"Where Tomorrow’s Leaders Are Learning Today"
The key evaluation of the program's impact is follow-up of the Fellows' activities: What do they do with the program and their expertise developed in it?
Nine Fellows now serve in the North Carolina General Assembly and more than 70 other Fellows hold local elected office ... county commissioner, mayor, city council member, district court judge ... and many more are elected officials of their local political parties.
Dr. Robert H. (Robin) Dorff, Ph. D.
Executive Director
Dr. Robert H. (Robin) Dorff assumed duties as the new Executive Director of IOPL on July 1, 2004. Prior to that he was Chairman of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College, where he previously served as Professor of National Security Policy and Strategy and holder of the General Maxwell D. Taylor Chair. From 1980 until 1997 he was a member of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at North Carolina State University, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on U.S. Campaigns and Elections, Public Opinion and the Media, American Government, and U.S. National Security and Defense Policy. During that time he was recognized as one of the state’s leading political analysts, providing insight and analysis for state and national television, radio, and newspaper coverage of campaigns, elections, public policy, and national security affairs.
When at the Army War College, Dr. Dorff was extensively involved in strategic leadership development and is recognized today as a leading expert on strategy, strategy formulation, and strategic thinking. He lectures frequently on these topics for corporate as well as national security audiences, and has spoken all over the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia on a variety of topics. The author or co-author of three books and numerous journal articles, Professor Dorff holds a B.A. in Political Science from Colorado College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Guest Lecturers:
Beth Becka, Communications Studies, UNCW
Jim Bennett, Finance Director, 1996 Jim Hunt Campaign
Jack Betts, Senior Editor, Charlotte Observer
David S. Broder, National Political Correspondent for the Washington Post
Susan Bulluck, President, Independent Opinion Research and Communications
Tom Covington, Consultant
Mitch Kokai, News Anchor
Art Murray, Political Consultant, AmeriCan GOTV Enterprises, LLC
John Davis, Executive Director, NCFREE
Rufus Edmisten, Former N.C. Attorney General and Secretary of State
Bill Ewing, Development Director, Public Campaign
Chris Fitzsimon, Executive Director, NC Policy Watch
Ferrel Guillory, Director of Southern Politics, UNC-CH School of Journalism
Sal Guzzetta, Ralph Murphine, and Brian Tringali, national and international campaign consultants
Dan Hester, Kim Kopka Ratcliff, Jon Evans, Television News Anchors
John Hood, Executive Director, John Locke Foundation
J.J. Jefferay, WSJS Radio Talk Show Host
Lloyd Jones, Survey Research Center, UNCW
Phil Kirk, President, N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry
Ralph Mitchell, President, The Mitchell Group
Phil Noble, International Consultant on Politics on the Internet
Harry Payne, Chairman, N.C. Employment Security Commission
Art Pope, Former N.C. Representative
Rob Schofield, N.C. Justice and Community Development Center
Mark Schreiner, Raleigh Office, Wilmington Star-News
Kim Westbrook Strach, Deputy Director-Campaign Reporting, N.C. State Board of Elections
Graduate Fellows:
Elaine Marshall, Secretary of State
Mark Martin, N.C. Supreme Court Justice
Judge Barbara Jackson, N.C. Court of Appeals
Janet Cowell, State Treasurer
Wayne Goodwin, Insurance Commissioner
Alice Bordsen, Bill Daughtridge, Jerry Dockham, Robert Hensley, Earline Parmon and Connie Wilson, State Representatives
Monica Bousman, Craig Croom, Ron Spivey, and Ed Wilson - Judges
Peter Brunstetter, Fred McClure, and Nancy Pritchett - County Commissioners
Chip Scholz & Scholz and Associates, Inc. - Leadership Development
Marla Dorrel, John Tabor, and Donald Vaughan - City Council Members
Barbara Volk - Mayor
John Lassiter - Charlotte City Council / Candidate Mayor of Charlotte
Francine DeCoursey, Co-President of On Location
Contact IOPL for Information regarding any of our faculty
Telephone: 336.333.9010
IOPL
c/o Department of Political Science
UNC-Greensboro
P.O. Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
