Newsworthy (Fall 2009) - Parks and Recreation
Program coordination, personnel management, budgeting, and community dynamics are just a few of the balls that recreation and parks officials have to juggle in their daily jobs. They now have tools for managing their departments more effectively through a new training program carried out in partnership between the Vinson Institute and the Georgia Recreation and Park Association (GRPA).
The George Harris Executive Management Institute is a highly participatory five-day program involving 30 hours of classroom instruction on a range of management topics as well as group projects related to current issues. A group of 21 managers from recreation and park departments throughout the state recently completed the first program, which was facilitated by Vinson Institute faculty members Walt McBride and Sherri Lawless.
"Local recreation and park department managers have increasingly complex responsibilities, regardless of their size. The mix of instruction and self-directed group projects enables the participants to not only gain knowledge and skills but to freely discuss common problems and solutions with their peers," explains McBride.
"Our association was looking for an upper management training program for our professionals. The Vinson Institute worked with us to develop a program that is beneficial to all recreation directors in the state," says Jimmy Gisi, GRPA executive director. "Its success has proven to be more than we anticipated. The graduates are very excited about what they learned and will definitely be better leaders as a result."
