CoursesCourses offered in this program are taught by Virginia Tech faculty and qualified practitioners in the field of local government management. Their experience and knowledge plays a vital role in preparing students for the life of a local government manager.
Dr. Laura Jensen, Associate Professor and Department Chair, Center for Public Administration and Policy
Previous Positions: Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, and Faculty Associate, Center for Public Policy and Administration, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2003-6 (Assistant Professor and CPPA Faculty Associate, 1996-2003); Senior Research Fellow, Center for the Humanities, and Visiting Lecturer, Department of Government, Wesleyan University, 1995-6.
Education: B.A. Music, Wellesley College; M.F.A., Music Composition, Princeton University; M.P.A. and Ph.D., Political Science, University of Connecticut.
Major Areas of Specialization: social policy and welfare state development; federalism and intergovernmental relations; government accountability; politics of spending and taxation; law and society; American political development.
Major Publications: Patriots, Settlers, and the Origins of American Social Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2003); chapters in Transatlantic Perspectives on the End of Sovereignty (ed. Bohne et al., 2006), Ethics in Public Management (ed. Frederickson and Ghere, 2005), and Deserving and Entitled: Social Constructions and Public Policy (ed. Schneider and Ingram, 2005); articles in The Review of Politics, Public Administration Review, P.A. Times, Polity, Studies in American Political Development, Peabody Journal of Education, Law and History Review, and Perspectives on Politics.
Laura Jensen joined CPAP in fall 2006. Her research on U.S. social policy has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Political Science Association. Dr. Jensen was a lead researcher on "Faith-Based Social Service Provision Under Charitable Choice: A Study of Implementation in Three States," 2000-2003, funded by the Ford Foundation. In 2005, she received a Congressional Research Award from the Dirksen Foundation, and with co-author Sheila Kennedy, won the award for the best paper on ethics and accountability in the public sector from the University of Pittsburgh's Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership. While pursuing her M.P.A. and Ph.D., Dr. Jensen spent ten years in elected municipal office in Connecticut. She currently serves on the editorial board of Polity and the editorial executive committee of Social Science History.
Kim Payne
Kim Payne has been City Manager of Lynchburg, Virginia, since February of 2001. He has over 22 years of experience in local government management. He served as both Assistant County Administrator and County Administrator of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Kim has a BA from Duke University and an MPA from the University of Virginia. Kim is a member of the International City/County Management Association and has been an ICMA Credentialed Manager since 2004. He is an officer in the Virginia Local Government Management Association.
Rob Stalzer
Rob Stalzer has over thirty years of local government experience. He has been the Deputy County Executive of Fairfax County, Virginia since June 2000. As Deputy County Executive, Mr. Stalzer is responsible for emergency management, police, fire and rescue, public safety communications, public works and environmental services, planning and zoning, transportation, environmental coordination, the Public Safety Transportation Operations Center, neighborhood and community building initiatives and the County's code enforcement strike team efforts. He serves as Deputy Director of Emergency Management and liaison to the Fairfax County Park Authority, Economic Development Authority, and Water Authority. Mr. Stalzer currently leads several countywide cross-functional teams, including the Strengthening Neighborhoods and Building Community Strategy Team, Environmental Coordinating Committee and Emergency Management Coordinating Committee. Recently, Mr. Stalzer provided leadership for a $250 million development project involving Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is currently leading the County's efforts to construct a $100M public - private mixed use transit oriented development project adjacent to the new Dulles Corridor Metrorail. He co-chaired the county's pandemic flu planning efforts and led one of two Northern Virginia regional teams that were deployed to New Orleans in 2005 to assist with the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. From 1988 to June 2000, Mr. Stalzer served as the Town Manager of Herndon, Virginia. From 1983 to 1988, Mr. Stalzer served as the Director of Planning and Zoning for Roanoke County, Virginia. He has a Master of Business Administration degree from Syracuse University, a Master of Regional and City Planning degree from the University of Oklahoma and a B.A. from Clark University. He is a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute of the University of Virginia, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. Mr. Stalzer has taught graduate and undergraduate level classes at George Mason University, Virginia Tech and Roanoke College. Mr. Stalzer is an ICMA credentialed manager (ICMA-CM), a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and a past president of the Virginia Local Government Management Association.
Bob Stripling
Bob Stripling retired as City Manager of Staunton, Virginia in June 2006 after over thirty years in local government management. He served as the manager in four communities: Colonial Beach, Blacksburg and Staunton in Virginia and Colleyville in Texas. He was also assistant city manager of Charlottesville, Virginia. He worked for two years in the private sector in the areas of residential development and construction, tele-communications and zoo planning. Bob has an undergraduate business degree from Texas Tech and an MBA from the University of Virginia. He has taught public budgeting at the Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) at Virginia Tech and currently serves as the Professor of Practice for the Local Government Management Certificate Program at CPAP. He has been a guest lecturer in public administration at James Madison University, Arizona State University and Mary Baldwin College. He is a Life Member of both the Virginia Local Government Management Association and the International City/County Management Association. He was named the Public Administrator of the Year in Virginia by the American Society for Public Administration in 1986.
Jack Tuttle
Jack Tuttle has been City Manager of Williamsburg, Virginia, since February of 1991. He has over 32 years of local government management experience including work in Pensacola, Florida and City Manager of Gulf Breeze, Florida. He has been an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Credentialed Manager since July of 2002. He is an officer in the Virginia Local Government Management Association and a member of ICMA. He has a BA from the University of North Carolina, and an MPA from the University of Western Florida. Jack served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of West Florida MPA program from 1980-1991. He is a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia and has served on a number of boards including the Virginia Peninsula Solid Waste Authority and the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail Authority.