Back to School for Nation's Politicos

Former Washington Redskin Bryant J. Salter helped evacuate Americans from Grenada during his term as a U.S. Consul in a nearby Carribean Island. Before that, he was the first Black foreign service officer assigned to South Africa.

Joining the career diplomat are 253 other veteran civil servants and politicos who say they want to learn more about their jobs and role in society. They come annually to the Kennedy School of Government to study, "to network," and to earn a master's degree during the graduate school's yearlong mid-career program--the oldest and most successful of its kind.

Mid-career students, who average 37 years of age and 10 years of on-the-job experience, are allowed to take four or more courses of their choice from any Harvard school or area university. K-School economics, management, and leadership courses are generally the most popular choices, although program participants often follow very specific lines of study to reflect their varied interests.

"People are very serious and there is a high degree of intensity because they're anxious to accomplish in a short span of time," says Salter, who is taking six courses.

The mid-career tuition is the same as for the K-School's other degree-granting programs--$9840. One-third of the students cover this fee with sponsorship from their employers and scholarship-granting foundations, while another third receive financial aid from the school. Almost three-fourths of the 1000 who inquired about the mid-career program last year were weeded out through an semi-formal admissions process based on academics, work experience and leadership skills.

Admissions Standards

The applicants' professional experience plus high, realistic ambitions are often the determining factors in their admission. Program participants are selected "if they believe in their own potential and have some experience to back it up," says Velvet G. Miller, associate director of the program.

The real-life experiences of the participants from 40 states and 38 countries also keep K-School faculty members on their toes, sharpening their arguments and providing them with material for case studies, says Mary J. England, assistant dean and director of the mid-career program.

Harvard continues to offer the 50-year-old program in order to spread its academic wisdom directly into the real world. "Harvard is committed to prepare for leadership roles in the complex public sector and international world," says Miller.

The program boasts such famous alumni as San Antonio Mayor Henry G. Cisneros, President of Mexico Miguel de la Madrid, and former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Over the years one fourth of the cabinet ministers of Singapore have made the trek to Cambridge, Miller claims.

This Year's Crop

Not all of this year's class are office holders: some won their places in the program from their involvement in grassroots politics. Nancy R. Cuddihy came to the K-School in the wake of a experience that led the New York midwife out of the delivery room and into the state capitol. Cuddihy, who has a masters degree in midwifery and delivered over 1000 babies in the last 10 years, drafted successful legislation in 1982 to ensure the reimbursement and recognition of midwives.

"Ultimately every profession has a political context, and to translate work of my profession to the public I need the skills the Kennedy School can teach," she says.

Perhaps more typical is the case of Minnesota State Representative Robert L. Ellingson, who says that although he has held his government post for 10 years, he has never had formal training in making public policy decisions.

"I'm learning things about what I do in my job and I'm understanding them for the first time," says Ellingson. Ellingson says he is better able to appreciate what he's learning now than when he was in college and law school because he's more mature, has a family of his own, and has ten years of work experience under his belt.

One mid-career student from Maidstone, England, recently developed a new fingerprint coding method for the FBI in his spare time. Malcolm K. Sparrow, a British police officer whose hobby is working with fingerprints, says he hopes the program will help him prepare for his new appointment as Chief Inspector, and move him closer to his ultimate goal of attaining the highest position in the force.

One of Ellingston's colleague's in the Minnesota state legislature, 14-year veteran Representative Robert E. Vanasek, has already begun to put his K-School education to work in the political arena. His staff is now researching a proposal about farm credit based on a case study from one of his classes.

Vanasek says one of the highlights of the program is the way professors let students bring their outside lives into the classroom. Because of his political background, Vanasek was able to "fulfill his fantasy" when he was invited to act as speaker of the house in a simulation game for a class on legislature.

