I’ve finished the Edwin O. Stene Master’s Program in Public Administration (MPA degree) at the University of Kansas, and I recently was hooded.

Here are a couple of pictures from the graduation banquet:

I started this program 2 years ago, having never been to campus before I accepted and having never lived outside of the State of Georgia.  I applied on the recommendation of a mentor and professor at the University of Georgia, and I was accepted to the program (just barely).

I’ve moved to Kansas, been to Richmond and Montreal for ICMA conferences, made many new friends (who I already miss), worked in new places (the Unified Government and Jefferson County), found a job in and moved to Colorado, and become engaged (and getting married in a month).  These have been a grueling, but refreshing, two years for this fresh-out-of-undergrad guy from Georgia.  And I can’t believe it is already over (but really, the journey has just begun).

It still seems like just yesterday when I was sitting in that classroom in Blake Hall, listening to Professor John Nalbandian (pictured above, hooding me) as the tornado sirens went off outside on that first day.  Wow.

Other updates will be forthcoming (I have a job!).

The articles are written by Ron Carlee, the former county manager for Arlington County, Virginia, and the Executive in Residence and Director for Domestic Strategic Initiatives for ICMA.  Ron’s first post on the Huffington Post explains what a city manager or county administrator is, why the council-manager form of local government came about, and about the profession in general.  Overall, it is an excellent introduction to the profession for anyone to read (especially family members who might not be able to explain what we do).

Ron’s second article responds to some criticism of his first article (it was really only two people who did the criticizing).

In the most recent post, Ron responds to questions about the ethics of writing on a liberal leaning website.  Ethics, and following the ICMA Code of Ethics, is the strongest tenet of ICMA membership, and I can see from the post that Ron and the ICMA are not taking this question lightly:

The Tenet and the Guidelines do not prohibit expression of opinions on issues, political ideas, or the association with people with political ideas. This I confirmed with the ICMA director of ethics. Publishing a non-partisan blog on this site it not a violation of Code of Ethics; however, not being a violation of the Code doesn’t make something a good idea.

I’m proud to see that ICMA has started a blog in a widely read website.

Many aspects of the [city or county] manager’s job remain the same: keeping the council informed, providing continuity and stability, telling the council what it does not necessarily want to hear, and balancing short-run interests against a long-run, “greater good” perspective. The difference between now and ten years ago is in the emphasis on the facilitative role of the manager.

This is my chosen and learned profession, and I’m excited.

Fellows must be recently graduated from an MPA program.  The Fellows acquire a position with an affiliated local government to work and get a real world introduction to local government management.  Just like my MPA program at the University of Kansas.

The University of Georgia has one participant in the Fellowship (KU has none, which isn’t surprising because of its own internship program).  5 Fellows (of 13) were placed with Georgia local governments.  I’m proud that my home state is taking so many of these local government students; this bodes well for management and government in Georgia.

And, the Fellowship program even has a blog.

Our organizations will need to fundamentally adapt as these newcomers enter the workforce and take on positions of leadership. This point is magnified by data from ICMA, as 71% of city and county executives were under the age of 40 in 1971, while only 13% were under 40 in 2006.

That is an incredible statistic, and I think it shows the near-term challenge that local governments across the nation face. Even though this is a tough time for everyone, I couldn’t be more excited about starting my career in local government.

The Annual Conference is in Richmond, Virginia this year. You can follow the happenings on the ICMA 2008 Annual Conference blog (run on WordPress!).