The Donald C. Stone Best Student Paper Award recognizes the best paper on federalism and intergovernmental relations written by a graduate student in the last year (2017). Please email a copy of the paper (no more than 20-25 pages, double-spaced) to Committee Chair Todd Ely at todd.ely@ucdenver.edu. Nominations will be accepted through January 10, 2018.
The award comes with $250 to support travel to the ASPA national conference in Denver, CO. The award will be presented at the SIAM Business Meeting during the ASPA national conference from March 9-13, 2018.

The SIAM Nominating Committee, chaired by Kimberly Nelson and committee members John Kincaid and Elizabeth Fredericksen, is seeking nominations for a candidate for SIAM Chairperson-Elect and three positions for the SIAM Executive Committee. SIAM is committed to diversity and strongly encourages nominations of women and minority members. Self-nominations are welcome.

The chairperson-elect will serve in that role for two years (2018-2020) before becoming the chair for another two years (2020-2022).

Committee member positions are for a three-year term, 2018-2021. The list of current officers can be found on the SIAM website https://siam-aspa.net.

Please submit your nominations for Chairperson-elect and for three Executive Committee Member positions to Kimberly Nelson at knelson@sog.unc.edu by December 31, 2017.

Our Bylaws govern the slate of officers, their responsibilities, and how elections are to be conducted. Please see Articles IV and V below.

ARTICLE IV. Officers and Their Responsibilities
Section 1.
The officers of SIAM shall be the Chairperson, Chairperson-elect, immediate Past-Chairperson, and nine (9) members of the board. The term of the Chairperson and Chairperson-elect shall be one (2) year term. The Chairperson-elect will assume the office of Chair upon the conclusion of the incumbent Chairperson’s two-year term. The nine (9) members will serve staggered three-year (3) terms. These elective officers constitute the SIAM Executive Committee. The Chairperson-elect and members of the board will be elected by the membership as outlined in the procedures in Article V.
Any vacancies on the Executive Committee of less than one (1) year will be appointed by Chairperson, with the approval of the Executive Committee for the unexpired term of office.

Section 2.
The ASPA Executive Director or his/her designate shall serve as ex-officio member of the Executive Committee.

Section 3.
In consultation with the Executive Committee, the Chairperson appoints the Newsletter Editor, and special committees or task forces. With the approval of the Executive Committee, the Chairperson may appoint a Treasurer, Secretary and Membership Chair for the Section. The Treasurer, Secretary, Newsletter Editor and Membership Chair shall also serve on the Executive Committee. These officers may be selected among section members outside of the Executive Committee.

Section 4.
The Executive Committee is responsible for the overall performance and functioning of SIAM. Among its responsibilities will be the following:
A. Determining section dues, subject to approval by the ASPA National Council.
B. Approving section annual programs and budget.
C. Adopting positions on issues of relevance to section concerns.
1. Accepting donations, grants, and contracts for the section, subject to ASPA policy regarding this matter.
E. Serving on committees and/or Task Forces as deemed necessary by the Chair, or Executive Committee as a whole.
Decisions shall be taken by majority vote; in case of tie, the Chairperson’s vote shall prevail.
The Chairperson’s responsibilities will include: providing leadership to the Section; representing the Section; chairing the Executive Committee; presiding at section meetings; signing correspondence; supervising implementation of section programs and budget.

ARTICLE V. Elections
Section 1.
All members of the Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management shall have the right to vote for, and to be nominated to, SIAM elective off ices.

Section 2.
The following election procedures shall be followed:
A. The Chairperson will appoint a Nomination Committee of three (3) members at least four (4) months prior to the annual Section meeting.
B. The Nominating Committee will receive nominations and publish a slate of candidates at least three (3) months prior to the annual Section meeting.
C. The Nominating Committee receive additional nominations from the petition process up to two (2) months prior to the annual Section meeting; such additional nominations to be signed by 25 members of SIAM and accompanied by a statement from the nominee expressing interest and willingness to serve the Section.
D. Ballots will be distributed to the membership at least one (1) month prior to the annual Section meeting. Voting may occur through the distribution of a paper ballot, through email, or through the use of another online instrument. The method of voting will be announced to the membership when the slate of candidates is announced.
E. New officers will be announced at the annual Section meeting.
F. Newly elected officers will assume office at the beginning of the annual Section meeting, to be held in conjunction with the ASPA National Conference.

The Stone Scholar Award Committee cordially invites all SIAM members to nominate candidates for the Donald Stone Distinguished Scholar Award for 2018. This prestigious award, given since 1981, recognizes (1) significant contributions to the practice and/or study of intergovernmental relations over a substantial period of time and (2) contributions that have made an impact on the practice and/or study of intergovernmental management as a whole rather than only on a specific organization, institution, or function. 

