On June 13, 2011, Common Cause honored two long-time Delaware public servantsDr. Jerome R. Lewis
and The Honorable Michael N. Castleat its annual Good Government
Awards dinner. The evening program took place at the Christiana Hilton
in Newark, Del. Lewis received the Public Service Achievement Award,
and Castle garnered the Russell Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Public Service Achievement Award honors individuals who by
force of imagination, initiative, and perseverance have made outstanding
contributions to the public interest in the areas of government
performance and integrity.
Introducing Lewis was IPAs Dr. Jeffrey A. Raffel, Charles P. Messick Professor of Public Administration in the School of Public Policy & Administration and president of Common Cause Delaware.
Jerome Lewis has built several institutions in our state which
have supported these Common Cause values of public participation and
serving the common good and public administration more generally,
Raffel said. For those of you not familiar with academic jargon,
public administration refers to the organization and implementation of
government policies and programs.
Raffel added, Jerome Lewis is Dr. Public Administration in
Delaware, an entrepreneurial builder of an alphabet soup of public
administration institutions, a man who knows how to get things done, who
leads and supports the institutions he helped to create, and an
educator of the highest order, mentor to hundreds of students, public
officials, and faculty, including me.
Widely
recognized for his contributions to the policy, planning and
management needs of various partners throughout the state, Lewis joined
the University faculty in 1969 and, four years later, founded the
Institute for Public Administration, a research and public service
center that has impacted public policy throughout the state and region
for more than four decades.
Raffel said of Lewis, Under Dr. Lewiss leadership, IPA has
forged a strong track record of engaging graduate and undergraduate
students in research and technical assistance projects on topics in
fields such as water resources, transportation, education, womens
leadership, conflict resolution, planning and economic development, and
democracythat is, just about every issue critical to Delaware in the
last four decades.
Lewis was honored for creating the Legislative Fellows Program,
a flagship internship began in 1982 that links the research needs of
the state legislature with University of Delaware students, who work
directly with legislators on complex public policy issues.
Among the hundreds of students who have participated in this
30-year-old program, as well as other IPA programs, are many who have
gone on to distinguish themselves in elected or appointed office in
federal, state, and local governments and in the private sector.
In attendance were many of the current Legislative Fellows,
several of Lewiss colleagues from IPA and the School of Public Policy
& Administration, and College of Arts & Sciences Dean George Watson.
Lewis was recognized for 40 years of public service by both the Delaware House and Senate
in 2009. In 2004 he was one of the first two recipients of the
Ratledge Family Award for Delaware Public Service, which recognizes the
contributions of UD community members who exemplify excellence in
public service to Delawares citizens. In 1998 he received the National
Association of School of Public Affairs & Administrations Elmer B.
Staats Public Service Career Award. This award recognizes faculty who
inspire students to pursue public service careers and encourage
student interest and participation.
Castle,
who was introduced by the Delaware Chamber of Commerces John Taylor,
was honored for his career of service to Delawareans as an elected
officialas Deputy Attorney General, state legislator, Lieutenant
Governor, two-term Governor, and nine-term member of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
The $100-a-plate dinner supported the Common Cause Educational Foundation.
photos by Mark Deshon
