Policy Research Shop Testimony: May 31, 2013

PRS Students Testify Before the City Manager of Lebanon, New Hampshire

On Friday, May 31, 2013, two students from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center Policy Research Shop at Dartmouth College traveled to Lebanon, New Hampshire to present a report to Greg Lewis, the City Manager of Lebanon. Earlier in the academic year, Mr. Lewis requested an analysis that targeted strategies for IT innovation in local government. The project initially began in Professor Margaret Post’s PBPL 48: Policy Analysis and Local Governance course. The two students, Don Casler ’14 and Katie Schade ’13, shared a PowerPoint presentation offering a comparative analysis of IT government services in comparable towns in New Hampshire.

They also provided case studies of innovative communities throughout the nation, to offer possible opportunities for expanding Lebanon’s online presence. The students then shared in a discussion with Mr. Lewis about ways to implement the strategies they describe in the report. Copies of the written report, co-authored by Casler and Schade as well as Sebastian DeLuca ’14 and Leigh Ann Humphries ’13 were left with Mr. Lewis to distribute and discuss in future city planning meetings.