own journeys.
Conference Chair Beth Linn (KU MPA 2003) led the conference com-mittee in shaping a program bookended by excellent keynotes and filled with thought-provoking panels and time for connecting with other attendees in between.
Other KUCIMATs on the commit-tee included Karen Davis (1976), Jan Perkins (1976), Maggie Mahoney (2012) and Susan Sherman (1990). They were complemented by Kimiko Gilmore, Assistant City Manager for Kansas City, Missouri, and Hannah Sitz, a junior at KU. Alecia Gray and Noel Rasor provided support from the School.
Attendee Sharon Riley, graduate of the PMC’s Emerging Leaders Academy and staff member at the KU Librar-ies, appreciated that the panelist were open and candid in sharing their challenges (or “hiccups” as Patty Hilderbrand, afternoon panelist called them) as well as successes. “Their personal stories of how they dealt with challenges and built on successes were potent narratives that spoke to me in rich, informative ways.”
Some takeaways from the conference: “Enjoy the mystery”; Kansas Insurance Commissioner and panelist Sandy Praeger highlighted how her career was not planned and reminded attendees to “say yes” to op-portunities. Another panelist spoke about the importance of not letting fear drive our decisions, while panelist and KU MPA grad Penny Post-oak Ferguson shared her formula for staying in balance by including, in addition to career goals, “faith, family, FUN and giving back to the community.” In closing the conference, ICMA President Bonnie Svrcek encouraged attendees to “be courageous,” “ask for advice,” and “say yes with pleasure and no with compassion.”
A special thanks goes to KUCIMATs Karen Davis and Jan Perkins for their dedication to getting this conference going again in 2011 after a 35 year hiatus and for their contributions to shaping what it has become.
Pictured above: Shannon Portillo, Assistant Professor, who will join the faculty of the School of Public Affairs and Administration in fall, 2013, participates in a break-out session.
June, 2013 June, 20132
Top left: The morning panel included (from left) Cynthia Wheeler-Linden, strategic communications expert, Penny Postoak Ferguson, Deputy County Manager of Johnson County, Kansas and Karin Brownlee, former Kansas state senator, who reflected on what it means to “have it all”. Hannah Sitz, KU student and Truman Scholar, moder-ated the discussion. Middle left: Kirsten Silveira of Fort
Colllins, Colorado is among 13 students admitted to the KU MPA Intern-option class of 2015, and started classes this summer. Middle right: Kay Barnes, who served as the first woman mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, provided the opening keynote around the theme of “Having It All.” She called attention to the difference between being a “strong woman” and a “woman of strength.” Bottom left: Sharon Riley of KU libraries connects with fellow attendees during a roundtable discussion. Sharon also blogged about the conference; access her commentary here.
INSPIRING WOMEN INSPIRING ONE ANOTHER
June, 20133
Top left: Sandy Praeger, Kansas Insurance Commis-sioner, shares her story of “Making the Leap”, or rather, being pushed. Top Right: Conference planning commit-tee member Kimiko Gilmore served as the moderator for the afternoon panel “Making the Leap”. Center left: Sara Singer, Deputy City Manager, City of Tualitin, Oregon shares her story of making leap after leap. Center right: Bonnie Svrcek, President of the Interna-tional City/County Management Association (ICMA) provided the afternoon keynote, encouraging attendees to “dare greatly.” Bottom right: Conference Chair Beth Linn (right) introduces Nijah Fudge (KU MPA 2012) of CH2M HILL, who then introduced the afternoon key-note speaker.
INSPIRING WOMEN INSPIRING ONE ANOTHER
June, 2013 June, 20134
Thank You to our Conference Sponsors
PLATINUM LEVEL SPONSORS
GOLD LEVEL SPONSORS
SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS
Inspiring Women in Public Administration
Kansas City & County Management Conference
PLATINUM LEVEL SPONSORS
GOLD LEVEL SPONSORS
SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS
June, 20135
EDWARDS CAMPUSPUAD 694: CollaborationInstructor: Heather Getha-Taylor (Assistant Professor)Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. to 6:50 p.m.
