Skip navigation.

Public Administration > News & Events > Archive

News & Events Archive

Local Leadership in Northeast Thailand

In spring 2008 the Program will host a few exemplary local leaders from northeast Thailand.  While here they will talk together about what they do that makes them exceptional leaders, attend PUBA and other classes on campus, and meet with local public officials.  Afterward we will pull together a booklet of lessons that can be shared with other local leaders in the region.

The project is supported by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UHM, with additional funding from PUBA.  It is an outcome of the long-term relationship between PUBA and Khon Kaen University.  If the project is successful it may be expanded to other parts of the Mekong Region.

Speaker's Forum Event

Ms. Suzanne Jones, right, Recycling Coordinator with the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Environmental Services, was the featured speaker at our PUBA-Community Speaker's Forum on Friday, November 9, 2007. Ms. Jones discussed the recent launching of pilot projects for curbside recycling on Oahu, the challenges facing the county and the state in managing our solid waste stream, and the various options available to the people of Hawaii.

The PUBA-Community Speaker's Forum meets approximately every two months to highlight leaders in public service and to provide an opportunity to discuss issues with those interested in public and civic life in Hawaii.

Dick Pratt in Thailand

In late January Dick Pratt traveled to Khon Kaen University in northeast Thailand. UH Manoa has a long term relationship with KKU, and Dick has been going there for a number of years to work with the Development Administration Program. This time he gave a seminar on the role of critical thinking in both graduate studies and public service work; participated in a two-day conference on the roles local public administration can play in environmental issues, and worked on a project to develop local government leadership. As a first step in that project, in the spring of 2008 a small group of exemplary leaders from northeast Thailand will come to UHM to discuss their successes and challenges, attend PUBA classes, and meet with local officials.This program is being organized with the support of the UHM Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Below left: Dick at the KKU Conference. Below right: Conference participants.

 

On the way back from Khon Kaen Dick met with two Thai PUBA graduates, Chotima "Poon" Chaitiamwong and Wannasiri "Val" Weerasampan, who now both live in Bangkok. Poon works with the Fulbright Program in Thailand as a program organizer, and Wannasiri works with a firm that makes equipment to improve air emissions from certain industrial processes. Together with Debbie Shiraisihi-Pratt they spent the day at a former capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya, where this picture was taken. Poon and Wannasiri are starting to work on their idea of organizing a get-together of PUBA grads somewhere in Asia, joining getting together, touring, and some volunteer work. Pictured left: Poon, Dick and Val.

 

Speaker's Forum Event, December 1

Ed Teixeira, Vice-Director of Civil Defense for the State of Hawai'i, spoke at the December 1, 2006, PUBA-Community Speaker's Forum. Mr. Teixeira reviewed some of the recent challenges to affect Hawai'i--the 42 days of Oahu rain in March 2006, and the Big Island earthquake on October 15, 2006--emphasizing the lessons of preparedness and the need to provide timely information. Mr. Teixeira manages the Civil Defense Division, located in the Birkhimer Emergency Operating Center in Diamond Head Crater.

Speaker's Forum Event, September 29

On Friday, September 29, PUBA held the second PUBA-Community Speakers Forum, featuring University of Hawai'i Vice-President of Administration, Sam Callejo. Mr. Callejo has extensive experience in the public sector, having served as Director of Administration for Governor Benjamin Cayetano, state comptroller with the Department of Accounting and General Services, and director and chief engineer with the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Public Works. At various points in his career, Mr. Callejo has also served as acting mayor and acting governor. The forum focused on lessons for public managers from a diverse career: how to get things done in the face resistance to change.

With the assistance of the Hawai'i State Department of Human Resources Development, the event took place downtown in the Leiopapa a Kamehameha building (state office tower).

PUBA Professor, Jill Tao

Please join us in welcoming our newest member, associate professor Jill Tao. Jill comes to us from the University of Oklahoma and received her Ph.D. in Public Administration from The Florida Sate University. She is involved in the core year with special emphasis on the modules for political perspectives and legislative process. Her teaching interests include comparative and development administration and policy, and her research interests center on the way in which the structure of government and policy affect the well-being of less affluent communities. Jill has lived and worked in a number of different U.S. states, the People's Republic of China, and Hong Kong (prior to 1997), both in the government and non-profit sectors.

PUBA Visiting Faculty, David Nixon

Please join us in welcoming associate professor David Nixon. Dave comes to Hawai'i from Georgia State University where he taught in the Department of Political Science and received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is teaching PUBA 662, Applied Policy Analysis, this fall. Dave's research and teaching interests include U.S. bureaucratic politics, appointments and federal judiciary, and methodology.