Donald C. Stone (1903-1995) was a major and beloved figure in twentieth-century public administration. He was the founder of the American Public Works Association (APWA), served as the first Director of the Public Administration Service, and was a principal architect of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) in 1939 based on the 1937 recommendations of the Brownlow Commission. He was the first Director of the Division of Administrative Management of the Bureau of the Budget within the EOP, worked as Director of Administration of the Marshall Plan in 1948, helped found the National Academy of Public Administration in 1967, and served as Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM) established the Stone awards in 1980. The first awards were made in 1981. The principal criteria for the Practitioner and Scholar awards are:

• Significant contributions to the practice and/or study of intergovernmental relations over a substantial period of time.
• Contributions that have made an impact on the practice and/or study of intergovernmental management as a whole rather than only on a specific organization, institution, or function.

Please send us your nominations no later than January 29, 2018, to David Swindell, Chairperson, at david.swindell@asu.edu, Angela Evans at dean.a.evans@austin.utexas.edu, and Don Kettl at kettle@umd.edu.  Thank you!

SIAM’s DONALD C. STONE SCHOLAR AWARDEES

The ASPA Section on Intergovernmental Administration & Management (SIAM) is soliciting nominations for the section’s annual Donald C. Stone Practitioner Award.  Since 1981, SIAM has recognized outstanding practitioners for their contributions to intergovernmental management.  The award will be presented to one practitioner at the 2017 annual ASPA meeting in Denver.  The criteria for the award include:

• Significant contributions to the field of intergovernmental management over a substantial period of time.
• Contributions that have made an impact in the field of intergovernmental management as a whole rather than on a specific organization, institution or function.

Nominations for the SIAM Stone Practitioner Award are now being accepted.  Nominations should include the name and institutional affiliation of the nominee and of the nominator, a short statement explaining the nominee’s contributions to intergovernmental management commensurate with the criteria for the award, and contact information for both the nominee and the nominator.  Nominees and nominators need not be members of SIAM.
Please submit your nominations electronically to award committee chair Christopher Hawkins at christopher.hawkins@ucf.edu. Any questions may also be directed to Dr. Hawkins.  For the nomination to be considered by the committee, please submit your nomination before 5:00 pm, December 29, 2017.

Local Government and the States: The Shifting Dynamics of State-Local Relations

The Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM) invites scholars and practitioners to submit proposals for papers to be presented at the 5^th Annual Deil S. Wright Symposium. The symposium honors the career and contributions of Professor Deil S. Wright, a charter member of SIAM who remained active until his passing in 2009. The Wright Symposium will be a preconference event held on Friday, March 9, 2018 at the national conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in Denver, Colorado.

The 2018 symposium will explore state-local relations in the United States.  Wright’s classic textbook Understanding Intergovernmental Relations acknowledged the importance of state-local relations within our federal system.  Wright commented on many dimensions of this relationship including local boundaries and systems of governance, revenue systems, mandates and regulation, and administrative coordination.  State-local relations are sometimes characterized by conflict, sometimes in competition, but often through partnership and collaboration.  The 2018 Wright Symposium will feature empirical studies that provide insight into the character, quality and variety of state-local relations today.  The Symposium seeks proposals on all aspects of state-local relations.  Questions to engage may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• To what extent are today’s state-local relations characterized by conflict, competition, cooperation, or something else?
• What explains variation in the character of state-local relations across states and across policies, and is the pattern of variation changing?
• What is the future for emergency manager laws and state take-overs of local governments and services, e.g. education?
• How has political polarization affected state preemption of local authority in different policy areas, and what explains variation in local authority across the states?
• What should public managers learn from recent failures, e.g. the crisis in Flint, Michigan, and successes in state-local relations?
• What approaches are states taking steps to foster local innovation and experimentation in economic development, education, environmental policy, social policy, or other fields?
• In what ways are states engaging in new forms of cooperation with local governments and metropolitan regions to advance job training and economic development?
• As the federal regulatory climate shifts, how are different states responding and what are the consequences for their interactions with local governments?
• In which policy areas is Republican control of the national government most likely to result in new devolutions to the states, and perhaps second-order devolution to local governments?
• Is the current structure of administrator and elected official involvement in intergovernmental relations similar to that described by Deil Wright in 1990, or have patterns of intergovernmental relations changed with the evolving importance of policy networks?

The Deil S. Wright Symposium has become a premier venue for sharing intergovernmental relations research.  Proposals should explain how the author(s) advance our theoretical understanding of state-local relations and federal systems.  Successful proposal will seek insight through new data, path-breaking methods, and critical questioning of existing knowledge.

The organizers of the 2018 Wright Symposium intend to prepare an edited volume based upon the symposium theme.  Papers from the symposium may be included after careful peer review.  Submit your proposal before August 1, 2017.  Proposals should be sent by email to Russ Hanson (hansonr@indiana.edu) and Eric Zeemering (zeem@niu.edu).  The proposal should include contact information for all authors, the paper title, a proposal of 500 words or less, and an explanation of how the research relates to the theme outlined in this call for papers.  For accepted proposals, complete draft papers for the symposium should be submitted by January 1, 2018.  The editors will review the work and provide feedback before the symposium.  This will also provide an opportunity to solicit discussants for the symposium sessions.  We look forward to your participation in the 2018 Deil S. Wright Symposium at the ASPA Conference.