William J. O'Reilly, a news correspondent for Channel 5 in Boston, shared his media experience with his classmates when they viewed and critiqued a story he did for the evening news. "I can contribute a lot to a class like that and in return get feedback that I don't normally get," says O'Reilly. Issues discussed in class have also provided material for O'Reilly's column in the Boston Herald.

When one of Salter's classes studies something he has experienced as a diplomat, he tries to "bring realism to a situation and provide ingredients that others might be missing." Salter in turn gleans opinions from his fellow students on U.S. foreign policy. "As a diplomat overseas representing the American people I need to know what people think and what the trends are," he says.

Challenge for Teachers

Teaching mid-career students is a challenge for K-School professors. Ronald F. Ferguson, assistant professor of public policy, was initially intimidated with the prospect of teaching students his own age of older who had more practical experience than he did. But the government expert says he has learned to help his students transcend the limits of their experiences. "They've had narrow experiences and know a lot more about these narrow experiences. I bring partly theoretical and academic knowledge and train them how to think broadly," he says.

Ferguson's teaching has benefited from having experienced students in class. "My interaction with them over time shapes my teaching and a lot of material I teach from comes from student projects," he says. "In a teacher, experience accumulates and gives a big overview that no individual can have."

Program participants seem enthusiastic about their experiences here, which they unvaryingly describe with glowing praise. Venezuelan farmer Joaquin A. Perez says his contact with a Business School agribusiness specialist has been one of most rewarding aspects of his stay in Cambridge.

Perez--who has served as president of the Venezualan national farmers' organization and of the national sugar industry--says that he had read and admired the work of Ray A. Goldberg, Moffet Professor of Agriculture and Business. "When you're on the farm, isolated, and someone is concerned and writes about your problems you want to meet him," says Perez.

Perez has had more than the usual success in Goldberg's class. In a simulation investment game he more than doubled his play money and made the class's most lucrative investment, earning him a $1000 prize.

Networking

For some, the program acts as a stepping stone to other careers. After his stint at the K-School Bruce R. Theriault, a former general manager of a National Public Radio affiliate in Alaska, hopes to move on to "different and new challenges related to media and managing in the public sector." "I hope to be able to utilize the networking feature," says Theriault. "It works two ways--the contacts you develop and what you do for other people."

While Theriault and other participants eyeing the future contemplated studying public sector management for the first time, a town of 3500 almost had to give up its top bureaucrat for a year.

The city council in Oak Ridge, Oregon wondered whether or not their city's top administrator really needed Harvard educating. But by placating local residents with an experienced replacement and a contract of guaranteed service for at least one more year, Robert D. DeLong got leave for his Cambridge visit. In preparation for a career of managing progressively larger cities, DeLong is resisting "the temptation to take fascinating courses and is trying to concentrate on skills that will help me be a better city manager."

New Environment

But the program has special meaning for some students who are experiencing a radically new environment here. Coming from a legislature and fields of science where women are underrepresented, Minesota Rep. Phyllis Kahn says she notices "a strong sense of self" among the 67 women that make up 28 percent of the mid-career program.

"'It's not your business to get involved in politics, let the men do that,"' was a typical discouraging remark that Rinna E. Merculieff heard before leaving her native Aleut Island in the Bering Sea.

"It's great to be around women who have goalsin life," says Merculieff of her classmates atHarvard. "My personal friends [at home] give uphope, accept the fact they can't be leaders in thenative community, and I just don't agree withthat." Merculieff founded and directed a statewideagency for stranded rural Alaskans in Anchoragewhich provides crime prevention training andemergency aid for victims.

By studying the legislature, Merculieff saysshe is learning skills she would use if shedecides to become a lobbyist on behalf of her homeisland's seal harvest, replacing the currentnon-Aleut lobbyists. Merculieff will be the firstperson from her town of 500 to get a mastersdegree and she says that she hopes to provide arole model for the youth and women of hercommunity to continue their education.

Tomorrow: A look at an identical mid-careerprogram across the river at the BusinessSchool.