UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 33, Page 3
May 25, 1995
From high school interest to state government

     With an ongoing interest and involvement in government and public
policy, Teresa Milio exemplifies the graduate students in the UD
Legislative Fellows Program. She is a master of public administration
student specializing in state and local government management.
     While a high school student in Maryland, Milio, as president of a
county organization of high school student governments, became an
activist, helping to organize a lobbying effort to change how school
board members were chosen.
     "We did not win," she recalled, "but it was a good learning
experience."
     At Towson State University, majoring in political science and
mass communication, she had an internship with the Maryland
legislature, where she did constituent work and helped draft
resolutions. Later, she served as a Maryland governor's intern and
worked on the Chesapeake "Save the Bay" program. Although she said she
has no political ambitions, the experiences deepened her interest in
local and state governments.
     "It's where things happen that have an impact on citizens'
lives," she said.
     As a legislative fellow, Milio currently is working with Myrna
Bair, leader of the Senate Minority Caucus. One of Bair's projects is
the Women's Leadership Center, which Milio has helped organize. The
center offers seminars on such topics as leadership training,
empowerment, conflict resolution and communication skills for women in
public administration throughout Delaware.
     Bair also is vice chairperson of the Women's Network, an
affiliate of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL),
which will meet this summer in Milwaukee. The network's goal is to
offer leadership training and support for women legislators from all
over the country, and it will have an introductory program this summer
in Milwaukee which Milio is helping to arrange.
     Four subsequent regional work retreats also are being planned,
with the first scheduled in September in Delaware.
     "It is important that women become effective legislators as soon
as they take office, particularly as many states have imposed term
limits. Leadership and confidence are skills that can be learned, and
the Women's Network is about empowering women to act decisively,"
Milio said.
     Bair said that Milio's help has been invaluable in organizing the
network meetings. According to Bair, Milio is the first student to
actively participate in the NCSL, where she attends committee meetings
and will present a program this summer.
     "She was the right person at the right time, and, not only am I
grateful for her assistance, I think this has been an excellent
opportunity for her to learn about a broad range of issues," Bair
said.
     In other projects for the Senate Minority Caucus, Milio is
working on education issues, such as charter schools and school
choice, and in the use of technology in modernizing welfare.
     "Since I work for the minority caucus, there are fewer regular
staff members, but more opportunities. My role is to carry out
research on different issues and to come up with possible solutions.
Because Delaware is a small state, changes can be made to make
government work more efficiently and effectively," Milio said.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure