IOPL
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    Institute of Political Leadership

To Win
To Serve
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The Faculty

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. 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 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.

Among the guest lecturers in the Fellows program are:

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

John Davis
, Executive Director, NCFREE

Mike Easley
, N.C. Governor

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

J. Clark Plexico
, Public Affairs Consultant

Art Pope, Former N.C. Representative

Neal Rhoades
, Republican Political Consultant

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 Fellow speakers have included:


Secretary of State Elaine Marshall

N.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin

N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson

State Representatives Alice Bordsen, Bill Daughtridge, Jerry Dockham, Wayne Goodwin, Robert Hensley, Earline Parmon and Connie Wilson

Judges Monica Bousman, Craig Croom, Ron Spivey, and Ed Wilson

County Commissioners Peter Brunstetter, Fred McClure, and Nancy Pritchett 

Consultant Chip Scholz

City Council Members Marla Dorrel, John Tabor, Donald Vaughan and Barbara Volk

School Board Member John Lassiter

Francine DeCoursey, Co-President of On Location

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Institute of Political Leadership
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