Certified Public Manager Program

CPM is an intensive learning experience for supervisors, managers, executives, management staff, and project managers. Participants include employees from federal, state, county, and local governments. The program includes discussion, traditional classroom experiences at Drake University, and online learning. Participants also complete one team project related to a real-life situation, problem, or concern in their job. This gives them the opportunity to apply the theories, principles, and techniques they learned in the CPM program.

History

In 2002, the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, Human Resources Enterprise (DAS-HRE) and Drake University partnered to offer a Certified Public Manager Program® (CPM) for Iowa.

CPM is an intensive learning experience unlike anything offered before by the State. The program places emphasis on problem solving and teamwork. It was built on the direction established in the Governor's Leadership Agenda and the Iowa Excellence Initiative.

The Iowa CPM program is accredited by the National Certified Public Manager® Consortium. The program focuses on professionalizing the practice of public management in much the same way as other occupations.

Today we face tight budgets, increased accountability, and a drain of our talent and knowledge as workers retire. Organizations that invest in employee development through CPM will benefit from the participant's enhanced skill set. They will also strengthen their workplace by having fully-developed managers in critical support roles. The CPM program offers a comprehensive educational experience and leads to enhanced performance. It's affordable, too!

Benefits of participation

Graduates receive:

• CPM designation
• Best-practice management strategies and enhancement of personal leadership strengths
• Increase in intergovernmental networks and communication
• One year's experience for some state job classifications
• Nine hours of graduate credit from Drake University, which may be applied toward a Master of Public Administration degree

Organizations receive:

• Work-related projects that enhance research, problem-solving, and planning
• Improved efficiency, effectiveness, and cost-saving skills and knowledge
• Enhanced skills to build a high performing workplace
• Innovative approaches
• Improved intergovernmental communication

• Strengthen organizations through improving the performance of Iowa's public managers
• Encourage the recognition of public management as a profession
• Establish a course of study by which knowledge about self, groups, and organizations may be acquired
• Foster and maintain high educational and ethical standards in the practice of public management
• Establish an objective assessment for a public manager's professional knowledge and performance
• Provide enhanced professional recognition of management development by public managers

• CPM Application
• Application Procedures

• CPM curriculum
• Partnership & advisory board
• Requirements & responsibilities