ASU dean discusses need for civil service academy

Jonathan Koppell, the dean of Arizona State University’s College of Public Service and Community Solutions, recently spoke with the Washington Post about the university’s new Public Service Academy launching this fall.

The undergraduate program will integrate cross-sector and civilian-military experiences to develop future leaders.

In an interview with guest writer Tom Fox, Koppell talked about the academy, the types of training it will provide and some of the barriers that currently exist regarding entry into federal service.

“There has been an idea for a long time that we ought to have a public service academy akin to West Point that trains people for civilian public service,” Koppell said.

Koppell said there is a mutual suspicion between government and the private sector.

“That’s something the ASU Public Service Academy addresses, by giving students the opportunity to build trust through their experiences with people in the public and private sector,” Koppell said.

Koppell added that another “key feature of the new academy is that our civilian service corps is going to work alongside the members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps."

"We want to start building the civilian-military trust and preparing people for the dynamics of that interaction at the earliest stages of their training,” he said.

“When it comes to government service, there is a steep hill to climb to convince a lot of people that it is an effective way to make a difference. We need to encourage people to see government service as a virtuous and a critical form of public service,” Koppell said.