Today’s most pressing challenges, including environmen-tal protection, food safety, and homeland security, are not confined to any particular organization or sector. As a result, traditional hierarchical models of government are less ap-propriate for addressing these and other boundary-spanning public priorities. Managers must work effectively across organizational and sector boundaries to solve problems and produce public value. This course considers the forces con-tributing to the need for collaborative governance, changing management tasks and competencies, and how to address key collaborative challenges. This course is highly interactive. It relies on a variety of instructional techniques as well as multi-disciplinary lenses to provide students with scholarly knowl-edge and practical tools to understand collaboration and lead across boundaries.
ONLINEPUAD 694: Labor Relations in the Public SectorInstructor: Craig R. Christiansen, Ph.D.Online course: Lawrence and Edwards campus sections
Nearly half of all public administrators now work with the daily impact of a union contract, but labor relations is much more than contract negotiations. This course is guided by a fundamental question, “As public administrators, how can we use labor relations skills to build public and nonprofit organi-zations that function cooperatively and effectively to enhance the overall public value of the agency’s services?” Designed to add practical skills and understanding of labor relations to the administrative repertoire of the student, intern, or practitio-ner, this course reviews key concerns, concepts, and tools in the administration of a unionized workplace. Student learn-ing is facilitated through short lectures, class discussion with practitioners, assigned readings, review and discussion of case study materials, student-led presentations of assigned articles/chapters, and applied class and student projects. The online modality allows the student maximum flexibility in schedul-ing and class access.
LAWRENCE CAMPUSPUAD 694: Diversity, Social Equity & Social JusticeInstructor: Shannon Portillo (Assistant Professor)Tuesdays, 2:00 p.m. to 4:50 p.m.
Considers how academic scholarship and popular under-standings of diversity, social equity and social justice have evolved over time. Examines how these issues influence public organizations, public service and public policy. Specifically focuses on how gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion and other social identities influence workplaces and the public sphere.
PUAD 839: Sustainable CommunitiesInstructor: Rachel Krause (Assistant Professor)Tuesdays, 6:00 p.m. to 8:50 p.m.
Achieving sustainability is one of the great challenges of the 21st century and is an effort to which cities are inher-ently tied. Indeed, cities have been characterized as the key “battleground for sustainability”. An estimated 50 percent of the global population and 84 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas, and local governments have authority over many decisions that have a direct impact on sustain-ability, including land use, transportation, building codes, and waste disposal. This makes them a particularly important unit of analysis for the study of sustainability policy. This class examines the structure, operations, priorities, and constraints of local governments as a foundation for understanding the prospects for urban sustainability. It explores the dynam-ics of best practice “green” cities as well as the feasibility of transforming the least sustainable cities in the United States – which are often characterized by sprawl, auto-dependency, high energy consumption, unstable economies, and inequal-ity – into healthy, sustainable communities. This class has an applied component and utilizes general theory and lessons learned to assess sustainability issues in the Lawrence and Kansas City region.
Topics in PublicAdministration Fall, 2013 Course Offerings
Alumni...JOIN US for a fall course! The following topics courses may be of interest to help you further develop your professional skills in these areas. For information about how toenroll, please call the School of Public Affairs and Administration at 785-864-3527.
June, 2013 June, 20136
How It BeganAs a government and politics major at George Mason University, Julia Novak (KU MPA 1988) found her way to a professor who had served at every level of government, including two stints as a city manager. He not only helped her learn about local government in general and city management in particular, he led Julia to an internship in Fairfax County, Virginia. From there, he pointed her to the KU MPA program and she followed his advice.
Julia notes that from the mo-ment she arrived on the KU campus, the program steeped her in the city management profession as well as helped her create her first network of colleagues among her fel-low students. She recalls the orientation at John and Carol Nalbandian’s house where John emphasized that success in the program was more than just about the classroom—it was also about working together as a class. “Learning to work to-gether as colleagues is a lesson that will always stay with me,” Julia notes.
For the first fifteen years of her local government career, Julia worked in Fort Collins, Colorado; Lexington, Massa-chusetts; Rockville, Maryland; and was city manager of Rye, New York. Then, in the early 2000s, she moved into lo-cal government consulting. She had developed a skill set in facilitation early in her career that she employed in the cities she served as well as with community groups and some early consulting jobs—she was fortunate to work in organizations where she had the encouragement to engage these outside projects. The move into full-time consulting in 2003 allowed her the opportunity to work with many local governments to strengthen their performance.