 

First Speaker's Forum

Attilio Leonardi On Wednesday, June 14, PUBA held its first Community Speaker's Forum. The purpose of the forum is to address significant issues in public service, and to create opportunities for people committed to public service to get together in conversation. This first one featured Attilio (Leo) Leonardi (MPA, 1989) who recently retired after eight years as the Chief of the Honolulu Fire Department. Leo was extraordinarily successful in transforming a good, but conservative, organization into one whose innovations and commitment to quality are recognized nationally. His talk and the subsequent discussion focused on what he did to bring about positive changes, and what lessons others might take away from his experience.

The Kalihi YMCA generously made its facility available for this event.

Right: Leo and participants

Higher Education Reform in Mongolia

On June 9th Dick Pratt returned from two weeks in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia where he continued work on a higher education reform project. The project brings together faculty from colleges and universities across the country for workshops that focus on teaching critical thinking, using active learning strategies, re-desigining the curriculum, and assessment. This visit included convening a leadership group drawn from earlier workshops. The project is co-sponsored by the American Center for Mongolian Research, the Academy of Management, Mongolia National University and the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program. Dick first went to Mongolia in 2002 for a conference on Globalization and Development in Mongolia, which was followed by a project on reforming public administration education.

Pictured top left, Dick Pratt lecturing to faculty. Top right, the main square next to the parliament in Ulaanbaatar.

Asia-Pacific Exchange

Tsedev Damiran, Dick Pratt

On April 29th Tsedev Damiran and Dick Pratt gave a talk at a forum organized by the Center for Asia-Pacific Exchange. Their presentation focused on the reform of public institutions in Mongolia since the Soviet Union pulled out in 1990. This work is based on a paper they have written titled, "Public Administration Development and Reform of a Post-Communist Regime: The Case of Mongolia." Tsedev Damiran is a Scholar in Residence in the Public Administration Program. Dick Pratt has been working on reform-related projects in Mongolia since 2002.

Right, Tsedev Damiran and Dick Pratt.

back to top

Retirement Dinner for Attilio Leonardi

A retirement dinner was held on January 28, 2006 for Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio "Leo" Leonardi, pictured here on the right.

John Clark, Ken Silva, and Attilio Leonardi

Over the past eight years "Leo," together with Deputy Chief John Clark who is shown on the left, helped re-make HFD into one of the premier fire departments in the nation. The new Chief, Ken Silva, stands between them. All three received their MPA's from PUBA.

Napsipag Conference

Professors Chris Grandy and Dick Pratt, along with visiting scholar Tsedev Damiran, attended the second annual conference of the Network of Asia and Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance, held between December 4-7, 2005, at the China National School of Administration in Beijing.  Tsedev and Pratt presented a paper on institutional change in Mongolia since the Soviet departure, and Grand and Pratt gave a paper on innovations in structure and pedagogy in the PUBA program. 

NAPSIPAG was created with strong support from the Asian Development Bank.  Its mission is to build relationships among Asia-Pacific schools and institutes.  The conference had about 200 attendees from 40 countries.  There were sections on Enlarging Citizen Participation, Innovations in Governance and Public Service, and Strategies that Help or Hinder Societal Harmony.  There was also a special section on Teaching.  

After some discussion at the plenary session delegates decided to admit PUBA to the network as a full, rather than associate, member because of its strong Asia and Pacific links. 

Top left: Chris Grandy and Dick Pratt w/colleagues from the Academy of Management in Mongolia.

Top right: Dick and Akif Syed, a PUBA graduate, now with the National Training Institute in Pakistan.

Left: Conference delegates at the plenary session that adopted the organization’s new constitution.

PUBA Capstone Recommendations Unanimously Adpoted

On September 22, 2005, the University of Hawai'i Board of Publications (BoP) unanimously adopted recommendations proposed by a Public Administration Program capstone group. The capstone group, consisting of Gabriel Gutierrez, Shane Jordan, Vijayan Munusamy, Glenn Reyes Jr., Alfred Scott, and Eric Tompkins, conducted a review of BoP practices and procedures in 2004. The review included a survey of best practices for college newspapers across the U.S., an on-line survey of current and past stakeholders of BoP, and interviews with the management of award-winning college publications across the country. The work was completed and presented to BoP in December 2004.

In the September 22, 2005, meeting, a new Board of Publications considered and adopted all of the capstone group's recommendations without dissent. Board Treasurer, Jeff McNeill, said that the Board seeks to transform itself and that the Capstone group's recommendations were "self-evidently useful and wise."

back to top

PUBA is 20!

Cake PresentationOn May 11, 2005, the Public Administration Program celebrated its 20th anniversary. PUBA is a graduate program in the College of Social Sciences dedicated to enhancing public service leadership and increasing the effectiveness of public institutions.

