Letter from Section Chair Bud Nicola 
Congratulations again to all in the Section for a wonderful celebration at the APHA Annual Meeting of our 100th year as an APHA Section. As we head into our 101st year the operative word in our environment appears to be "change."  We have major shifts in our economy and in our political leadership. We've always lived with change, but the swing of the pendulum seems more extreme in recent days. How should we react to change? The field of health administration : competency in managing systems change:  articulating the need for change; planning change strategies; and steps including empowering people to make changes, train, remove obstacles and reward successes. We need to apply our change management competencies to our immediate environment to push toward improvement.

The field of health administration also includes competencies in leadership, for example, articulating a future vision and values that inspire commitment; demonstrating a commitment to the improvement of health, to ethical behavior and professionalism; demonstrating a commitment to organizational diversity and accountability; establishing a high performance culture and reward system; sharing power; and inspiring commitment through personal example. You have an opportunity to demonstrate your competencies in leadership - and to improve those competencies - when you volunteer your time to work with others in the Section toward improving the field of health administration.

What can you do? There are many activities and efforts needed.  The Education Committee is working on educational materials to be available online and as part of our Annual Meeting, looking for best practice policies on evaluation, writing articles for a special issue of the Journal of Management and Practice on health administration, and connecting research to public health practice. There is committee work in the membership area, communications, policy development, and annual program. If you have passion for an area that is not on the list, let me know; perhaps you can lead a new effort for the Section.

In addition to the committee work of the Section there are elected members who develop Section policy (Section Councilors and officers) and APHA policy (Governing Council). We are looking now for candidates for elected office. Let me or Tricia Todd or Gretchen Sampson know if you are interested.

To productive change in 2009!
Bud Nicola
Chair
bnicola@u.washington.edu