Making the LeapIn 2009, she had the opportunity to establish The Novak Consulting Group, an organization she keeps focused on a simple and powerful goal: improving organizations for those they serve and those that work within them. As Julia notes, “the work we do is very important to the organiza-tions we serve,” whether assisting them with performance management to strategic planning to community engage-ment and more.
“While we may be a ‘for profit’ operation, we provide real service for local govern-ments,” Julia says. “In three years, over half of our clients have hired us more than once, and 25% have hired us three or more times.” As she sees it, many local govern-ment managers are glad to hire consultants who have literally been where they are: “we understand the political context and we understand the sacredness of the work itself. Those values are part of who we are and how we work.”
Mutual BenefitFor her part, Julia loves the variety in the work. This is something she also loved about being in local govern-ment, but now she has the
opportunity to work in multiple organizations, often dur-ing the same week. It means those in her firm are, as she puts it, always learning and always contributing to making communities better places.
Julia ensures that her organization contributes to the pro-fession as well. They provide some form of sponsorship to city management conferences each year in several states and this year have provided significant financial support
Alumni Profile: Julia Novak
www.kupa.ku.edu
June, 20137
to an ICMA Task Force evaluating the status of women in the profession. Closer to home for us at KU, they support both the Kansas City/County Management Conference and our Inspiring Women in Public Administration Con-ference.
Additionally, Julia seeks out opportunities to contribute to the broader conversation about the profession. Among these: in 2002, she was one of 20 practitioners who partici-pated in the ICMA-sponsored symposium on the future of local government administration. And in 2009, she co-authored an article with the person in whose living room she sat for her KU orientation over two decades before--she and John Nalbandian wrote a piece for Public Management Magazine called “Preparing Councils for Their Work.”
In terms of her connection to KU, what it comes down to for Julia is this: “KU is very special to me. I am passion-ate about the program and its roots in and commitment to professional local government. I am very fortunate to have been trained (and continue to be molded) by some of the brightest minds in local government at KU – they have given me a gift, and I am grateful.”
Nurturing Civility
A particular area of interest for Julia Novak is civility in the workplace. She wrote an article on the subject, which ap-peared in the July, 2012 issue of Public Management maga-zine: civility. Nurturing It If You Have It, and Resurrecting It Where It Has Died. Click on the icon below to access the article.
Nonprofit Career Night panelists encourage students to find their passion
On April 29, 2013 KU’s School of Public Affairs and Administration hosted the second annual “Nonprofit Career Night” on the Lawrence Campus.
Thirty-four undergraduate and graduate students at-tended to gain insights about the nonprofit sector from five panelists with extensive professional nonprofit experience and volunteer service. Spanning the areas of the arts, social services, health, and youth, the pan-elists captured the diversity of the nonprofit sector, its many challenges as well as opportunities. Collectively, they emphasized the challenge of funding for the sec-tor stressing the importance of training and education in nonprofit finance, budgeting and grant writing for future nonprofit professionals.
Additionally, the panelists discussed the vital impor-tance of relationship building, collaboration, listening to constituents and engaging in authentic dialogue with the community. Woven throughout was the importance of “finding your passion” and developing a support network to not only get through the chal-lenges, but to celebrate achievements.
BELOW: Nonprofit panelists included Erika Dvorske, CEO of United Way of Douglas County; Susan Henderson, board member for a variety of nonprofit organizations; Margaret Weisbrod Morris, Director of Programs and Partnerships, Lawrence Arts Center; Kourtney Nelson, Volunteer Coordi-nator, Lawrence Community Shelter; and Megan Poindex-ter, Executive Director, Trinity In-Home Care.
Julia Novak (continued from Page 6)
www.kupa.ku.edu
June, 2013 June, 20138
The KUCIMAT Banquet:Protecting What Matters
This winter, KU alumni responded to a call for feedback regarding the annual KUCIMAT banquet at ICMA. The KUCIMAT Board was struggling with satisfying many competing demands and opinions from our members. Some wanted lower banquet costs, others pushed for better locations. We have fielded concerns over the program length but also heard desires to make sure important traditions are honored. Is it okay to seek sponsorships? Should we switch out a sit-down din-ner for a reception? We hoped the survey would shed some light on these questions.
