Release

Goldfarb to Lead Local Government Assistance Project at UAlbany's Center for Policy Research

Contact: Michael Parker (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 26, 2004) --The University at Albany's Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy announced today that Owen Goldfarb has been appointed director, Local Government Assistance Project, of the college's Center for Policy Research. The project, supported by the Office of the State Comptroller, provides financial management and fiscal policy assistance to financially at-risk municipalities in New York.

"We are very pleased to partner with the Office of the State Comptroller to provide assistance to local governments," said Professor Thomas A. Birkland, director of the Center for Policy Research. "Owen has excellent experience in this field, and we are glad that we can be of service to governments in New York State."

Goldfarb has helped develop non-governmental organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises, with international assignments including SRI International in China and USAID projects in Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, and Turkmenistan. He was Rensselaer County's first budget director and served as the City of Troy's budget director from 1996 to 2000. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he was also manager of Technology Commercialization Programs at the New York State Science and Technology Foundation.

The Center for Policy Research is the public policy research center of Rockefeller College. The Center's affiliated faculty conduct research funded by private and public organizations. The Local Government Assistance Project will also partner with the College's Intergovernmental Solutions Program, an effort to aid local governments in finding solutions that require partnerships between and among multiple levels of government.