COMMUNICATOR

Greetings all. With the new semester now in full swing– and the relief that comes from having a signed state budget, however shaky its foundations may be– people may be inclined to look toward upcoming events. Therefore I’ll use this column to inform our community about items of potential interest.

Center for California Studies’ “Envisioning California” Conference

Let me remind you that the Center for California Studies’ annual “Envisioning California Conference” will be held downtown at the Sacramento Convention Center on September 26-27. The conference focuses upon moving the state’s master plan for higher education into the 21st Century. The panels are free for current students. Details are available at the Center’s web site.

New Elective on Collaborative Policy Making

The Department plans to offer a new graduate course in Spring 2003
entitled "Practice of Collaborative PolicyMaking.” The course complements the very well received first semester course on collaborative decision making taught last summer. The new class will focus on topics such as negotiation, facilitation, public participation, collaborative leadership, and network management. These are methods that are used to help resolve complex and controversial public policy disputes. David Booher, Senior Policy Advisor at CSUS's California Center for Public Dispute Resolution, will teach the course. For more specific information about the class contact Mr. Booher at 445-2079 or dbooher@uclink4.berkeley.edu.

SAS, Anyone?

A couple of weeks ago I sent a message about interest in a summer course on the SAS statistical program. SAS is widely used in California state government. The class would be offered by Professor Randy MacIntosh of the Department of Sociology. Happily, several of our students and alumni expressed interest. Given that support, and the interest of many sociology students, it’s likely the class will indeed be offered. I’ll keep you informed about this topic as work progresses. In the meantime, send me a note if you missed my earlier message but want to express your interest.

Ted Lascher
PPA Department Chair

We welcome your contributions to the Communicator! Contact the Director, Ted Lascher, or the Department Secretary (916) 278-6557, in the PPA Department Office.

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