Fortunately for the Board, the results of the survey showed clear majorities on the questions asked. The results in a nutshell:
• 78% of respondents said they always attend the banquet when they attend the conference• 66% said price matters, and agreed around $55 was rea-sonable. (24% would pay more for better location and food; while, 10% say the price is already prohibitively high.)• 63% said they like the convenience of convention center locations• 74% responded that seeking outside sponsorships would be acceptable to help defray costs
Your board considered these findings and other matters and reached the following decision points:
• The banquet will continue to take place Sunday night after the ICMA welcoming reception.
• We will continue to seek out locations in the conven-tion center, or in very nearby locations.
• We will do our best to keep the price around $50-$60, and will seek sponsorships to help defray costs.
• We’ll keep a constant focus on making the program informative and celebrating our traditions, but we’ll be mindful of time constraints.
Bo FergusonKU MPA ‘97
from the president
KUCIMATters
Are you willing to serve?
The KUCIMAT Board has three standing committees. If you are willing to serve on one of these committees, please contact:
ALUMNI-STUDENT COMMITTEEPhil Smith-Hanes, Chair
County Administrative Officer County of Humboldt
(707) 445-7266 [email protected]
ALUMNI-TO-ALUMNI COMMITTEECharlene R. Stevens, Chair
City Administrator City of Willmar, MN
(320) 235-4913 [email protected]
ALUMNI-TO-FACULTY RELATIONS COMMITTEEBo Ferguson, President, Committee Chair
Deputy City Manager Durham NC
(919) 560-4222 [email protected]
THE IMPACT OF YOUR KUCIMAT DUES
KUCIMAT dues provide the financial foundation upon which the organization provides services to its members. Here is how it breaks down from an administrative standpoint:
• 2013 dues notices were mailed to 1,400 KUCIMATS• To date, about 10% of KUCIMATS have remitted their
annual dues.• Over the last five years, an average of 237 people paid
their KUCIMAT dues each year. This means the organiza-tion is supported by only 17% of its members.
• If every KUCIMAT paid his/her dues in a single year, the organization would be able to not only reduce dues for several years, but substantially expand services and ben-efits to the membership.
• In short, your dues matter. Please help us build a stronger organization by sending your payment soon!
defining what it means to be a kucimat
The KUCIMAT Board adopted a goal for this year to spend time defining (or revising) what it means to be a KUCIMAT, discuss our priorities as an association, and lay a foundation for future Boards to build on. As part of that effort, we would appreciate your answers to our five survey questions. Please take a moment to com-plete this survey so that we may build a stronger, more responsive organization.
June, 20139
graduation 2013School of Public Affairs & Administration
2013 Graduates
BACHELOR’S IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONJacob Allen
Steven Henry BryantLoan Ai Chau
Amina GordonSakina Henderson
Stephen HenryAndrew Ryan Johns
Arooj KhalidAndrew Johns
Anna Rosine LeitchYile Li
Brian Patrick LitwinRyan MullenRyan Murray
Afolayan ObembeLisa Marie Mescher-Schlueter
John PageJacob Peterson
Steven RoyRachael Corine SniderJill Elizabeth Stevens
Liese Ridgeway VanattaCortney L. Zelaya
MASTERS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONMichael Appleby
David BrownKyle Burns
Stephanie Campbell CunliffJian Cui
Krystal Boxum DeBoltHeather Eastlund
Greg EdsonMarilyn Minter Franklin
Michael GotfredsonAshley Graff
Holly HaydenKarina Holtzman
Samuel HoughtelingKatie HowardMin Gang KimAriel KlugmanJeanne Koontz
Emily KotayNatalia Kupriyanova
Greg LawsonKatherine McCollom
Davis McElwainAlyssa McMullinCullen C. Merritt
Brooke Anderson ParkerBrian Redelscheimer
Wesley SammsJackie Schwerm
Rob ShippyJamie Shockley
Robert SoriaCaitlin Stene
Stephen TennantKelly Unger
Solomon WoodsMichael YorkSandy Zook
ABOVE: The School of Public Affairs & Administration’s annual graduation banquet, held on April 19th, is a family affair. MPA grad Kelly Unger (second from right) brought her family to celebrate her success. Justin Unger (far left) is also a KU MPA grad (2005).
CENTER left: Rachael Snider provides remarks on behalf of the undergraduate students.
CENTER right: Dylan Mulfinger, MPA class of 2014 and his wife Michelle attend the banquet.
