WASHINGTON, November 14, 2002—The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has selected professor Mark L. Weinberg, director of the Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University, to serve as its John D. Whisman Scholar for fiscal years 2003 and 2004. As ARC’s John D. Whisman Scholar, Weinberg will conduct research and provide executive development training on strategic management and performance issues for ARC and its partner organizations. He will also advise the Commission on strategies to link institutions of higher education to the Region’s economically distressed counties.

Weinberg succeeds Jean Haskell of East Tennessee State University, who has served as the ARC scholar for the past two years. The John D. Whisman Scholar program honors John Whisman, a longtime aide to Kentucky Governor Bert Combs who is widely credited for energizing President John F. Kennedy's vision of a regional approach to combat chronic poverty in Appalachia.

In addition to directing the Voinovich Center, Weinberg has served as faculty director of the Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development and the Ohio University Executive Leadership Institute. He also heads the university’s Appalachian New Economic Partnership initiative for the Ohio Board of Regents, a comprehensive strategy to develop talent, technology, and capital in Appalachian Ohio in order to strengthen the Region’s competitiveness in the emerging knowledge-based economy.

Weinberg's faculty appointment at Ohio University is in the Department of Political Science, where he teaches public budgeting, financial management, and the graduate seminar in public administration. He also teaches strategic management and performance workshops as part of the National Children’s Network project of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.

Weinberg serves on the advisory board of the Ohio Certified Public Management Program and is chair of the Ohio Board of Regents' Rural Universities Program. He is a past board member of the National Business Incubation Association and the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority.