In April, the Consortium of University Public Service Organizations or CUPSO held their annual conference entitled "Public Service a Timeless Commitment in Times of Change". First organized in 1979 as the Southern Consortium of University Public Service Organizations, CUPSO supports university-based public service institutes in their efforts to assist state and local governments on a range of contemporary issues and challenges. CUPSO facilitates networking, information exchange, and collaboration among its member institutions. IPP has been a member of CUPSO since 2014.
Several IPP staff and directors took part in the three-day conference. Topics of interest included applying a social justice lens to our work, empowering women, and becoming a more effective facilitator.
Emily Johnson, IPP Associate Director of Operations moderated a panel entitled, Expanding Impact through Collaboration. The panelists for the session included Laurel Singer, the Executive Director of the National Policy Consensus Center at the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, and Danielle Varda, an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs. The session focused on utilizing network science to create effective and efficient partnerships, especially when resources are limited.
More information on CUPSO can be found at the Consortium of University Public Service Organization (cupso.org) website.