Civic Leadership Day

All alumni invited to join us anytime during this class session!

The focus will be on volunteerism and civic leadership. It will open with breakfast and a two hour leadership module, facilitated by Dr. Janiece Upshaw. Dr. Upshaw is an Assistant Professor and serves as Program Coordinator for the Graduate School of Public Leadership at the University of North Texas Dallas. Her teaching is focused on increasing the quality of leadership in nonprofit organizations. She has also extensively researched the role of nonprofit leaders in building social capital before and after events of public violence.  The Public Leadership program utilizes a “Community as the Classroom” model in which students interact with community leaders and organizations to prepare them for work in the public or nonprofit sectors.

Her points of discussion will be

• Citizen engagement has been interpreted by many to simply be a simple conduit of information: delivery of information to citizen and citizen response
• Citizen participation however, allows community residents, citizens and stakeholders to play an active role in plans, processes and decisions as is required by law.
• Understand the purposes of citizen participation and the strategies to implement them; discovering citizens' preferences; incorporating citizens' local knowledge; advancing fairness and justice; gaining legitimacy for public decisions; adhering to the law for government entities.

• Stephen Mason, Mayor, City of Cedar Hill
• Curtistene McCowan, Mayor, City of DeSoto
• Barry Gordon, Mayor, City of Duncanville
• Clyde Hairston, Mayor, City of Lancaster

Lunch will be included for all registered class members and alumni that are current with their dues.  Lunch available for purchase for all other registered guests.


Following lunch will be the School Board Trustees Panel facilitated by Dr. Kevin Fegan, District President, Navarro College

• Cheryl Wesley, President, Cedar Hill ISD         
• Karen Daniel, Board President, DeSoto ISD
• Carla Fahey, Board President, Duncanville ISD
• Ellen Clark, Board President, Lancaster ISD