PPA Newsletter

Kudos to the many in the PPA community who attended Congressman John Lewis' presentation at CSUS on January 11 and helped make that event such a success. I imagine that many of you had the same feeling that I did: his remarks reminded us of what we're all trying to accomplish in the policy world. It was a truly inspirational talk about the struggle for civil rights and the civil rights legacy.

UPCOMING EVENTS

We have a number of other upcoming events that should interest many. All of the following events are free and open to PPA students, alumni, faculty, and friends.

1. "Integrating Change Management Into your Organization." Eileen Jacobowitz of EJC Consulting will make this presentation from noon to 1:00 on Thursday, February 6. The event will be held at the "Ziggurat Building" (i.e., the old Money Store, pyramid type building), 707 Third Street, West Sacramento, just across the river from downtown Sacramento. The presentation is sponsored by the local chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. For more information contact Richard Hill at 376-5070.

2. "Coping with the State Exam and Political Appointment Processes." Alumni representatives will talk about the nuts and bolts of getting state jobs. The exact date has not yet been set but it likely will occur over lunch on a Friday in late February or March; watch my e-mail messages for further details.

3. "The Dark Side of Patriotism: The History of the Pledge of Allegiance." My friend and graduate school colleague Richard Ellis will make this presentation, which will focus on the Pledge as a citizenship rite that reflects coercive aspects of American identity. The talk will be on the afternoon on either March 26 or March 27; I'll provide you with more details soon. Ellis is a professor of politics at Willamette University in Oregon and author or coauthor of several provocative books about American politics including Democratic Delusions: The Initiative Process in America, Presidential Lightning Rods: The Politics of Blame Avoidance, The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America, and American Political Culture.

ELECTIVE CLASS COURSE SEQUENCES

You'll recall that last summer for the first time we offered a course on collaborative decision making (PPA 296H) taught by David Booher; that class was very well regarded. David is currently teaching the second course in the sequence (PPA 296J). We will repeat the sequence over the next academic year (with PPA 296H again being offered in the summer), so current students will have another chance to take these elective courses.
Additionally, Professor Miguel Ceja will offer two higher education elective courses next academic year. We obtained approval for the second course (PPA 296K, Higher Education Leadership) too late to allow students to easily fit it into their spring 2003 schedules. Also, I would emphasize that students with strong management interests should strongly consider taking PPA 296K next year even if they don't think of themselves as higher education specialists, because the course will deal with leadership challenges relevant to people in many organizations.

CLEANING UP THE E-MAIL LISTS, AGAIN

Once again, send me a note if you want to change your e-mail address for the regular PPA list or the alumni list (the latter of which is limited to PPA alumni and faculty). While I think many alumni will want to change to the latter list, I'll tell you that one alumnus wrote me that he wanted to remain on the regular list because he liked getting the notices about syllabi, etc.-- it was reassuring to him that he didn't have to worry about course requirements! On that note, I'll sign off until the next newsletter.

Ted Lascher
PPA Department Chair

COMMUNICATOR