The National Academy of Public Administration

Current Projects

Educational Program on the Intergovernment System for Congress Program Panel

Client/Funder

Self-funded

Background
To overcome the misunderstandings about intergovernmental relations at the federal level, the Academy determined there was a need to sponsor efforts to assist the Congress. It established a small program panel in 2005, whose study efforts involved a literature and website reviews, interviews with experts and congressional aides, and its own deliberations to produce a memorandum to the President of the Academy regarding the design of a congressional briefing series for 2006.

The Panel recommended that current issues of concern become the focal point of these briefings and that Academy Fellows and other experts bring intergovernmental perspectives into the interactive discussions with senior congressional aides. The series is intended to help these aides serve the elected Senators and Representatives deal with important issues where the intergovernmental system is involved.

Panel

Charlie Wise(Chair) Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University. Former positions with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University: Associate Dean; Associate Professor; Assistant Professor; Director, Graduate Programs in Public Affairs; Director, Undergraduate Programs in Public Affairs. Former positions with the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice: Director of Intergovernmental Affairs; Special Assistant for Policy Analysis.

Ron Boster - Special Advisor, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; Adjunct Professor, Center for Public Administration and Policy, Virginia Polytechnic and State University; Fellow, Krieger School, Johns Hopkins University. Former Vice President and Director of Business and Government Policy, Committee for Economic Development; Staff Director, Budget Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; Chief of Staff to three members of Congress; Economist and Policy Analyst, U. S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior.

Gail Christopher - Vice President, Office of Health, Women and Families, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Former Guest Scholar, The Brookings Institution; Executive Director, Institute for Government Innovation, JFK School of Government, Harvard University; Co-Chair, Advisory Board, Alliance for Redesigning Government, National Academy of Public Administration; National Director and Creator, Americans All K-12 National Multicultural Educators Training Program;Associate for Development and Program Design, School of Divinity, Information and Services Clearinghouse, Howard University; National Director and Principal Architect, National Reclaim Our Youth Violence Prevention Program; Executive Director, Family Resource Coalition of America; Member, Vice President’s Advisory Commission on Customer Service.

Tim Conlan - Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University. Former Assistant Staff Director, Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations; Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.

John Kincaid - Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University. Former Assistant Staff Director, Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations; Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.

2005 Panel Meetings

Meeting 1	April 29, 2005	(posted 4/25/05)

Meeting 2	November 17, 2005

2006 National Academy of Public Administration. All rights reserved.
900 7th Street, N.W., Suite 600 Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-347-3190 Fax: 202-393-0993
Academy Staff Only | Contact Webmaster | Privacy Policy

Board of Directors Meeting
May 31 - June 2
Washington, DC

Academy Calendar

Academy Fellow Publishes Memories

“Apartheid South Africa was on fire around me.” So begins the memoir of Academy Fellow and Career Foreign Service Officer Edward J. Perkins, the first black U.S. ambassador to South Africa.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan gave him an unparalleled assignment: dismantle apartheid without violence. As he fulfilled this assignment, Perkins faced enormous challenges posed by the American media, Afrikaner government, white South African citizens, and initially black South African revolutionaries. It was Perkins’ advice to President-elect George H.W. Bush that helped modify American policy and hasten the release of Nelson Mandela and others from prison.

Perkins’s up-by-your-bootstraps life took him from a cotton farm in segregated Louisiana to the U.S. Foreign Service, where he became the first black officer to ascend to the top position of director general.

This is the story of how one man turned the page of history.

Buy“Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace”

The views expressed in this book are those of the Fellow. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Academy as an institution.

Mr Edward J. Perkins First black U.S. ambassador to South Africa