College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Lofty goals

Public administration program hopes to reach objectives quickly.
Kurt Thurmaier has hit the ground running.

It's a good thing - considering the goals the new director of the public administration program within the Department of Political Science and his fellow faculty members have set.

Since Thurmaier's appointment began on July 1, he and the other core members of the public administration program have held numerous strategic planning sessions. He has been so focused on his new job that boxes remain to be unpacked in his office.

"The faculty all took time out from their summer to come in and help give me guidance on where the public administration program should be heading," he said. "It also gives us a jump on obtaining accreditation for the program."

Accreditation of the Master's of Public Administration Program by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) is Thurmaier and his faculty's top priority.

"The most important goal is for us to gain national accreditation," he said. "It's the key to the future of the program."

There is currently no accredited public administration program within the state of Iowa. Even before Thurmaier's arrival at Iowa State from the University of Kansas, faculty members were hard at work to lay the groundwork for accreditation.

Last year, the public administration program became a semi-autonomous unit within the Department of Political Science. The program offers a professional master’s degree. Undergraduate courses are taught, but those will remain within the Department of Political Science's offerings. The degree program is designed to educate students for careers in management and administration at the federal, state and local levels of government, and in the related areas in the private and nonprivate sectors of the economy.

There are very distinctive roles that each academic discipline employs.

" Political science is more general and theoretical," said Yong Lee, professor of political science and one of four core public administration faculty members. "Public administration degrees tend to evolve into more practical governance administration courses."

Thurmaier estimates that it will be a two-year process for Iowa State’s public administration program to become accredited. The program will develop a self-study this year, during which alumni of the program will be surveyed. He hopes to submit the self-study to NASPAA by next September.

"This is an ambitious goal," he said. "But national accreditation is the major way we will attract new students and outstanding faculty into the program."

Accreditation isn't the only goal the program has set in the summer strategic planning sessions.

Thurmaier feels that Iowa State has an opportunity to become a leader in E-Government (Electronic Government) education.

"E-Government is the future of government globally, not only on the national level, but also for local and state governments, and non-profit organizations," he said. "Information technology has transformed the way we interact with government."

Information technology has enabled governments at all levels to get information quickly and more efficiently to the public. Budgets and zoning regulations are now available on governmental web sites. Citizens can pay utility bills or sign up for park and recreation classes through the Internet.

Chat rooms, bulletin boards and other public forums on the Internet are beginning to supplement traditional open forums for many governments.

Governments are using computer technology to establish consortiums to more effectively purchase goods and services.

"E-Government has the potential to save millions of dollars for the taxpayer," Thurmaier said. "But there are very few public administration programs developing a core curriculum in E-Government."

Iowa State is primed with its strong programs in information assurance and other science and technology areas to become a leader in E-Government according to Thurmaier.

"Any public administration program's bottom line should be to improve the way government works," Thurmaier says. "Developing an E-Government program is one way we can do that and be unique."