BELOW center: Some newly hooded MPA graduates close the banquet by singing the Rock Chalk Chant, led by Professor John Nalbandian - a SPAA banquet tradition.
June, 2013 June, 201310
graduation 2013School of Public Affairs & Administration
2013 Graduation Awards
MPA Final Essay HonorsMichael GotfredsonBrian Redelsheimer
Stephen Tennant
Scott Brooks Award WinnerJaqueline Schwerm
Scott Brooks was a member of the faculty at KU in the mid-1970s. Very quickly Scott became an essential
faculty member and he led resurgence in the local gov-ernment concentration. No faculty member has meant more to the local government emphasis in the program since Ed Stene retired. Scott was a remarkable person and the criteria for the award capture his passion for
the MPA program. They are: compassion for colleagues, dedication to public service, and enthusiasm for life.
Stanley Fisher Memorial Award WinnerMichael Gotfredson
The Stanley Fisher Memorial Award is for Outstanding Graduate Students of Public Administration and pre-sented annually to students who have shown interest
in public administration beyond their classroom work, have performed exceptionally well in public administra-tion courses, and have applied insights of public admin-
istration to their campus activities.
Stanley Fisher was city manager of Warrensburg, Mis-souri. He was tragically killed in an automobile accident
on April 30, 1966, when he was President-Elect of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of ASPA. This award is pre-sented in honor of him and his contributions to public administration. This award was formally presented at the Greater Kansas Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration Awards Breakfast on May 22nd.
Outstanding MPA Student AwardSandy Zook
The Outstanding MPA Student Award is given to an MPA student who graduated in the current academic
year. The criteria for the award includes excellence in intellectual work and going beyond course assignments
to enhance learning. Sandy is currently pursuing her doctorate at Georgia State University.
ABOVE: Katie Killen (left, KU MPA 2011) Assistant to the City Manager of Shawnee, Kansas, served as the Young Professional in Residence and Beth Linn (KU MPA 2003), City Manager of Edgerton, Kansas, served as the Practitioner in Residence to the Class of 2013.
BELOW: This year’s event included the conference of a very special degree, approved by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. Scott Vanatta (pictured below), along with his two children, accepted the B.A. degree on behalf of his wife, Liese Ridgeway Vanatta. Liese was a student in the KU undergraduate program, but passed away the semester prior to receiving her degree. Faculty members Marilu Goodyear and John Pierce, both of whom had Liese in their courses, offered remarks in remembrance of her.
June, 201311
meet our phd graduatesgood about addressing problems that have both applied and theoretical value.”
During his program, Zach and his wife Ashley had a son. “I am amazed how much this little guy has changed the way I have had to do my work,” Zach says.
Zach said farewell to the faculty and staff on May 14th, and says he particularly wants to thank Dr. Ho and Dr. Fowles for three rigorous and good years of studying public finance and budgeting with them.
ALISA MOLDAVANOVA
Alisa earned baccalaureate and specialist degrees from Odessa National I.I. Mechnikov University, and a Degree of Candidate of Psychological Sciences awarded by the G.S. Kostiuk Institute of the Ukranian Academcy of Peda-gogical Sciences in Kyiv, Ukraine along with her MPA
from KU.
Alisa was a ranked public official in Ukraine, and worked for the Ukrainian Parlia-ment. She also served a full time summer fellow-ship with the United States Con-gress, House Com-mittee on Foreign Affairs, where part of her responsi-bilities included researching the development of the International Violence Against Women bill, and
developing House Resolution 1314, “Remembering the 75th Anniversary of the Ukranian Famine-Genocide of 1932-33”.
She says her decision to enter public service was influ-enced by the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, in which public protests of fraudulent presidential election results eventually resulted in constitutional reforms.
She came to the U.S. on a Muskie Graduate Fellowship, funded by the U.S. State Department. Her passion for scholarship and research led her to the Public Adminis-tration program at KU, where she says she found herself “surrounded by great intellectuals who served as my advisors and mentors.”
Above: Doctoral graduates (from left) Erin Borry, Angela Paez Murcia, Alisa Moldavanova and Zachary Mohr at the School of Public Affairs & Administration’s
annual graduation banquet, held April 19th at the Kansas Union Ballroom.
This spring, five students in the School of Public Affairs and administration will graduate with their doctorates in Public Administration, and all five have successfully landed positions in which they will put their education into practice.