(Pictured left: Presentation of "birthday cake.")


About 150 people attended a dinner and program held in the Kapiolani Community College dining room. The event included proclamations from the Governor, both houses of the state legislature, signed by every member of each chamber; the City Council, signed by all its members; and all of our federal representatives. There was an address by Pamela Spratlen, a Diplomat-in-Residence at the East West Center; presentations by past cohort classes; a slide showing the Program's history; donations to the Program made by individuals and classes; and, not to be ignored, a wonderful buffet dinner prepared by the staff at KCC.

Keynote speaker, Pamela Spratlen Dick Pratt, Robbie Alm, Ed Porter, Charlene Young, Tom Brislin
Left: Pam Spratlen,
Keynote Speaker;

Above (right): Dick Pratt,
Robbie Alm, Ed Porter,
Charlene Young, and
Tom Brislin;

Lower left: Bill Melemai,
current student;

Middle right: Proclamations
in the PUBA office;

Lower right: Class of
1995 w/ Proclamation.		 Proclamations in PUBA office
PUBA student, William Melemai Class of '95 with proclamation

Community Speakers Program

PUBA is in the process of developing a speakers program that will be used to address issues facing people in public service. It will be in a downtown location. This is something the Program has wanted to initiate for some time. A better budgetary situation and generous donations to the Program now make it possible. Charlene Young will coordinate set-up of the new Speakers Program.

Visit of Sukanya Aimimtham

Professor Sukanya

In March 2005, PUBA hosted Professor Sukanya from Khon Kaen University in northeast Thailand. Professor Sukanya and the development administration faculty have hosted Dick Pratt on his visits to their school. While here she visited the Board of Water Supply to learn about their organizational reforms; met the director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies; talked with individual PUBA faculty members; and sat in on classes. Upon her return to Khon Kaen she assumed the position of associate dean of External Affairs.

 

Dick Pratt and John LangfordVisit of John Langford

John Langford is a professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia. His areas are public service ethics, public/private partnerships, and change in public organizations. He spent a week in Honolulu in February of 2005 as a visitor to PUBA. While here he gave advice to a capstone group working on public/private partnerships for recycling in Honolulu; met with the faculty to talk about possible connections between the programs; and sat in on classes. His wife, Kate Seabourne, heads the distance learning program at UVic and while here she met with Manoa distance learning officials. Pictured right: Dick Pratt, left and John Langford, right.

back to top

PUBA Alum Karasaki Honored by Govenor

February 7, 2005, Rick Karasaki (MPA, 2001) was honored by Governor Linda Lingle upon being named Firefighter of the Year (2004) by the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD). Karasaki received the commendation for his work with the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress in designing a certification program for HFD personnel in fire fighting techniques.

Pictured below: William Melemai (Core Year 2004-2005) introduces Governor Lingle who presented the commendation to Fire Fighter 3 Karasaki (right).

Rick Karasaki commendation

Visiting Scholar Tsedev Damiran

Tsedev Damiran has been a Visiting Scholar with PUBA since the beginning of the Spring 2005 semester.  Dr. Tsedev was until recently the vice Rector of the Academy of Managment in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. Prior to that he was the head of the School of Public Administration. The Academy is the largest professional education and training institution in Mongolia.

Dr. Tsedev received his doctorate in the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s he helped to write the constitution adopted by Mongolia after the end of the Soviet presence. He is working with Dick Pratt on a project analyzing the waves of reforms, originating locally and internationally, that have affected public officials and public institutions since the process of post-communist transition began.

Core Year Excursion to Ka'ala Farms

The 2004-2005 Core Year visited Ka'ala Farms on the leeward side of Oahu on Saturday, December 4, 2004.  The visit takes place as part of the Hawaiian Issues module and focuses on Native Hawaiian cultural practices.  Butch DeTroye, below left, served as the site and cultural guide, impressing on participants the importance of wisely using wai (water) and of caring for the aina (land).  Participants helped weed the loi (wet taro patch) and enjoyed fresh kalo (taro) as part of lunch.

Butch DeTroye of Ka'ala Farms    Ka'ala Farms rainbow

National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA)

Program Director Dick Pratt recently attended the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration's annual conference, of which this Program is a member, in October 2004. It was held in Indianapolis, Indiana. The conference attendees are mainly the heads of schools of public administration and affairs, and it gives participants an opportunity to discuss common concerns and learn from one another. Dick also made a visit to the Harry Truman School of Public Affiars at the University of Missouri at Columbia, pictured below. The UH Program has had a relationship with the Truman School for a number of years through its Associate Dean, Guy Adams, also pictured below.

 

University of Missouri at Colombia         Guy Adams

back to top