The National CPM Program

The Certified Public Manager (CPM) program in the United

States is a nationally recognized professional development program.

It is designed for federal, state, and local government managers,

but the skills, knowledge, and competencies taught are

also relevant for managers and supervisors in the nonprofit sector.

The CPM programs primary goal is to improve the performance of

public-sector managers and the organizational performance of federal,

state, and local government employees. It is a comprehensive course of

study through which public managers can acquire and apply the best practices

and theory to their management behaviors and strategies using prescribed

sets of professional standards, often referred to as competencies.

The curriculum uses theory as the foundation and applies it to practical

problems facing the participants, their agencies and departments, and

the citizens.Those who complete the program earn a nationally trademarked

designation of CPM.

The CPM program has been operating in the United States since

1979. It began in Georgia as a certification program for public managers

in Georgias state government. Initially, it spread throughout the southern

states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas) and eventually to all regions

in the country.

By 1995, the CPM program had expanded throughout the United

States, encompassing federal, local, and nonprofit and non-governmental

employees. By 1996, the Graduate School, USDA, was delivering a

CPM program to federal employees, and the Texas CPM program wastraining significant numbers of local government employees,

in addition to serving federal, state, and nonprofit

employees.By 2008, thirty-seven CPMprograms, including

Washington, DC, and the federal government (through

the Graduate School,USDA),were operating in the United

States. Some of the newest CPMprograms are in California

and NewYork.

National CPM Consortium

CPM programs in the United States operate under

the umbrella of the National CPMConsortium.Formed

in 1979, this consortium establishes and preserves standards

for the CPM designation. It monitors and accredits

all CPMprograms in the United States.Only accredited

programs are authorized to award the CPM designation,

which is trademarked by the consortium and its member

programs.Accredited CPMprograms are reviewed and

reaccredited every five years for continued compliance with

national CPM standards.

The purpose of the consortium is to promote the

CPM programs. It provides and monitors accreditation

standards, facilitates program development, encourages innovation,

and develops linkages with programs and organizations

with similar values and interests.

The National CPM Consortium Council comprises

seventy-four members. Each CPM program is authorized

to send up to two representatives to the council.One

of the representatives is the state CPM program director,

who designates the states second member.The consortium

is a loose confederation of various CPMprograms,

which allows for variation and creativity in the development

of individual programs.The one thing that all programs

have in common is that they all conform to the general

standards and competencies set by the National CPM

Consortium.

The consortium authorizes one organization per state

to deliver the accredited CPM program.CPM applicants

go through a series of steps to reach full membership in

the consortium.The first step for a new member is associate

membership, which indicates that the applicant is willing

to develop a new CPM program.Active membership

is the next step, which occurs when a new member begins

to offer a CPM program.The final step is full membership,

which occurs after the new member successfully

passes a peer review evaluation and is initially accredited

by the consortium.

Additional information on the consortium, including

officers, standards, and accreditation proceedings, is available

on the CPMWeb site at www.cpmconsortium.org.

Texas CPM Program

TheTexas CPMprogram is an example of one of the

programs under the umbrella of the consortium.Texas State

University (TSU) began offering the CPM program for

Texas after receiving authorization inApril 1995 from the

consortium. In July 1995, the Public Service Academy, a

division of the Continuing Education Program at TSU,

began offering theTexas CPM program for state and local

government and nonprofit-sector employees.

The program is approved for continuing education

credit for a number of public and nonprofit organizations,

including the Peace Officers,Texas Commission on Law

Enforcement Standards and Education, and Texas State

Board of PublicAccountancy.The County Commissioners

Education Committee for Commissioners Continuing

Education Credit has approved it as mandated by theTexas

state legislature.

The Texas CPM program, through the William P.

Hobby Center for Public Service, offers seminars,workshops,

and a variety of field-based projects.The program

is designed to enhance the skills and abilities that participants

need to deal with real-world problems and situations.

