Leadership Skills

Public Employees Leadership Institute
Home | AboutCourses | Testimonials

 

Modules

1. Exploring and discussing the elements of leadership
2. Ethics and leadership
3. Defining excellence
4. Organizational self-assessment
5. Team development


This course explores the concepts of creating a vision for the future and the ability to communicate that vision to others.

This would include:

  • Exploring and discussing the elements of leadership
  • Ethics
  • Organizational self-assessment
  • Defining excellence
  • Team development

Key concepts include:

  • Team development
  • Leadership styles
  • Professional ethics
  • Organizational self-assessment
  • Defining excellence

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, participants will be able to:

  • Involve the elements of leadership successfully
  • Understand the role of leadership and how it relates to a successful manager
  • Recognize the importance and impacts of ethics as a leader and manager
  • Identify individual leadership styles including the strengths and weaknesses of each
  • Apply team development concepts for more successful team interactions
  • Discuss the processes of self-assessment and defining excellence
Instructors

Position
Retired City of Des Moines Deputy Public Works Director


Education
BS in Industrial Sciences; University of Minnesota
MS in Industrial Safety and Loss Control; University of West Virginia
MS in Public Administration; Drake University


Experience
Pat Kozitza graduated from Mankato State University in Mankato, Minnesota. He received a Master’s Degree in Industrial Loss Control from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Pat worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as a safety consultant in New York, and appeared on “Good Morning America” for the American Red Cross of Greater New York.

He joined the City of Des Moines in 1976. He was promoted to Assistant Employee Relations Director in 1980, Assistant to the Public Works Director in 1984, and Deputy Public Works Director in 1998. He held the position of Deputy Public Works Director for the City of Des Moines until his retirement in 2014.

Throughout his career in public service, Pat participated in a number of government mandated programs giving him a unique perspective on the process of implementing federal legislation.


Other Institute course(s)
Fundamentals of Government

Position
Retired Lee County Engineer


Education
BS in Civil Engineering; Iowa State University


Experience
Dennis Osipowicz retired from Lee County after serving as the County Engineer for 25 years. He graduated for Iowa State University in 1965 with a BS in Civil Engineering.

After graduation, Dennis went directly into being a project engineer for the City of Davenport. He then moved on to consultant work at Shive-Hattery and Associates and ended up in Lee County. Dennis was a very busy man serving in over 6 professional associations. He helped in the establishment of the Secondary Road Maintenance Supervisors Organization and served on the Iowa Board of Engineering Examiners.


Professional affiliations
Has served in over 6 professional associations
Helped establish the Secondary Road Maintenance Supervisors Organization
Served on the Iowa Board of Engineering Examiners

Position
City of West Des Moines Planner


Education
BS in Community and Regional Planning; Iowa State University
MS in Public Administration with a Transportation Planning Emphasis; Iowa State University


Experience
Kara Tragesser has a BS in Community and Regional Planning, as well as a Masters of Public Administration with a Transportation Planning emphasis from Iowa State.

Kara worked at the Iowa DOT, Office of Systems Planning (Advance Planning), in Ames for two years. Her next stop was the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Des Moines, IA, for eight years as a Transportation Planner. She moved on to the City of West Des Moines as a Planner working on current planning, long range planning, annexation, land use planning and transportation for 16 years and counting. Kara has been involved in the City of West Des Moines’s Quality Initiative since approximately 2001.

Position
Director; Statewide Urban Design and Specifications Program, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University


Education
BS in Civil Engineering; Iowa State University


Experience
Paul Wiegand has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University. He has over 30 years experience in urban public works activities, with 18 years as a Public Works Director in Ames, Iowa. For the past four and a half years, he has been involved with the Institute of Transportation in both the Statewide Urban Design and Specifications (SUDAS) program and National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State University managing research projects. He is currently Principal Investigator on projects dealing with pervious pavement, concrete overlays, the Concrete Pavement Road Map and tire-pavement noise.

TOP