Commissioner to head KU’s Topeka center

Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones has been named as director of the KU Public Management Center in Topeka.

Jones, a KU graduate who also earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, will begin as director Aug. 1. He succeeds Joe Harkins, who retired as director in December 2002.

The center, begun in 1974 as an effort to provide education for state employees, offers night and weekend courses toward a master’s degree in public administration and certified public manager and executive development programs. Most classes are taught by faculty from KU’s top-ranked public administration program with support from the Division of Continuing Education. Among the program’s noted alumni are Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and former Attorney General Carla Stovall.

Jones, who is serving his second term on the Douglas County Commission, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from KU in 1979 in addition to his 1988 degree from Harvard.

Jones will serve as a member of the leadership in KU Continuing Education, and he will hold a courtesy appointment in the public administration department.

For more on the KU Public Management Center, visit www.
kuce.org/pmc/.