University of Wisconsin - Extension

For the UW-Extension Governmental Affairs Consortium (GAC), national acclaim has followed closely on the heels of regional recognition for a professional development program for legislative staff in the Wisconsin Assembly.

Less than one week after learning that the Assembly Staff Leadership Development Program would be recognized as the Outstanding Noncredit Program for 1999 by Region VI of the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE), GAC won a second award for its program from the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA).

"This program was an outstanding example of the kind of training that is needed in the public sector but rarely offered. We need to emulate the model of the private sector in staff development," said Mordecai Lee, an assistant professor of Governmental Affairs for University Outreach at the UW-Milwaukee. Lee and Associate Professor Susan Paddock of the UW-Madison's Certified Public Manager Program led the program, which met at the state capitol.

"This type of program is important not just for Wisconsin but other state legislatures as well," Paddock said. "The issues our legislators are dealing with are so complex that the staff needs to be able to understand them."

In April, at its national conference in San Diego, UCEA will present GAC with the Exemplary Program Award in the category of "Conferences and Professional Programs Community of Practice" for the consortium. ACHE honored GAC during its Region VI annual conference in Chicago on Feb. 18. Region VI includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and the province of Ontario.

The two-week-long certificate program trained Assembly staff members for the first time last August on a variety of topics, including parliamentary procedure, media and community relations, and time and stress management. The thirty staff members accepted into the program participated in an intense series of seminars and workshops aimed at enhancing legislative and leadership skills. Instructors included university faculty, legislators and the heads of various legislative service agencies.

The program was developed through the coordinated efforts of Lee, who serves as statewide coordinator for GAC, Paddock and Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen.

"I applaud Speaker Jensen's leadership in looking for innovative new ways to improve the level of professionalism in our legislature," said Lee. "Hopefully the success of this program will encourage other public agencies to look for similarly innovative ways to encourage continuing education for their employees."

"This program reflects well on the collaboration among Mordecai (Lee), Speaker Jensen's office and me. If any one of us had not put the effort forward, the program wouldn't have happened," Paddock said.

Speaker Jensen said, as long as he is Speaker, he plans to continue offering the program.

The Governmental Affairs Consortium is an initiative of UW-Extension's Division of Continuing Education Extension. It seeks to bring together departments and programs dedicated to continuing education services for government managers and public officials. Currently, six UW institutions belong to the consortium.