SPEA M.P.M. EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COURSE ATTRACTS CEOs TO CAMPUS
January 9, 2008
KOKOMO, IN—The new Master of Public Management (M.P.M.) program is attracting Chief Executive Officers (CEO) and students to Indiana University Kokomo campus. Chancellor of Indiana University Kokomo Ruth Person and James Alender, president of Howard Regional Health System were among the first CEOs invited to give a guest lecture in the executive leadership class that was offered by SPEA in fall 2007. Other CEOs invited include: Paul Brock, superintendent and CEO of the Logansport State Hospital; Matt McKillip, mayor City of Kokomo; William Keir, executive director, Tipton Economic Development Corporation; Skip Kuker, president, Logansport/Cass Economic Development Corporation; Gordon Tocco, chief, Tipton Police Department; Annette Russell, president and CEO, Security Federal Savings Bank; Thomas DiNardo, former Kokomo police chief; Monty Henderson, president, Henderson Farm, Inc. and Tipton County commissioner; Dr. Robert Lee, pastor, Second Baptist Church Kokomo; and James Bradley, pastor, Family Worship Center Kokomo.
“Most managers have an excuse for why they're difficult to work for because most don't ever get formal leadership training....The IU Kokomo’s M.P.M. executive leadership course is unique for people who want to become transformational leaders,” said.Robert Dibie, Ph.D., professor of public affairs and campus dean of the school of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Kokomo. The M.P.M. executive leadership course uses proven methods to help students as new managers improve their leadership skills. It uses self-awareness tools and activities to enhance individual managerial capabilities. Graduate students are taught strategies for continuous development through extensive assessment, group discussions, self-reflection, small group activities and personal coaching. And because of the M.P.M. program’s strong focus on situational, contingency approach, and development planning tying program experiences to the context of the workplace, students are taught how to fit 360-degree assessment into their organizational culture.
Victor Esan, a decision manager at Howard Regional Health system and M.P.M. student, said, “What I was looking for in the executive leadership course was how to bring competency-based approaches into my agency's very traditional, skills-based training program. I came away with a written plan for taking our initiative to the next level, and the leadership course helped me better understand how to fit 360-degree assessment into our organizational culture."
Brianne Boles one of our current M.P.M. students and bank sales manager with Salin Bank and Trust Company Kokomo West, who took the executive leadership course contends that in the class professor Dibie will help you learn about group dynamics, individual differences and preferences - about how you as an individual leader are being viewed. In every one of the course exercises, the messages are brought back to how it's relevant to you and the work situation.
Astrid Shockley a graduate student in the M.P.M. program and a social worker indicated that "I have gone to a lot of programs that brush the surface of strategic leadership but none of them is attuned to group dynamics and individual behaviors the way Professor Dibie conducts this executive leadership course. The level of personal attention you get in this program is fantastic for building your skills and self-confidence as a strategic leader."
Alex Huskey who is an excise police superintendent for the State of Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission as well as a graduate student in the M.P.M. program said “from day one of the executive leadership course, you start building and working within an actual team, and it's very realistic. Professor Dibie allows you to extract in a semester the kind of real-life understandings and knowledge that would normally take years."