ERIN BORRY
Erin earned her B. A. in Politican Science and MPA in Public Administration from Rutgers University in New-ark, New Jersey.
Immediately following, in fall 2008, Erin began her doc-toral program at KU, and culminated her program by receiving honors on her doctoral dissertation defense.
She chose to apply to the School of Public Affairs and Ad-ministration because of its reputation, but says she knew immediately following her visit to KU that she wanted to study here.
Erin says it is important not to be afraid to take a break once in awhile. “Find something you love to do that isn’t realated to school work and do it often”, she advises.
Erin is making preparations to assume her aca-demic position at the University of Alabama in the fall.
ZACH MOHR
Zach received his B.S. in Economics from Kansas State University, graduating cum laud. He went on to earn his MPA at KU, then entered the doctoral program in Fall, 2009.
Zach served as the City Administrator of Cheney, Kansas for one year, and Assistant to the City Manager of Arkan-sas City.
“As a former student of economics, the applied training in financial management at KU changed how I viewed public finance and the need for professional financial management,” Zach says. “Economic theory does not deal extensively with how one actually derives the cost and benefits of public services. KU’s program is very
June, 2013 June, 201312
meet our phd graduatesGraduating in 2013
with a Ph.D. inPublic Administration:
Erin BorryDissertation title: Rule Bending and Red Tape:
Organizational and Individual Influences and theEffect of Ethical Climate
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Maneekwan ChandarasornDissertation title: Public Management as Citizen
Compliance: A Case Study of Income TaxCompliance in Thailand
Professional Level EconomistFiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance
The Royal Thai Government
Zachary MohrDissertation title: Cost Accounting in U.S. Cities:
Transaction Costs and Governance Factors affecting Cost Accounting Development and Use
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Alisa MoldavanovaDissertation title: Sustainable Public Administration:
The Search for Intergenerational Fairness Assistant Professor
Wayne State UniversityDetroit, Michigan
Angela Paez MurciaDissertation title: Administrative Morality in
ColombiaProfessor of Law
Universidad de la SabanaColombia, South America
While pursuing her program, Alisa facilitated the devel-opment of a sister city partnership between Prairie Vil-lage, Kansas and Dolyna, Ukraine, taught and conducted research in the KU Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, gave guest lectures at the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies and participated in research on the Ukraine for the Foreign Military Stud-ies Office at Fort Leavenworth. She also got married to a Ph.D. student in a different discipline.
Alisa had the privilege of being mentored by H. George Frederickson, Distinguished Professor, without whom her journey would not have happened, she says. “His great ideas, tremendous life wisdom and always positive spirit have served as a great motivational force to me during all these years.”
ANGELA PAEZ MURCIA
Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, Angela was a Profes-sor of Administrative Law at the Universidad de Sabana in Colombia, South America. A Fulbright Scholar, Angela chose KU because of the opportunity to specialize in law and public administration, and learn from leading experts in the field such as Dr. Charles (Chuck) Epp, who served as her faculty advisor and committee chair.
“I would compare getting a Ph.D. degree to running a long-distance race,” Angela says. “In my experience it is very important to engage in activities that complement classes and seminars and that would provide motivation for the research process.” To keep herself balanced, An-gela started running and also took tango classes.
She also relied on a solid support structure of family and friends, and says she also found wonderful friends among her fellow Ph.D. students.
“In addition to this, I found it profoundly beneficial to take advantage of the academic advice from all the professors in seminars and classes,” she says. “Specifi-cally I think by cultivating a good relationship with ones advisor and committee members it is possible to learn not only about theories and research methods but also, and most importantly, the skills that are necessary to succeed in academia.
I would also recommend taking advantage of all the amazing opportunities and support that KU has designed for doctoral students: write in’s, the graduate writing program, workshops, and brown bags.”
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...
meet our phd graduates
June, 201313
meet our phd graduates
“If you are seeking an outstand-ing quality public administration program, the best faculty who are always supportive and encourag-ing, the best colleagues who help push one another throughout the journey, and the perfect campus to study and balance your life, KU Public Administration is your an-swer!”
Maneekwan ChandarasornPh.D. in Public AdministrationSpring, 2013
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MANEEKWAN CHANDARASORN
Maneekwan has worked at the Fiscal Policy Office, Minis-try of Finance of The Royal Thai Government since 2004. FPO is the key economic policy advising agency to Thai-land’s finance Minister. The Ministry of Finance provided a scholarship for Maneekwan to pursue a Ph.D. in the United States, and reserved her job until she graduated. She began her doctoral studies at KU in the fall of 2007,
and completed her degree this spring.
