On the 10th-13th of March, more than 1552 people from the US and other countries attended ASPA's 62nd annual training conference in Newark, NJ. The conference was held on the campus of Rutgers University Newark. Several CenTex ASPA members attended, including 10 CenTex ASPA members and about 20 other Texans. Several CenTex ASPA members made presentations, represented the chapter and region at the National Council, participated in section and other ASPA business meetings, hosted an exhibit booth, and/or picked up or presented prestigious awards for outstanding achievements.
Awards
First, the awards. Longtime CenTex ASPA Council members Howard Balanoff and Mitchell Rice received special awards at ceremonies Monday night in the beautiful New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Howard received the Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Award, as well as recognition for being a 25-year member of ASPA. Mitchell Rice was one of nine ASPA members honored with a Presidential Citation of Merit by ASPA President Marc Holzer. Representing CenTex ASPA, Pat Shields, who was also honored as a 25-year member of ASPA, picked up the Strategic Plan Implementation Award First Prize -- and $1000 for the Chapter -- from ASPA President Elect Dan Ahern, Jr. For the fourth time, CenTex Chapter's newsletter, CenTex PA News, Bobby Seiferman, editor, was named outstanding chapter newsletter, picked up at the ceremony by Reuben Leslie, Jr., Webmaster, on Bobby's behalf. Kenneth J. Meier, Texas A&M, received an Editor's Choice award for his hard work and commitment as a PAR Editorial Board member. At the ceremony, Howard Balanoff was also presenter of the prestigious Oveta Culp Hobby Training Award, won this year by the Greater Kansas City Chapter for a suite of programs.Presentations
Pat Shields, SWT MPA Director and author of STEP-by-STEP, presented a well-attended pre-conference workshop on Saturday morning and was a featured author at the special book-signing event. Reuben Leslie, Jr., Texas DHS and Governor's Center for Management Development, presented "Practical Citizen Engagement Strategies" (online at http://www.io.com/~rlsd/rleslie2001aspa.htm) and is a discussant on the 2001 ASPA Virtual Conference, which began Monday, March 19 and concludes on Sunday, April 1 (see http://216.149.125.141/2001conf/virtualconf.asp for more). Mitchell Rice, Texas A&M, presented "Recent Developments in the Environmental Justice Movement". Eric Lindquist, Texas A&M, convened a panel on creating sustainable community programs and presented "Developing Local Transportation Programs". Donald Hall from the Texas Comptroller's Office in Austin presented on the panel on emergency and crisis management. About a dozen Texans from other chapters of ASPA also made presentations.National Council and other business meetings
Howard Balanoff and Reuben Leslie, Jr., both representing Region VIII (southwestern states) partipated in several meetings of the National Council during the conference. On Wednesday, Howard received commendation from outgoing President Marc Holzer, for completion of his three-year term on the Council. Reuben Leslie, Jr., who will serve one more year on the National Council, also participated in the meetings of the Executive Committee of the Section on Health and Human Service Administration, Chapter Webmasters, and Steering Group 2 (Pride in Public Service). Reuben was named Vice Chair for Steering Group 2 on the recommendation of President Elect, Glen Hahn Cope. The conference program was packed with great learning opportunities both on the Rutgers campus and nearby. Howard and Marilyn Balanoff participated in the conference's featured 'mobile workshop' tour of the United Nations, which included briefings about major projects by the UN staff -- perhaps a prototype for future tours for Howard's students.Exhibit Booth
Thanks to arrangements by Howard Balanoff and the William P. Hobby Center for Public Service at Southwest Texas State University, CenTex Chapter once again hosted a popular exhibit booth. Reuben Leslie, Jr., and Pat Shields staffed the booth. On display, in addition to information about SWT's Certified Public Manager and MPA programs were CenTex ASPA's other supporting organizations who subsidized members' conference attendance: Texas Department of Human Services (Family Pathfinders and Adopt-a-Nursing Home), Governor's Center for Management Development, and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Many current, former and prospective Texans visited the booth where brochures and a display based on CenTex ASPA's award-winning newsletter and its website highlighted the outstanding record of CenTex ASPA in collaborating with great partners for excellence in public service.Other Texans at the Conference
Former CenTex ASPA President and LBJ School Associate Dean, now Dean of Public Affairs and Provost, University of Illinois at Springfield, Glen Hahn Cope, became national ASPA's President Elect (her term as President will begin in March 2002). San Antonio City Manager Alexander Briseno received the prestigious National Public Service Award from ASPA and the National Academy of Public Administration. Larry D. Terry, editor-in-chief of ASPA's Public Administration Review, the premier journal of the public administration field, is moving to Texas from Cleveland State to become Associate Provost, University of Texas at Dallas, and he is moving the production of PAR to Dallas, along with PAR staff, which includes Doreen Heath, production manager, and Shelly Peffer, managing editor, who visited at the CenTex ASPA booth.More
More about the 2001 ASPA conference in Newark is on the national website at http://216.149.125.141/2001conf/default.asp. More photos and details are on the CenTex Chapter's website at http://www.main.org/aspa/picts/aspa2001photoalbum.htm.Next Year
Plan now to attend next year's conference in Phoenix, 23-26 March 2002. Have you done any interesting research lately? Has your agency, city, county, department, etc., accomplished anything significant and of interest to other practitioners lately? Why not consider proposing a panel presentation or paper for the 2002 conference? Proposals are due 15 July 2001 (see http://www.aspanet.org for a link to the conference site and downloadable form).by Reuben Leslie, Jr.