One of the major features of theTexas CPMprogram

is the completion of several applied projects,

which deal with practical situations.

The seven courses that make up the CPM program

inTexas are as follows:

1. Personnel and Human Resources Administration

2. Managing for Quality

3. Organizational Communication

4. Public Finance and Budgeting

5. Productivity and Program Evaluation

6. Information Systems for Managers

7. Applied Project Practicum.

Prior to graduation, all CPMparticipants are required

to complete a major applied project inTrack 7, which is

the capstone of the program. In Track 7, the student

demonstrates the management skills,knowledge, and abilities

learned in the previous six tracks.Course Cycles

CPM courses operate in a cycle,normally beginning

withTrack 1 and ending withTrack 7.AfterTrack 7 is completed,

the rotation begins again withTrack 1.CPMcourses

inTexas can be taken in any order. In addition to receiving

certification credit, academic course credit at no

additional cost may be granted to students eligible to receive

it.After successfully completing the seven-course sequence,

participants receive the designation of Certified

Public Manager. For new graduates around the State of

Texas,CPMgraduation ceremonies are held June and December

at theTexas State Capitol in Austin.

Some of the CPMcourse cycles are open enrollment

cycles, in that enrollment is open to all participants

from the public and nonprofit sectors. Some cycles are

closed enrollment cycles, which means thatTSU has a

direct contract with a city or public-sector organization

to deliver the CPM program to that organizations

managers.A CPM class consists of between twenty and

thirty managers.

To meet the needs of working participants, as well as

those commuting from long distances, CPM courses in

Texas are offered in two formats: one and one-half days

a month and one day a month. Completion of the program

takes a minimum of fourteen months for the former

and twenty-one months for the latter. In addition to

the regular classroomsessions,CPMparticipants are assigned

take-home exams for each day of work in the program.

At least thirty hours of outside work per course (graded

by the CPM cycle coordinator) is assigned. The total

amount of instruction under the direction of the cycle coordinator

is at least 160 hours for the entire seven tracks.

Since the CPM program is offered through theTSU

Department of Continuing Education, people without a

college degree can be accepted.CPMcourses can be used

for academic credit toward a bachelors or a masters degree

atTSU.As mentioned, there is no additional cost for

registering for academic credit.

CPM Program Cycle Coordinator

AllTexas CPM locations have a cycle coordinator,

who is responsible for all seven tracks at a specific location.

The cycle coordinator, a university faculty member

with at least adjunct status, is responsible for organizing

and coordinating each of the seven courses that make up

a CPMcycle.The cycle coordinator is responsible for designing

and implementing the delivery of the CPMcourses

at a particular location and is the main point of contact

with program participants and faculty.The coordinator

also designs and grades the take-home exams.

CPM Faculty

Each of the CPMcourses is team taughtby a combination

of academic and practitioner faculty operating

under the direction of the CPMcycle coordinator.Many

of the academic instructors are regular or adjunct faculty

ofTSU, the University ofTexas, and otherTexas universities.

Practitioners include city or county managers,

state agency department heads, and school district administrators

from a variety of school districts and city, county,

state, and federal agencies. In addition, private professional

development and training consultants are part of

the faculty mix.

TSU Coordination with Other

Texas Universities

TheTexas CPM program is run under the auspices

ofTSU.To facilitate the delivery of the program throughoutTexas,

TSU has entered into a series of interuniversity

contracts with institutions across the state.Current university

partners offering the CPMprogram inTexas include

the following:

The University ofTexas at Arlington

TexasTech University, Lubbock

Sam Houston State University, operating programs

in Houston

Stephen F.Austin State University, Nacogdoches

Texas A&M UniversityCorpus Christi.

Each of the university partners is given a license to

offer the CPM program in Texas under the auspices of

TSU.TSU provides the curriculum and technical assistance

necessary to begin a CPMprogram. It also conducts

all CPMgraduations at theTexas Capitol. In exchange for

the services provided, the university partners provide an

agreed-upon overhead back toTSU.

