Role of UI governmental relations: Informing state, national leaders

Meeting to discuss University issues are (from left) Amitava Bhattacharjee, Faculty Senate president, Mark Braun, director of state relations, Derek Willard, special assistant to the president for governmental relations, and Pat Arkema, Staff Council president. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

And many of the rules and regulations they ultimately create have an impact on The University of Iowa. That’s why the Office of Governmental Relations exists. With one part-time and four full-time employees, the office has a small staff with a big charge: to affect state and federal legislation on the University’s behalf.

“Legislators are dealing with everything from body piercing to venture capital,” says Mark Braun, the office’s director for state relations. “They touch on a lot of different issues, so they rely on background information. We’re here to bring them up to speed.”

While Braun tackles state issues, Derek Willard, special assistant to the president for governmental relations and associate vice president for research, focuses on federal relations. His main objectives are to maintain the highest levels of research dollars and student financial aid available and to secure Medicare reimbursement.

“This past year we received $225 million in research funding from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” Willard says. “President Bush is proposing a 16 percent increase in the NIH budget. We’ll do well in competing for those dollars.”

Between Willard and Braun, they consult with President Mary Sue Coleman and the vice presidents as well as with the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, to determine priorities; they build ties with organizations ranging from the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce to the March of Dimes to the Association of American Medical Colleges; they explain to legislators the potential merits or harm of a particular bill, manage requests for information, and coordinate campus visits.

Their jobs also require having a basic understanding of myriad issues. Although some creep up every year—full funding of salary increases through state appropriation, for example, always is one of the University’s top priorities—Braun says each year sees new debates as well as new legislators.

“The spectrum of issues ranges from water quality to health care to space science, any of which can come to the forefront at any time,” says Braun, who spends four days a week in Des Moines while the Iowa General Assembly is in session. “This year, for example, we’ve been working on a bill that would give the Regents the authority to issue bonds for construction of hospital facilities. Since I got here three and a half years ago, I have learned a lot about health care.”

In addition to lobbying, Braun says he and Willard try to make government accessible to faculty, staff, and students.

“To many people, the government is a nebulous entity,” explains Braun, who worked in the Iowa General Assembly from 1995 to 1998. “We want them to be a part of the legislative process—whether it’s getting a legislator to talk with student government representatives about a certain issue or arranging for a faculty member to talk to the Senate Education Committee about what he or she is doing. It’s important that we make those connections.”

The advent of the Internet has helped facilitate this goal.

“When I first started in this office about a decade ago,” Willard explains, “I put a lot of effort into the distribution of information. I considered myself kind of a gatekeeper. Now, with the Internet, access to that information is almost instantaneous. I’m far more an interpreter of information than one who sifts through it.”

With state bills now posted on the Iowa General Assembly web site, www.legis.state.ia.us, Braun adds, the dissemination of legislative information has become a much more “efficient, fluid process.”

Others who help coordinate office functions are Norine Zamastil, an administrative assistant who helps track congressional bills, and secretaries Stacy Ervin and Ann Francis Goff.

The biggest challenge of late, Willard notes, has been working in a new environment.

“For the past 10 years, there were surpluses in the nation’s economy. Money in the federal treasury was abundant, and there was stability in the international system. The federal government had been able to focus on domestic issues, such as the economy, education, and health. That has now changed. The economy has slowed down, funds in the national treasury are not as abundant, and the international scene is far more uncertain.”

Although budget shortfalls have made the past year at times seem bleak, Willard says the rewards of his job are everywhere.

“It’s amazing to watch what science can do with federal money, to read in the newspaper about an important scientific discovery on campus,” he says. “It’s the same with students. There are about 20,000 UI students receiving federal aid, and that enables them to come here and do remarkable things—in the classroom, in laboratories, on the athletic field, on stages, in art. That’s the payoff.

“When someone on campus has a great day, it’s a great day for us.”

Article by Sara Epstein