Upon her return to Thailand, Manee-kwan was promoted to the Professional Level Econominst positition in the Tax Policy Bureau.
Maneekwan’s work entails analyzing the merits of tax policy and providing recommendations to improve Thailand’s tax system. Her cur-rent projects include developing a new environmental taxa-tion act, restructur-
ing custom duties and organizing an academic seminar for the Asia-Pacific region.
Maneekwan is also in the process of gaining admittance to High Performance and Potential Systems (HIPPs), which is Thailand’s system to prepare and promote ca-reer development of high potential government officials to the senior professional level. Maneekwan says HIPPs is a highly selective and competitive program, with only one percent of government officials throughout Thailand chosen to participate.
Maneekwan says she was searching for the top public administration programs in the U.S. when she found KU’s program, and says she was inspired to be a part of the academic excellence of one of the top ten public adminis-tration programs in the United States.
“And, I made the right decision,” Maneekwan states. “KU was the perfect place for me, not only for academic excellence, but also for the warm and welcoming faculty and colleagues that a larger program would not be able to offer. Lawrence is also a beautiful college town - the ideal
place to concentrate on study and enjoy KU basketball.”
BELOW: Maneekwan and a colleague were recently published in the Ministry and Finance Journal, a quarterly publication featuring the next generation of young professionals.
June, 2013 June, 201314
Endowing the FutureJohn and Carol Nalbandian were so impressed with outpouring of generosity by those who contributed to the The John and Carol Nalbandian Scholarship, they have transferred $50,000 of their personal assets into an annuity to be managed by the Kansas University Endowment Association. Upon their death, fund assets will be transferred into the schol-arship fund that bears their names. The Nalbandians have also set aside an additional $50,000 for the Harry Nalbandian Scholarship, which was established in 2007 in honor of John’s father. Both scholarships will support MPA students preparing for careers in local government. For more information about the various ways you can make a lasting impact, please contact LaRisa Lochner at [email protected].
Remembering our ColleaguesOn Friday, April 12, the School of Public Affairs and Administration lost two dear friends of the MPA program.
Don Pipes (left), KU MPA Class of 1955, served as City Manager in Overland Park for over 30 years. He was a KUICMAT president and received the KUCIMAT Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. More about Don’s life can be found here.
Although not a KUCIMAT, Mark Keane was a strong supporter of the KU MPA pro-gram. He was the Executive Director of ICMA from 1967 to 1983 and served as the President of ICMA from 1964 to 65. A scholarship in Mark’s name to a KU MPA stu-dent was funded by ICMA and KUCIMAT colleagues.
Heather Getha-Taylor appointed to PPM BoardAssistant Professor Heather Getha-Taylor has been appointed to the editorial board of the jour-nal, Public Personnel Management. She will serve a three-year term.
Four MPA Students have articles accepted by PA TimesLast fall, students in Professor Heather Getha-Taylor’s PUAD 834 (Human Resource Manage-ment) class were asked to prepare an adaptation of their final paper for PA Times. The publica-tion covers topics of interest for both academics and practitioners and is produced by the Ameri-can Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Professor Getha-Taylor and the authors of the top four adaptations, Heather Eastlund, Carey Humble, Marilyn Minter Franklin and Robert Soria worked together to prepare the entries for submission. All four articles were accepted for PA Times Online. Each ad-dresses an emergent or enduring issue in human resource management, including: implementing broadbanding, setting compensation, balancing opportunities and challenges for teleworking, and improving labor-management relations. Congratulations to our MPA student authors!
School of Public Affairs and Administration:
Super People, Activities and Achievements
June, 201315
Generally individuals receive training when they first move into a supervisory role. But over time they identify new areas where they’d like to hone their skills as their role evolves, the workforce changes, and new research on effective management practices emerges. For this reason, the KU Public Management Center offers a three-day Supervisory Leadership Training (SLT) course designed to enhance skills and equip class participants with new strate-gies to manage staff effectively.
When asked about his experience in this course, Chris Schneweis from Johnson County Government said he enjoyed being challenged “to look at different management styles, trends, and practices. I found SLT to be beneficial
because the topics we explored/discussed were relevant, and it made for good conversation amongst the other members in the group.”
