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NOTA BENE
...the Fellows Newsletter |
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Officers of the Academy
2007 to 2008
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At its November meeting, the Academy Board of Directors appointed the 2007-2008 Academy Officers. Join us in congratulating the following Directors on their new leadership positions!
J. Christopher Mihm
Chair of the Board
Michael C. Rogers
Vice Chair
Kristine M. Marcy
Secretary
Franklin S. Reeder
Treasurer |
WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION AND PREPAREDNESS PLANNING |
As officials and residents in California  continue to cope with the effects of this Fall’s major wildfires, Academy Fellows have been available to provide context and to comment on a series of major reports the Academy issued in recent years on wildfire mitigation for the U.S. Congress and the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior.
Among the issues discussed in the reports:
- Suggestions on approaches to community development and planning that would minimize the vulnerability of homes.
- Recommendations on long-term strategies to reduce the buildup over time of excess natural fuels that feed wildfires.
- Generating fire prevention funds through commercial uses for flammable materials removed from burnable lands.
- Community organizing principles to build long-term hazard mitigation planning groups.
- Recommendations on training a specialized corps of advisers with experience in real-time, day-to-day allocation of equipment, funding and other resources in fighting major fires.
Read the Academy's most recent report on wildfires.
Access the Academy's wildfire report archive.
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Taking environmental protection to the next level |
Each newsletter, we bring you an in-depth look at one of our recently completed studies  and one
of our ongoing projects. This month, we are pleased to share with you the results of an innovative study designed to usher in a new era of outcome-oriented water quality improvements that can bring clean and healthy waters within reach throughout the United States.
Taking Environmental Protection to the Next Level is a recent Academy Panel report that urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take the lead in creating new partnerships to pursue a comprehensive effort to clean up the polluted waters of America to health.
The report calls for giving special attention to reducing agricultural and urban runoff created from everyday activities, like fertilizing lawns, driving cars or washing dishes. It notes that, despite many years of concerted effort by federal, state and local environmental agencies to control pollution from municipal and industrial wastewater, polluted waters continue to be a serious national problem.
According to Panel chair Jonathan B. Howes, “Nearly 40,000 bodies of water, located in every U.S. state and territory, remain polluted or ‘impaired.’ This vast problem cannot be solved by simply adding more and better wastewater treatment plants.” The Panel’s recommendations provide a blueprint for implementing important new practices for controlling urban and agricultural runoff as part of the nation’s water pollution control program. Consistent with the partnership approach endorsed by the Panel, many of these practices are voluntary, incentive-driven or market-based.
EPA developed and is testing this new comprehensive approach in the six-State-plus-DC Chesapeake Bay watershed. According to the Panel, unprecedented partnerships and innovative land management practices are being demonstrated there. But accomplishing such innovative clean-ups will be challenging for EPA, as the agency must continue to effectively carry out its traditional regulatory role, even as it embraces new partnerships with other federal, state and local government agencies and stakeholders.
Read Taking Environmental Protection to the Next Level.
Read the summary report.
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ORGANIZING CARE FOR RETURNING WAR VETERANS: AN ACADEMY STUDY
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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has primary responsibility for providing comprehensive services and benefits to former members of the armed forces. It does so through, among other services, the nation’s largest integrated health care system that includes hospitals, community clinics, nursing homes, residential facilities, readjustment counseling centers and home-care programs. In addition, VA reimburses and pays for medical care that may be provided to eligible veterans by non-VA facilities in medical emergency situations.
In recent months, public attention has been drawn to media and other reports detailing challenges at veterans' hospitals and the need to ensure a seamless transition and appropriate care for wounded warriors and other veterans. The Academy is studying the effectiveness of the organizational structure, management and coordination processes that VA uses to provide health care and benefits to active duty personnel and veterans. This work is designed to complement the findings and recommendations of recent task forces and commissions focused on returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Led by William Hamm, the Panel overseeing this study will assess:
- whether health care and benefits are provided in a way that is seamless, effective, efficient and equitable
- whether there is sufficient coordination between VA and the Department of Defense
- whether VA’s management, staffing and management policies and processes are adequate for this purpose
- what performance measures are appropriate for managing and determining the effectiveness of VA’s efforts to provide a seamless transition
- what roles service providers play in transition and what unique conditions or issues apply to returning national guard and reservists
Read more about this study.
