March 19, 2008
Written by Gabriel Cardenas

Over a thousand public administrators from all over the globe attended the 69th annual American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Conference in Dallas, Texas in early March. The conference brought practitioners, academics, and students together for five days to exchange information and research, provide training, and network. The theme of the conference was "Transformational Public Administration: A Call for Public Service."

Former Colorado Governor Bill Owens gave the opening keynote address entitled, "Solving the Infrastructure Gap." In his speech, he encouraged the public sector to work together with the private sector when building infrastructure.

Other notable speakers and honorees at the conference included: Dr. Edward J. Blakely, Executive Director of Recovery Management for the City of New Orleans; Dr. Robert B. Denhardt, Director of School of Public Affairs for Arizona State University; Ms. Addie Mix, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Reclaim a Youth (RAY); Ms. Theresa Parker, Executive Director for the California Housing Finance Agency, and Mr. David Smith, County Administrator for Maricopa County, Arizona. Each was honored with the Elliot Richardson Lecture Series Award, Donald C. Stone Lecture Award, Gloria Hobson Nordin Social Equity Award, and National Public Service Awards, respectively.

Several CenTex ASPA members participated in workshops and panel discussions in topics involving environmental policy, accountability, social equity, and budgeting. Notably, Dr. Patricia Shields provided a seminar for students and new public administrators on her popular Step by Step workbook technique, and Dr. Howard Balanoff hosted a professional workshop involving current public administrators, a former elected officials.

At the conference, CenTex ASPA had an information booth, which was sponsored by Dr. Shields. The Texas Department of Transportation and the City of San Marcos supplied the booth with promotional items such as "Don't Mess with Texas" stickers, memo pads, and visitor guides.

CenTex ASPA was recognized at the conference's award ceremony with the Newsletter Award for 2008.