February 2009 Texas ASPA/CPM Conference

by Howard Balanoff, SCPM Chair

On Friday February 20, 2009, more than 150 ASPA and Texas CPM alumni, faculty and students attended the Annual Texas American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and Texas Certified Public Manager (CPM) Conference which was held at Texas State University’s Higher Education Learning Center in Round Rock, Texas. The annual conference was sponsored by the Texas Chapters of ASPA, The Public Manager and Texas State University’s William P. Hobby Center for Public Service.

The 2009 conference coordinators were Dr. Ken Matwiczak, Senior Lecturer at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and Dr. Howard Balanoff, Professor & Director of the Texas CPM Program and Texas State University’s William P. Hobby Center for Public Service. Also, attending and participating in the Conference was ASPA President Don Klingner.

The 2009 Texas Conference featured 12 breakouts and 2 plenary sessions.
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Faculty and students from the University of Texas at Pan American and members of the Texas Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Chapter of ASPA are shown at the Texas ASPA & CPM Conference.

Delivering the plenary presentation was the Honorable Gregory W. Engle, Diplomat-in-Residence at the University Of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School Of Public Affairs; Ambassador Engle is also the former Managing Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq and the former Ambassador to the Togolese Republic. The title of his presentation was “Opportunities and Challenges in International Public Management”. Former Texas Lt. Governor Bill Hobby was in attendance and introduced Ambassador Engle to the audience.

In addition to the Hobby Distinguished Lecture, Mr. Harvey Kronberg, noted Texas political analyst and editor of the Quorum Report, conducted a plenary session on the current politics and activities of Texas Government and the Texas Legislative Session.

The Texas ASPA & CPM Conference featured a series of breakout panels which focused on the conference theme “Opportunities and Challenges for Public Service.” Panels were sponsored by the Texas CPM Program, Texas ASPA Chapters and Public Administration Programs at Texas universities around the state.