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Monday, November 30, 1992
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Nalbandian uses theory to combine roles
By Jenny Martin Special to the Kansan
John Nalbandian is guided by the words of a famous social scientist, Kurt Lewin, who said there is nothing as practical as a good theory.
As a KU associate professor of public administration and a one-and-a-half year veteran of the Lawrence City Commission, Nalbandian said he thinks he has been able to apply the theories he has studied and taught in academic life to very practical uses in his role as city commissioner.
Much like the department of public administration's master's degree program, where students learn practical aspects of their degree during yearlong internships, Nalbandian's time on the city commission is his chance to apply in practice all he has taught in theory for years.
"I've learned over the years that first and foremost what I am as a student who loves to learn," he said. "That is the way I have approached this job as a city commissioner. I am learning even more about government."
Nalbandian is no stranger to the system. After getting his doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California, he worked in the Army with the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C., and then as an instructor and assistant dean at the School of Public Administration at USC.
He came to KU's political science
department in 1976 to teach public administration. After several years, he helped create a separate public administration department which he headed for five years.
A year-and-a-half ago Nalbandian was elected to a four-year term as a city commissioner.
Nalbandian said he was attracted to local government because he wanted to have immediate response from the public he was serving. He responded by taking interaction between the people and those working for them is not there.
"I have always been a person who likes to be a part of a collective group effort, and I have a lot of loyalty and energy to give," he said.
He said he thinks that direct feedback from the people is the only way that an elected official knows he is doing his job right.
"I think elected officials are obligated to let the people know how they are thinking and why they are making the decisions that they're making," he said. "That is the only way anyone can learn anything."
The decision to run for city commission was made through the meticulous thought process that governs every move he makes.
"I spent a lot of time thinking about it and preparing for it," he said. "The summer before I ran I started talking to a range of people to get a feel for what the issues are in this city, and how people feel about them."
Running for the commission seat was a natural progression in Nabandian's life. Government had been one of major interests since high school.
"There was an attraction for me, like I think there is for many who are in the political science field, to see if I could be elected to office," he said.
If anyone fits the stereotype of a university professor, it is Nalbandian.
With his wire-rimmed glasses, speckled beard and serious demeanor, he comes across as the shy academic type. But those who know him, like his best friend, Gary Cox, said shy is the last word they would use to describe him.
Nalbandian met both his wife and Cox in an international relations class at USC. He was the teaching assistant who graded their papers.
Nalbandian's wife, Carol, met him when she went to him to complain about a grade on a paper. She didn't get the grade changed, but she did end up marrying him in 1966.
Carol considers herself a private person, and at first she questioned why someone would willingly put her in a public eye by running for public office.
"I really hasn't affected our personal lives that much, although I don't answer the phone anymore," she said. "He doesn't mind talking to people at all, and they call at all times.
"I think being on the commission has widened his perspective and revitalized his teaching. It is really amazing how his job as a commissioner and his career interests have been so well melded together."
Cox now lives in Oregon, but he and Nalbandian still talk on the phone almost once a week.
When Nalbandian was teaching at the School of Public Administration at USC, Cox was a guest lecturer. He remembers the way Nalbandian must classes.
"This one day he brought a can of Pringles to class and said he thought that it was a symbol of the society at this time," he said. "He said it was a good example of the United States in the 1970's: an even stack of paperthin, synthetic, perfectly shaped chips. John has a way of using ingenuity and creativity in his classes."
Nalbandian said that putting to use on the commission what he taught in the classroom was usually not difficult, because the two were so directly connected.
"Now in just (a year and a half) I have got so many examples and cases that I am confident they are correct."
Stephen Soukup, a former KU student who was in Nalandian's Professionalism and Democracy in Local Government class last fall, said that it was one of the best classes he had taken at KU.
Nalbandian brings in issues that the city commission is considering and
Christine McFarrand / KANSAN
Story continues, Page 14.
John Nalbantian puts the theory he teaches at KU into practice as a Lawrence City Commissioner.
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