Breaking Barriers

the problem lies in the perceptions, expectations, and needs of practitioners and academics as well as in the differences between their real and imagined capabilities. There must also be some understanding of the constraint system under which each must operate. This case study concerns an educational experience undertaken by two groups a group of representatives of four universities and a group of persons identified as urban managersculminating in a new working relationship between practitioners and academics at Kent State University. The case setting is specific to Kent State University and to the Northeast Ohio city managers. Both groups make this experience unique. The Kent State MPA Program formed in 1967, has only recently developed an identity of its own. Originally part of the Political Science Department it was transferred to the College of Business in 1974 and given departmental status. A permanent chairman was assigned in the fall of 1975 and it is from this date that the program began its outreach efforts to the community and began to develop an urban concentration following the NASPAA Guidelines and Standards

Business · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Construction Project Management and Performance · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research