[PMAGList] Fwd: Wash Post Article

[Tod T. Companion, Ph.D.]

>Hey Y'all -
>
>This snuck into the Sunday Post:
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45299-2004Jan24.html
>
>Elite Intern Program Revamped, Expanded
>
>  By Stephen Barr
>
>One of the government's elite recruiting programs is getting a new name 
>and an expanded role.
>
>The Presidential Management Intern Program, established in 1977, is being 
>renamed the Presidential Management Fellows Program.
>
>The revamped program will offer higher pay, lift restrictions on class 
>size and add a component: "senior fellows."
>
>The new program, which was put together by   Kay Coles James, the director 
>of the Office of Personnel Management, will be announced in Monday's 
>Federal Register, the government's docket for notices and regulatory changes.
>
>"This program has been recalibrated to reflect the current realities in 
>federal recruiting and to expand the opportunity to a new generation of 
>people who want to serve the country," said Paul T. Conway, the OPM chief 
>of staff.
>
>President Bush issued an executive order last year authorizing the 
>changes, and James intends for the program to "use that imprimatur of the 
>president, even down to the seal . . . to say that this is the fellows 
>program that you want to go for if you are a professional in any field," 
>Conway said.
>
>The program was started to strengthen the civil service's management ranks 
>-- a way for federal agencies to grow future leaders. But the program, in 
>recent years, has been drifting, according to critics.
>
>The Merit Systems Protection Board, in a 2001 study, found that some 
>agencies were using the intern program as an easy way to hire young people 
>with master's degrees for rank-and-file jobs and those with no management 
>potential.
>
>The study also found that the presidential interns were leaving the 
>government at slightly higher rates than their statistical counterparts, 
>even though the program attracted applicants with a high commitment to 
>public service.
>
>Although the program meets the expectations of most interns, a growing 
>number have complained that their agencies failed to provide adequate 
>training or did not follow through on the program's promise of rotating 
>assignments designed to broaden outlook and experience.
>
>Tod T. Companion, president of the Presidential Management Alumni Group, 
>said training and assignments remain a concern for interns. He said the 
>alumni group will review the new rule, which includes a provision for at 
>least 80 hours of classroom training and developmental assignments.
>
>  Companion praised James for reaching out to alumni for their views. "We 
> are thrilled that OPM is paying attention to this program," he said.
>
>Under the program, graduate schools nominate applicants, who undergo a 
>rigorous assessment by OPM. The finalists are offered two-year 
>internships, which usually lead to permanent jobs in the civil service.
>
>  According to the proposed rule, agencies will have the flexibility to 
> pay higher salaries to fellows than in the past.
>
>Fellows can be appointed at levels 11 or 12 on the 15-grade General 
>Schedule, based on their academic credentials and professional 
>qualifications. At a minimum, fellows must come into the program at GS-9, 
>which was the mandatory starting point in the old program.
>
>The proposed rule also would create a new position, senior fellows, who 
>can be appointed at GS-13, 14 or 15 grades, depending on their 
>qualifications. The new position has been designed to attract experienced 
>hands -- usually at mid-career -- from the private sector, nonprofits and 
>federal agencies.
>
>Senior fellows, after completing two years in the program, will be 
>eligible for appointment to the Senior Executive Service, the top career 
>rank for most managers and other professionals in the government.
>
>In another change, fellows may work at agencies, such as the CIA and FBI, 
>that hire outside the regular civil service rules. This change will give 
>intelligence and national security agencies an extra way to recruit 
>persons with expertise in languages, technology and science.
>
>The proposed rule, which will be open for 60 days of public comment, 
>leaves it to OPM and agencies to decide how many fellows should 
>participate in the program each year, a break with past practice that 
>limited participation to a maximum of 400 interns per year.
>
>A primary goal of the revamped program, Conway said, "is to create another 
>stream of talent into the federal government."
>
>E-mail: barrs at washpost.com.
>
>
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* * * * * * * * *
Tod T. Companion, Ph.D.
Program Analyst
Homeland Security
Assessments & Technology Division
Office of External Relations
NASA Headquarters

www.hq.nasa.gov

tod.t.companion at nasa.gov
(202) 358-1672
* * * * * * * * *

Dear President Kenade.

	Three boys want to go to the moon this summer.
	There name's are Carlton Crow Carter. Charles Smith. and John Thomas Morgan.
	Will you please get our space suits ready for us?
	And we need freeze guns too.
	We are eight years old.
	We want to know if an animal can go to?
	We want to take a dog named Missy Moo Carter.

				Carlton Crow Carter
				Albany Georgia


 From "Dear NASA: Please Send me a Rocket" by Tait Trussell and Paul Hencke

* * * * * * * * *