Sept. 4, 2001

Briefs

Five Receive Harlow Scholarships
Five GW graduate students have received Bryce Harlow Foundation Scholarships to help pursue degrees in public policy, business, political management, and law. The program began in 1985 and provides financial support for part-time graduate students who work full time and demonstrate strong academic skills in a field that may lead to a career in business-government relations. GW students were selected to receive five of the 10 awards issued this year. The winners are: Maureen Benitz, legislative correspondent for Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R–NJ); Cary Gibson, legislative assistant for Rep. Shelley Berkley (D–NV); Robert Letteney, legislative assistant for Rep. John Oliver (D–MA); Thomas McElligott, program manager for the American Bankers Association; and Phillip Schoolcraft, government relations assistant for MetLife. The awards are a mixture of $3,000 full- and $1,500 half-scholarships.

Elliott School Latin American Studies Program On the Move
The Latin American Studies Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs is entering a new era. With dedicated resources from ESIA, the program has a new director and, for the first time, a full-time program coordinator. According to Director Jim Ferrer, they will be dedicated to increasing the profile of the program, both at home and abroad, and to raising revenues in order to expand the program. Ferrer, who was appointed to the position on July 1, says his goal is to “help make the GW Latin American Studies Program the premiere program of its kind in the nation.”

Working with the School of Business and Public Management’s Center for Latin American Issues (CLAI) and the Institute of Brazilian Issues (IBI), the Latin American Studies Program has made concrete plans for growth. Five courses will be added to the LAS curriculum over the next three years, including “Brazil Since Independence,” which will be offered for the first time in spring 2002. The GW/University of Brasilia study abroad program will begin in January 2002, offering undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to develop language skills and academic credentials as they study with Brazilian students and engage in dialogue with local government and business officials. Efforts have begun to establish fellowships to attract top US and Latin American students.

The program continues several events that have helped establish its solid reputation among Latin American leaders. The Andean Seminars on Politics and Culture enters its 16th year under the leadership of co-chairs Cynthia McClintock and Marie Price. The seminars attract a growing audience of academics, activists, and government officials, providing opportunities for high-level discussions examining topics such as the recent Peruvian presidential elections, prospects for peace in Colombia, and indigenous movements throughout the region.

Fulbright Links GW and Cairo University Public Service Depts.
The George Washington University Department of Public Administration recently received a Fulbright Foundation grant to support a joint venture between the department and Cairo University.

The prestigious award will allow the respective schools to exchange faculty members over the next two years to confer on curriculum developments facing the two programs. The goal of the venture is to improve the curricula of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees at GW and CU by sharing ideas and teaching strategies of the Egyptian and American faculty members. Five public administration faculty members from Cairo will spend three weeks at GW twice over the next two years. Similarly, four GW faculty members from the public administration department will spend three weeks on two separate trips to Cairo. While the faculty members are at each other’s campuses, they will observe classroom teaching, attend special lectures, and visit pertinent government agencies. While the GW professors are in Cairo in January 2002, their Egyptian colleagues will host an academic conference on “Public Administration and the Citizen in the 21st Century.” Both team members will present papers during the conference, which also will be attended by faculty members from other universities across the Middle East.

GW faculty participating in this unique opportunity include: Kathryn Newcomer, department chair and a specialist on performance-oriented management and the measurement and evaluation of public and nonprofit program performance; Michael Harmon, a specialist on public administration theory, particularly ethics and responsibility in government; Jed Kee, whose work focuses on contracting out public services and intergovernmental relations in federal systems; and Jennifer Brinkerhoff, who specializes on development administration and the management of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). All four faculty members have had extensive international consulting and training experience, though this will be the first trip to Cairo for each of them.

The Cairo University team members include: Attia Affandi, department chair and a specialist on non-governmental organization management and public administration theory; Salwa Gomaa, a specialist on environmental public policies; Samir Abdel Wahab, a specialist on human resource management; Hassan Elwani, specialist on research methods in public administration and organizational behavior; and Laila El Baradei specialist on foreign aid management and the management of international organizations.

The partnership is expected to result in a number of benefits for both parties. The issue of civil service reform is at the forefront of the Egyptian government’s priorities, and upgrading the public administration graduate program may contribute to the success of the reform efforts. The new courses developed at CU also will benefit a wide range of students, whether from Egypt or from other Arab countries. The GW staff is expected to benefit from the partnership in developing cases about the Egyptian public administration to be used in the various graduate courses, and to work on developing their field of concentration for students in development administration.

 

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