Indeed, the course is designed so that class participants, and in turn their departments/agencies, benefit from the ideas in the course materials as well as the diversity of the participants themselves. Since the students usually hail from a variety of public service organizations, discussions are robust and reflect a variety of perspectives and years of experience.
One past participant, Lyn Wolz, Library Director at the KU Edwards campus, cites the interaction with other participants as key to putting the classroom material into action. “I really liked the opportunity to compare experi-ences with people from other types of institutions and agencies, especially working in small groups to generate ideas about how to solve real-life challenges. And it was fun!”
Schneweis agreed. “I would strongly recommend the course.”
KU Public Management Center
Emerging Leadership Academy for Fall, 2013
The Emerging Leaders Academy is a succession plan-ning program targeted to promising, non-managerial staff to help them prepare for leadership roles in their departments and agencies. Participants meet together ten times over five months, with classes designed to help them hone their skills for positions of increasing responsibility while also growing their effectiveness in their current roles.
ELA participants gain knowledge and skills in leader-ship, organizational dynamics, communication, and career planning to help them identify and achieve their professional goals while increasing their effectiveness as public servants. Agencies gain a more prepared and engaged talent pool to draw from as they plan for the future. We offer ELA twice each year, with one session in the spring and one in the fall.
Where: For fall 2013, the course will be offered in Wichita, the Kansas City area and Topeka
When: August - December (10 meetings in Wichita). Other locations will start in September, with dates posted soon on our website.
Cost: $1,150 per participant
For more information and/or to register, visit:www.kupmc.org
The Heart of True Leadership: Training Supervisors for Today’s Workplace
The next three-day Supervisory Leadership Training courses will be offered:
•September 17-19, 2013, 8:30-4:30 each day, KU Public Management Center, Topeka, Kansas
•December 3-5, 2013, 8:30-4:30 each day, KU Edwards Campus, BEST Building, Over-land Park, Kansas.
For more information and/or to register, visit www.kupmc.org.
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save the date for icma 201399th Annual
ICMA ConferenceBoston, MassachusettsSeptember 22-25, 2013
Visit the ICMA Conference website for all the important information: Registration and Housing open on June 3 Join the conversation on twitter and Facebook Preliminary program now available Become a conference sponsor Take a tour of Boston on ICMA tv Become a member of ICMA
Plan to attend the following workshops, presented by School of Public Affairs & Administration faculty:
John Nalbandian: ICMA University WorkshopPolitically Acceptable and Administratively Feasible: Governing Body and Staff in PartnershipSunday, September 22nd, 8:00am-12:00 p.m.
This workshop will focus on the political values that underpin community building and public policy making and the different perspectives that elected officials and professional staff bring to governing processes. The political values—representation, efficiency, social equity, and individual rights—un-derpin democratic government, and politics is a process which determines how those values should be allocated in a community. A healthy governing body/staff relationship is enhanced with an un-derstanding that there are no “correct” answers to conflicts in political values. One major challenge to an effective council/staff relationship is that council and staff operate within different “constellations of logic;” translators are needed to help join the arenas of “political acceptability” with “administra-tively feasibility.” The workshop will explore the values, the attributes of the high performing council,
and differences in council-staff perspectives. We will use case examples and exercises as well as a lecture format.
Marilu Goodyear and Susan Mays: ICMA University ForumThe Human Side of Collaboration: Trust, Accountability and Willingness to CollaborateSunday, September 22, 12:45–2:45 p.m.
In today’s environment, many leaders are exploring new ways of delivering services, including collaborating with other organizations. In these collaborative arrangements we seek relation-ships that offer both accountability and trust as we work together toward common goals. And yet we understand very little about how individuals decide to trust and hold each other account-able. This session will explore the human side of the collaborative public service using exercises and case studies that explore the decision to collaborate and means of ensuring success.
Other Events of interest for KUCIMATS:• KUCIMAT Banquet: Sunday evening following the Opening Reception• Eldon Fields Colloquium: Subject: Collaboration Across Boundaries: Ten Compelling Ideas. Monday September 23,
2:30 -3:40 p.m., presented by Rosemary O’Leary, SPAA’s Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor• KUCIMAT Board Meeting: Tuesday, September 24, 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
