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Orlando, August 28, 2007 — Six senior government inspectors from Turkey are the first participants in a new public service and leadership program launched this summer by UCF's Department of Public Administration. The program is supported with a grant from Turkey's Ministry of the Interior.
During the yearlong program, the officials will attend an intensive English language program and take seminars in public service and leadership in the United States, explained Assistant Professor Naim Kapucu, who is directing the program.
They will also travel to Washington, D.C., Tallahassee, and local city and county offices to see federal, state and local governments, respectively, at work in the United States.
The course work and travel experiences should prepare the officials to undertake directed research projects during the second half of the program, Kapucu said. They are to select projects in areas such as crisis and emergency coordination or performance management in government that are likely to yield findings that can applied to Turkish public administration.
Each official is to submit a written report of his findings to both the Ministry of the Interior and Department of Public Administration before the end of the program.
Upon completion of the program's components, the officials will receive a Certificate of Public Service and Leadership from UCF. They will also return to their native country with international experience, which is highly valued in senior government leaders in Turkey.
Kapucu, who is originally from Turkey, is extremely pleased that UCF was selected by the Ministry to host the program.
"I am very excited that we will be making a significant impact on the leaders of a rapidly developing country," he said.
-- Karen Guin
Photo by Thomas Alan Smilie
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