Rhoades awarded institute fellowship

State Rep. Marc Rhoades of Newton is among 37 lawmakers chosen to participate in a training program that annually identifies and assists promising state leaders in the Midwest.

Rhoades will meet with fellow lawmakers from Kansas and 10 other Midwestern states and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan on July 10 through 14, in Madison, Wis., for The Council of State Governments’ 15th-annual Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development.

“The Bowhay Institute is one of the premier leadership training programs in the nation,” says Iowa Rep. J. Scott Raecker, who serves as co-chairman of the institute’s steering committee. “The legislatures in the region have benefited greatly from the skills their members have gained through this unique educational experience. Many of the graduates now hold leadership positions in their states.”

Since 1995, more than 475 of the region’s lawmakers have graduated from the Bowhay Institute.

The institute was founded in 1995 to help new legislators meet the demands of program devolution and, in many states, term limits. These two forces highlight the shortage of training available for legislators, a void the group aims to fill.