SPEA appoints community leaders to Advisory Board
November 3, 2005
KOKOMO, Ind.—The Indiana University Kokomo School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) has appointed Matt McKillip, mayor of the City of Kokomo, and Jim Walker, mayor of the City of Peru, to the newly constituted SPEA Advisory Board. Other north central Indiana community leaders appointed into the board include
Kokomo Howard County Development Corporation President Gregory Aaron
Howard Regional Health System Vice President of Finance Thomas Cook
Randy Hainlen, attorney-at-law
Kokomo/Howard County Chamber of Commerce President Richard K. Hamilton
Tipton County Memorial Hospital President and CEO Michael Harlowe
Radcliffe Jones, M.D.
Tipton County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director William Keir
Logansport/Cass County Economic Development Corporation President Skip Kuker
Second Missionary Baptist Church of Kokomo Senior Pastor Robert Lee, D.D.
Howard County Circuit Court Clerk Mona Myers
St. Joseph Foundation Director Todd Moser (St. Vincent Health/St. Joseph Hospital)
United Way of Howard County CEO Steve Owens
Delphi Electronics and Safety engineer Mike Peters
Kokomo Police Department Chief Russell Ricks and Assistant Chief Thomas Edington
Security Federal Savings Bank President and CEO Annette Russell
Howard County Sheriff Marshall Talbert
Miami County Redevelopment Commission Executive Director James Tidd
Tipton Police Department Chief Gordon Tocco
The School of Public and Environmental Affairs is a multidisciplinary, professional school of Indiana University. On the Kokomo campus, SPEA offers degree programs in criminal justice and public affairs; undergraduate certificate programs in public safety, correctional management and supervision, and homeland security/emergency management; and the Graduate Certificate in Public Management. Robert Dibie, Ph.D., is assistant dean of SPEA at IU Kokomo and a professor of public affairs.
Dibie described SPEA's teaching mission as “enabling current and future public servants to develop skills necessary to address challenges posed in public management, administration in nonprofit organizations, governance, policymaking and implementation, and organizational effectiveness.” The
“Overall, we strive to develop student sensibilities to a wide variety of human, social, and organizational realties, which assist public organizations in formulating and achieving responsible social change,” Dibie said. Through internships, faculty consultancies, and other campus-to-community outreach, SPEA can also serve north central Indiana's practitioners of public administration and criminal justice, its non-profit organizations, and the public, he added.
The community leaders appointed to the SPEA Advisory Board share SPEA's belief “that the challenges of the changing post-industrial and technology era are best met by humanizing governments, by strengthening their capacities for intelligent policy analysis, effective action on behalf of public innovation, and support for the ideals of public service,” Dibie said. Advisory Board members will work with Dibie and other SPEA faculty to determine how the school and its students can contribute to constituent communities through its outreach and academic programs.
“We have asked board members to serve as ambassadors for the SPEA program to the larger community, developing new friends for the program,” said Dibie. “We also hope they will encourage friends, family, and local students to consider Indiana University Kokomo as a school of first choice.” Board members will participate significantly in SPEA's fundraising activities, by working on committees; identifying and cultivating individuals, corporations, or foundations; soliciting major gifts; or securing special underwriting or in-kind support for departmental students and programs, according to Dibie.
For more information on the IU Kokomo School of Public and Environmental Affairs, visit www.iuk.edu/spea or call (765) 455-9417.
