1960s
Magistrate courses begin under the leadership of faculty member Ed Hinsdale in the 1960s.

Jake Wicker consults with a number of cities and counties on water and sewer studies throughout his nearly five decades at the Institute.

Faculty member Mason Thomas participates in the drafting of the state’s Juvenile Code in the late 1960s and works with the Juvenile Code Revision Commission when the code is rewritten in 1979.

John Sanders acts as chief legal consultant in the legislative reapportionment work following the 1960 and 1970 censuses. By 1980 the General Assembly’s own staff takes on that role.

1960
With support from the Ford Foundation, the Institute begins to provide training programs in the form of seminars designed to build closer working relationships between community leaders and city officials. The initial series of seminars focuses on the problems of central business districts. Manufacturing executives, bank presidents, newspaper publishers, leading merchants and city officials of seven North Carolina cities—Burlington, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, High Point, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem—participate in the five one-day seminars. Papers presented at the seminars are compiled and published as a primer for business and civic leaders on the fundamentals of the downtown revitalization process.

1961
On leave from the Institute in 1961, John Sanders serves as secretary to Governor Sanford’s Commission on Education Beyond the High School. The work of this commission results in the creation of the state’s community college system.

A national seminar is held at the Institute to study urban growth and North Carolina’s solutions. The three-day seminar, “State Government and the Metropolitan Area” is sponsored by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and the State of North Carolina.

1962
Albert Coates retires after more than 30 years of invaluable service as founder and director. Faculty member John L. Sanders becomes director.

Faculty members Esser and Wicker provide research and staff support to the Commission to Study the Impact of State Sovereignty Upon the Financing of Local Government Services and Functions, 1962-1963.

In July 1962, President Kennedy’s Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime provides grant funding to the Institute to establish a training center on delinquency and youth crime. Institute faculty Vernon Lee Bounds establishes the center and develops a series of programs on prevention and control of delinquency and youth crime for parole officers, juvenile court judges, and probation officers.

1963
The first Institute of Parole Board Members is held at the Institute of Government in February 1963. Federal and state officials from across the U.S. and Canada attend the institute, to be followed by others at selected universities in the U.S. The courses are funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for training projects coordinated by the President’s Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime.

Dick McMahon begins work as the Institute’s first psychologist in June 1963. His work addresses concerns faced by officials and employees in the criminal justice area and later shifts to training of managers to improve organizational effectiveness.

The first Press Court Reporting Seminar is held at the Institute in November 1963, presided over by Elmer Oettinger. It is a successful collaborative effort of the Institute and the North Carolina Press Association with the cooperation of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Schools of Law and Journalism. Forty news reporters from across North Carolina attend this program designed to advance press-government understanding.

Faculty member Hinsdale acts as counsel to the courts committees of the North Carolina Senate and North Carolina House of Representatives and, with other faculty members, develops the implementation legislation for changes in the court system for the Courts Commission study initiated in 1963 and concluded in 1970.

1964
The first County Administration course is held. This parallels the existing Municipal Administration course initiated in 1954.

1965
Created in 1962 by Governor Sanford, administration of the Summer Intern program is transferred to the Institute in 1965. The intern program’s goals are to stimulate student interest and understanding of the opportunities and challenges offered by state government and to enable state government to benefit from the work and constructive criticisms of North Carolina’s brightest college students. The Summer Intern Program continued at the Institute until 2001 when budget limitations forced the end of the Institute’s involvement with the program.

1966
The first Legislators’ Orientation Conference is held at the Institute of Government, Chapel Hill, December 2-3, 1966. Sponsored jointly by Governor Dan K. Moore and the Institute, the two-day conference is attended by 153 of the 170 members elected to the 1967 North Carolina General Assembly.

With financial support from the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, the Institute develops and offers training for executive directors of Community Action Agencies in North Carolina. The training program is designed to help Community Action Agency executives cope with some of the problems they face in their efforts to make the “war on poverty” effective.

With Donald Hayman’s strong backing and support, a master’s degree program in public administration is established at UNC-Chapel Hill. Hayman teaches in the program until his retirement in 1985.

1967
Governor Dan Moore recommends a constitutional study commission to the North Carolina State Bar in 1967. The State Bar and the North Carolina Bar Association join in creating the North Carolina State Constitution Study Commission in 1968. The Commission delivers its work to the 1969 General Assembly. Voters approve it in 1970 and the new constitution becomes effective on July 1, 1971. John Sanders provides extensive support and research services to this commission, which also benefits from the Institute’s work on local finance from the Local Government Study Commission conducted from 1969-1973.

With the assistance of the North Carolina Department of Administration, the Institute’s Legislative Service begins to experiment with computers to store and retrieve bills, bill histories, reports, and calendar actions. In future sessions, this data-processing system will continue to be developed to provide more complete and up-to-date legislative information for legislators and others interested in the actions of the General Assembly.

The first annual Building Inspectors Short Course is held at the Institute in May 1967. Thirty-nine building inspectors from 27 cities and four counties complete the 60-hour course, which extends over six weekends. The course, believed to be the first of its kind offered in North Carolina, is jointly sponsored by the North Carolina Building Inspectors’ Association, the North Carolina Department of Insurance, the State Building Code Council, the Institute of Government, and the North Carolina League of Municipalities.

1968
The Institute aids in the implementation of a Leadership Training Institute for new African-American board members. Two institutes are held in Charlotte in 1968 and 1969 in collaboration with the office of community services at Johnson C. Smith University. Funding for the programs is provided by the North Carolina Board of Higher Education under provisions of Title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Faculty member Robert Stipe combines his knowledge of law, planning, and design into a short course on historic preservation at the Institute of Government. Cosponsored by the North Carolina Department of Archives and History, the course is attended by participants from across the United States and proves pivotal in establishing a professional basis in North Carolina and the U.S. for the study of historic preservation law and practice.

The Institute conducts training programs for public officials from Thailand and other East Asian countries in 1968-69 at the request of the Agency for International Development of the U.S. Department of State.

1969
Faculty Henry Lewis and Bill Campbell provide staff support and research services to a study commission that results in a revision of the Machinery Act.

By the end of the 1960s, 115 guidebooks on topics ranging from alcoholic beverage control to taxation and public welfare have been prepared and distributed to public officials throughout North Carolina.

The legislative computer information system becomes a successful reality in 1969 in a joint effort of the Institute and the state Department of Administration, with the cooperation of the presiding officers and Principal Clerks of both the Senate and House, and with assistance from IBM.

Faculty members Heath and Green work on a study of mining problems for a Study Commission and draft legislation that results in passage of the Mining Act of 1971.