Read the 1997 Academy report on the Veterans Compensation and Pension Program.
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THE 7TH ANNUAL SOCIAL EQUITY LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE |
CELEBRATING FORTY YEARS |
Join us for the 7th Annual Social Equity Leadership Conference! This year’s conference will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on February 7 to 9, 2008. The conference, sponsored by the Academy and Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs, brings together leaders in public administration and public policy from the Academy, government and the community. Through plenary sessions and panel discussions, participants will assess the current state of equity and examine ways to advance social justice equity in the United States.
This year’s theme is Social Equity and Urban Governance.
Major speakers include:
Raul Yzaguirre, former President and CEO of the National Council
of La Raza
Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
Frank Fairbanks, City Manager, City of Phoenix
H. George Fredrickson, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, University of Kansas
Valerie A. Lemmie, former Chair, Board of Directors,
National Academy of Public Administration
Harvey White, President, American Society
for Public Administration
For more information, please contact James H. Svara, Chair, SELC Planning Committee, Director, Center for Urban Innovation and Professor of Public Affairs or Mary Appah, Research Associate and Social Equity Panel Staff Liason of the National Academy of Public Administration. |
The Academy was proud to hold our 40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner last month at the historic Willard Hotel, in downtown Washington, DC. Thanks to all of our Fellows and guests who made the evening such a great and memorable success.
View our video montage of highlights:
Windows Media Player or
QuickTime |
 
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National Academy Awards The New Environmental Regulation with 2007 Brownlow Book Award |
 The Academy is pleased to announce the winner of the 2007 Louis Brownlow Book Award, the top literary prize in public administration literature. This year’s winner is The New Environmental Regulation, by Academy Fellow Daniel Fiorino. Fiorino received the award at the Academy’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Growing concerns about environmental pollution were addressed by the federal government in the 1960s and 1970s by drawing from well-established sets of strategies and tools. These strategies and tools were based on designs of bureaucratic, top-down intervention, as well as the long-standing assumption that only government coercion would lead to necessary changes in industry.
In The New Environmental Regulation, however, Fiorino suggests that now is the time for a transition to the new environmental regulation. This new environmental regulation follows the new forms of governance which emphasize vertical and horizontal relationships equally, via networks and hierarchy. Fiorino is Director of the National Environmental Performance Track at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Chaired by Norman Johnson, the 2007 Louis Brownlow Book Award Committee was composed of Nanette Blandin and James Banovetz. Since 1968, the Academy has given the award to the year’s most outstanding example of a literary work that provides new insights, fresh analysis and original ideas on a significant development, a government agency’s performance or another public administration or public policy topic.
Read more about Brownlow Book Award. |
JOHNS HOPKINS GRAUDATE STUDENT RECEIVES ROBACK SCHOLARSHIP |
The Academy recently announced Christopher Lee Rosson as the 2007 recipient of the Herbert Roback Scholarship. Rosson is pursuing a Master of Arts in International Economics at The Johns Hopkins University with a specialization in Middle East Studies and International Development. Rosson graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from William Jewell College, and studied previously at Oxford University.
Members of this year’s scholarship selection committee were John Shannon, DeWitt John, Diane Disney and Warren Buhler.
Click here for more information on the Roback Scholarship.
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WELCOMING THE 2007 HONORARY FELLOWS |
 Lee H. Hamilton is President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University. He served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana’s Ninth District. During his tenure, Congressman Hamilton served as Chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations). Since leaving the House, he has served as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century and Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission.
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 Norman Y. Mineta served in Congress for more than 20 years and in the Cabinet of both Republican and Democratic presidents prior to joining Hill & Knowlton as Vice Chairman. Well known for his work in the areas of transportation and national security, Secretary Mineta is recognized for his accomplishments in economic development, science and technology policy, foreign and domestic trade, budgetary issues and civil rights. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor.
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Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, has served as Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University since September 2002. She came to Princeton from Harvard Law School, where she was the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law and Director of the International Legal Studies Program. Dean Slaughter is a frequent contributor to national and international news media.
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