This article focuses on the author's applied anthropological work with the Ingham County Health Department between 1998 and 2001. Government administrators were reflexively aware that nobody had ever stepped back to assess the area's overall environmental health and rank the issues according to some criteria, such as by the "most urgent…

In Michigan, highly politicized school-finance reforms and the charter-school and school-choice movements present enormous challenges for school business officials. There is greater demand for administrator accountability and credibility, an open environment, effective communication skills, efficient use of data, long-term vision,…