The first Georgia Excellence in Public Service awards were presented to state and local government winners in the fall of 2003. The new awards program is intended to publicly honor outstanding state and local officials and administrators and to help raise the profile of state and local public service as a career pursuit. It is a public-private partnership between the Vinson Institute and GeorgiaTrend magazine. Complete information about the awards program can be found at . (left to right) Jim Ledbetter, GEPSA recipient Stephen Gooch, and GeorgiaTrend's Neely Young.

The challenges of providing first-rate leadership confront new and experienced government and community officials alike. The public arena continues to become increasingly complex. At the same time, citizens are raising their expectations of the quality of service their leadership provides. The Vinson Institute is committed to helping its client groups achieve the highest standards in the many jobs they perform.

Education is an important dimension of preparing and maintaining leaders. In 2003, more than 15,400 individuals participated in approximately 500 instructional programs, while 8,000 others learned more about Institute outreach through presentations at conferences, meetings, and seminars.

Two new instructional programs were initiated in 2003 to address the changing public service work environment. The Financial Management Program initiated an online course for both levels of its introductory accounting curriculum as an option for participants wanting to learn at their own pace and in their own location. Prompted by reports that 87 percent of state agency managers and 78 percent of middle managers will be retiring before the end of the decade, a new succession management training program was started, focusing on such topics as diagnosing when vacancies will occur, mentoring, and changing the organizational culture to plan for succession.

The first group of 55 county commissioners completed the new Certified Commissioner Advanced Program. Carried out in partnership with the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG), this specialized program recognizes commissioners who have completed 54 hours of course work, a two-day advanced leadership course, and a written project summary report. Instruction for members of local government boards was also enhanced in 2003 to better equip these appointed representatives with the knowledge and skills they need to best perform their duties.

Being connected professionally is a key component of leadership development. A new Web site created for the Georgia City/County Management Association (GCCMA) will help its members access more readily resources and information pertinent to their jobs. The site is maintained by the Vinson Institute and includes information about meetings and events, a member directory, newsletter issues, committee reports, and links to other governmental and association Web sites.

Skillfully leading an organization into the future requires foresight, and in 2003 many governments and communities, including the Parks, Recreation, and Historic Sites division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc., a nonprofit organization, received assistance with strategic planning.

On the global front, the state of Georgia continued to be a learning lab for Chinese municipal officials participating in the Sino-American Municipal Training Program coordinated by the Institute’s International Center for Democratic Governance (ICDG). In its fifth year, the program gives representatives from several Chinese public administration institutes and local governments the opportunity to learn from and interact with government officials, administrators, and public administration faculty through site visits around Georgia and Washington, D.C., and through instruction at the University of Georgia. Faculty and government officials traveled to China to provide instruction related to current public administration practices at various institutes. ICDG faculty also provided a two-week program for a visiting delegation of directors of Ukrainian regional training centers, during which they learned about governmental training programs that they could adapt for their instructional activities back home.