Carr lectures at two Finland universities about local government, U.S. health care system
Public administration and policy analysis (PAPA) professor T.R. Carr traveled to two Finland universities to present his knowledge of U.S. government from his practitioner’s perspective–as former mayor of the City of Hazelwood. He talked about healthcare and the current reform movement (Affordable Care Act), and about local St. Louis government and inter-governmental cooperation along the Mississippi.
Carr lectured at the University of Tampere in Tampere, Finland, and the University of Jyväskylä in Jyväskylä, Finland.
Carr is also a former Board Member of the East-West Gateway Council of Government, and served on the Leadership Council of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association. He also is the former president of the St. Louis County Municipal League. He served on hospital advisory boards as well.
He said the information presented came from an academic perspective and his work in government.
“Since I have all this experience it was more than just an academic discussion but also included the perspective of a practitioner,” Carr said. “Everything I talked about there was grounded in my experience locally and regionally.
According to Carr, Finland’s government is centralized whereas U.S. government is decentralized with many local governments sharing power. The students and faculty, who were in the public management program at the universities, were interested in learning about the U.S. government.
“They wanted to understand how our system works-how it is now and where it is headed.” Carr said.
Carr said his visit turned out well and the students and faculty seemed eager to learn about American government.
“I had a great visit. I benefited from an extensive dialogue with students,” Carr said. “They’re familiar with the European model but much less familiar with the American model.”
Carr also spent time meeting with faculty and students “laying the foundation to develop a relationship with them.”
Carr said he hopes to establish long-term relations so a study abroad program could be established for PAPA students and he felt they were open to it.
“They’re interested in working with us to bring some students here,” Carr said.
Carr said learning about Finland’s government and studying there would “broaden our world view of strengths and weaknesses of our system.”
Filed Under: General CAS Stories • Public Admin & Policy