University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: School of Government

By Ed Morrison | May 8, 2017

On May 22, we will be conducting an all-day workshop to introduce agile strategy and Strategic Doing to the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Janet Holston, our colleague at the University of North Carolina, has recently joined the School of Government. Formally, Janet was at the Arizona State University where she began introducing these new agile strategy disciplines.

Impressed with the value that agile strategy can bring to a university, Janet has arranged for our Lab to introduce our work to the leadership at the School of Government.

Background on the School of Government 

Founded in the 1930s, the School of Government is a national leader in providing research, training and advisory services to local government.

  • As the largest university-based local government training, advisory, and research organization in the United States, the School of Government offers up to 200 courses, webinars, and specialized conferencesfor more than 12,000 public officials each year.
  • The School’s core values involve being neutral, non-partisan and responsive.
  • Faculty members respond to thousands of phone calls and e-mail messages each year on routine and urgent matters and also engage in long-term advising projects for local governing boards, legislative committees, and statewide commissions.
  • In addition, faculty members annually publish approximately 50 books, manuals, reports, articles, bulletins, and other print and online contentrelated to state and local government.
  • Each day that the General Assembly is in session, the School produces Daily Bulletin Online, which reports on the day’s activities for members of the legislature and others who need to follow the course of legislation.
  • The Master of Public Administration Programis offered in two formats. The full-time, two-year residential program serves up to 60 students annually. In 2013 the School launched MPA@UNC, an online format designed for working professionals and others seeking flexibility while advancing their careers in public service.

Introducing the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab

In the morning on the 22nd, we will hold an open discussion to introduce our work at Purdue and our strategy for scaling our work through a network of universities both here and abroad. In the afternoon, we will be conducting “strategy sprints” with three of the centers within the School:

  • The Environmental Finance Center: This Center focuses on increasing the capacity of other organizations to address the financial aspects of environmental protection and service delivery.
  • The Center for Public Technology: Founded in 2000, the Center is focused on responding to the needs of information technology professionals working in local and state government.
  • The Center for Public Leadership:  the center runs the Public Executive Leadership Academy, which provides leadership training to city and county managers, their assistants, and key department heads.

To provide an introduction to the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab, we cut the following video:

Introducing Strategic Doing to the School of Government University of North Carolina from Ed Morrison on Vimeo.

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