CPM Program Linkages

The CPM program has been designed to link with

and complement other established public-sector associations

and organizations, such as the American Society

for Public Administration (ASPA) and the International

City/County ManagementAssociation (ICMA).Another

related organization is the American Academy of

Certified Public Managers (AACPM), an association of

CPM alumni.ASPA

TheTexas CPM program is linked in several ways to

ASPA. InTexas, for example,CPM participants are provided

ASPA membership at no additional cost. In addition,

ASPA and theTexas CPM program hold an annual

jointTexas CPM/ASPA conference, one of the largest

regional ASPA conferences in the United States.

In early 2007, paperwork was filed to initiate a new

ASPA section called the Section on Certified PublicManagement

(SCPM). Currently, more than 300 ASPA

members are enrolled in the new section.Additional CPM

participants and graduates around the country and the

world are being encouraged to join both ASPA and the

newASPA SCPM.The SCPM is open to CPM alumni,

students, and faculty as well as all ASPA members

(whether or not they are affiliated with CPM) interested

in the concepts, principles, and practices of certified

public management.

The goal of the SCPMis to promote the professional

development and training of public and not-for-profit

managers in the ethical values and technical competencies

associated with outstanding public service.The new

section has adopted The Public Manager, the premier journal

for public administration practitioners, as its journal.

The Public Manager, along with the SCPM and individual

CPM programs, is engaged in a number of cooperative

projects, including offering professional development

sessions at ASPA and CPM conferences and conducting

occasional forums, seminars, and other discussion events

around the country throughout the year.

For additional information about the Texas SCPM,

visit www.aspaonline.org/scpm/.

ICMA

The CPM program forTexas has been developed to

meet the professional development and education standards

of ICMA.CPM courses forTexas are developed to

meet the eight essential training areas identified by ICMA:

staff effectiveness,policy facilitation, service delivery management,

strategic leadership, democratic responsiveness,

organizational planning and management, communication,

and integrity. ICMAs home page is located at

www.icma.org.

AACPM

AACPM,a companion organization to the National

CPM Consortium, is the national organization made

up of the alumni of CPMprograms throughout the country.

Each state also establishes state CPM alumni societies.

Each year, theAACPMholds an annual conference,which

is attended by CPM alumni and program directors

throughout the country.The National CPMConsortium

meeting is held in conjunction with the annualAACPM

conference.For additional information,go to theAACPM

Web site:www.cpmacademy.org/.

A Model for Worldwide

Public-Sector Workforces

The CPM program continues to grow and expand

throughout the United States.Throughout its history,CPM

has served as a valuable companion program to the traditional

master of public administration (MPA) program.

CPM is more applied and less theoretical than the MPA

program. It is designed for those less interested in completing

all requirements of the MPA program than in acquiring

the skills,knowledge, and abilities necessary to become

outstanding public servants. CPM also can be of

value to those who have completed a traditionalMPA degree

and wish to update their practical skills.CPMfocuses

on values, such as improving ethics in the public service.

It sets up a continuing education network of federal, state,

and local civil servants,who can work together to improve

the quality and the image of the public service.

The next logical step is to take CPM to the international

level. Over the last few years, the authors have

delivered a series of papers at international conferences

around the world.The purpose of these papers was to provide

additional information about CPM to public administration

educators and practitioners worldwide. In July

2005, the concept of CPM was initially presented at the

InternationalAssociation of Schools and Institutes ofAdministration

Conference in Lake Como, Italy. InMay 2007,

the authors presented a paper focusing on the value of

CPM as a certification designation for public and nonprofit-

sector employees at a conference in Kiev,Ukraine.

We also presented related papers on the value of CPM

as an international public manager designation at conferences

inWarsaw, Poland, and Moscow, Russia.

The CPM concept garnered a great deal of interest

and comment at the international conferences where it

was presented.We hope that the seeds of the CPM program

planted at these conferences ultimately will take root

in a number of countries around the world.