Okay folks, it is only February, 2007 and—assuming you will be 35 by the end of next year—there is still time to declare your candidacy for U.S. president. After all, you may not want to stand out from the crowd because you have decided to forego this opportunity, when sometimes it appears everyone else finds it irresistible. Why, I’m not sure.
PPA MENTORS PROGRAM
By now most of you have seen my announcement about the new PPA mentor initiative (for more information go to http://www.csus.edu/mppa/mentor/). I want to take this chance to express my strong hope that people will use this program. For years our enthusiastic alums have stressed not only their willingness but their eagerness to help out newer students. Also for years incoming students have emphasized their desire to obtain a better “lay of the land” re professional opportunities. I think the new program is a way to link these goals, and I hope many will take advantage of it.
SUMMER COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE COURSE: PLEASE CONTACT DAVID BOOHER
Earlier we solicited interest in the summer 2007 collaborative governance course, PPA 296L. Unfortunately we ended up with a couple of different lists of potentially interested folks. Even if you’ve contacted us previously, I would be grateful it if you would write David Booher at dbooher@berkeley.edu if you have definitely decided to enroll. Please accept my apologies if you have already let us know you want to take the class.
CONGRATULATIONS, TIM HODSON
Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed our own Tim Hodson to the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Tim is Executive Director of the Center for California Studies and a PPA professor.
READ “RULES OF THE GAME”!*
I strongly recommend that you read “Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in the Community Colleges.”* This study, authored by Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP) Executive Director (and PPA faculty member) Nancy Shulock and IHELP Research Program Specialist (and PPA alumna) Colleen Moore has been receiving much attention in The Sacramento Bee and elsewhere. Rightly so! The report offers careful analysis of a major public policy problem in California. But I recommend people read it for another reason as well: it is a model of clear writing that makes points succinctly, uses charts and graphs effectively, and draws substantive public policy implications from data analysis. And it does all this in a mere 16 pages, including footnotes.
AN HONOR FOR THE CENTER FOR COLLABORATIVE POLICY
Bill Leach, Research Director for the Center for Collaborative Policy and a frequent guest speaker in our collaboration courses, was one of 12 national experts chosen by the Government Accounting Office to help assess collaborative resource management. It is notable that major national agencies look to people at Sacramento State for guidance regarding collaborative decision making.
MPPA, CLASS OF 2034
PPA students/alums have sent us small fry news. We welcome Nathan Robert Parkhurst Hoggatt, born to recent alum Gary Hoggatt’s wife Emily Parkhurst. We also welcome current student Shauna Pellman’s son Ben, born at the very end of last year—“easy birth, easy baby” according to his mom.
Ted Lascher
PPA Department Chair
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