SECoPA Conference

I recently attended the Southeastern Conference on Public Administration (SECoPA) also known as District Three of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). I have been active in both ASPA and SECoPA since I was in graduate school in the early 80's.  This annual conference is a great mix of academics and practitioners, as well as a few of us pracacademics! There are many people who work in higher education, but are not on faculty, that do our type of work.

I enjoy this conference because I can learn about research that is going on across the southeast and beyond. This is the best regional conference in the nation on public administration, so folks come from all over the country to present and attend. I attended a session on "Finding Accountability Amidst the Rubble" that addressed a series of issues regarding disaster preparedness and response.  Equally interesting panels addressed "Strengthening Regional Economies and Building Up Communities" and "Performance Management and Human Resources."

We are fortunate that faculty members across the nation are researching these issues and that practitioners are putting the information to use at the local and state level. I am always looking for information that I can bring back to IPS and put to good use. I encourage you to be actively involved in professional organizations so that you can learn and grow both personally and professionally.