Santa Clara University: Summer Camp for Public Officials Focuses on Ethics and Leadership

Business Wire, June 18, 2008

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- For two days this summer, public leaders from around the country will head off to summer camp at Santa Clara University where they will dissect ethical dilemmas and try to engineer a new, ethically enlightened public servant for the 21st century. It's part of Santa Clara University's Ethics and Leadership Camp for Public Officials, held this year on June 25 and 26.

"By examining our understanding of ethical leadership, we can develop the kind of skills that are needed for governing in today's challenging and ever-changing environment," said Judy Nadler, senior fellow in government ethics at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and former mayor of the city of Santa Clara.

Among the campers will be officials from Los Angeles, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Los Altos, as well as elected and appointed officials from Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington.

The theme for this year's summer camp is "Building Public Confidence." Attendees will receive reporter notebooks as they focus on transparency and media issues. "Transparency in government is essential to restoring public trust. Our camp provides practical tools for making a public agency's relationship with the media one of cooperation, not confrontation," Nadler said.

In addition to Nadler, "camp counselors" will include:

* Dr. Elizabeth Day, Ethics Center Scholar; faculty in the SCU School of Education LeeAnn Pelham, executive director, Los Angeles City Ethics Commission

* Jerry Ceppos, Dean, Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada

* Scott Herhold, columnist, San Jose Mercury News

When:   <
June 25-26, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
        <

Where:  <
Santa Clara UniversityWiegand Center, Arts and Sciences Building

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,685 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.