I would have been one of the first (what came to be called) Student Managers at the Rose Institute. In the late 1970s, the Rose was engaged in many projects as it was preparing for a prominent role in the redistricting of the early 1980s. And I was able to participate at a surprisingly high level for an undergraduate student in several of them, including:
Developing EREHWON – a computerized campaign simulation game designed to teach ARCO employees about the techniques of modern campaigning.
Directing the assembly of Redistricting in the States – the first 50-state compendium of the redistricting processes from the early 1970s. I also authored the New Hampshire chapter after conducting interviews with key legislators, including the former Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from that earlier era.
I used that research for my Honors Senior Thesis, Redistricting Politics: An Analysis of the States. It won a Salvatori Award, providing for me to be published a second time and to receive the attractive financial prize that came with it.
Raising the visibility of redistricting as a major public policy issue. I gave speeches and talks on the topic Redistricting: Key to Politics in the 1980s to several civic and public affairs groups. The most prominent address was in Boston to The Edison Institute made up of the Public Affairs Offices of the Electric and Power Companies in the New England Region.
Managing two major conferences on Redistricting at the Rose Institute featuring prominent politicians, academicians, journalists, demographics and legal experts, and leaders of groups that were major stakeholders in the drawing of legislative districts. The keynote speaker for the second conference was former President Gerald Ford. What a thrill it was to be working with the immediate past President of the United States for an entire day – see photo below. (Note: he was one of three men who were or would hold that office whom I met on campus at CMC during my four years there. The two others were Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
I worked with many outstanding undergraduate and graduate students at the RI, many of whom I established longtime personal relationships. They included George Dunn, who served as Chief of Staff to California Governor Pete Wilson, Janelle Hobbs-Blanco, Noah Mesel, and George CS Blanco. I also had the good fortune to become friendly with the patroness of the Institute, Edessa Rose. She was such an accomplished professional woman – a true trailblazer who rose (pun intended) to the top echelons of the business world through her sheer intelligence, competence, hard work, and ambition.
What amazing opportunities CMC offered me as an undergraduate via the Rose Institute!