Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG) is an organization that works closely with officials and employees from state and local governments in the U.S. state of Georgia and internationally to help them achieve their missions and improve public service. CVIOG is a unit of the Office of Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia.

The Vinson Institute offers training programs for public officials and staff, conducts research on a broad range of questions relevant to state and local governments, and provides assistance to help those governments and agencies run more efficiently and effectively.

Originally established at the University of Georgia as the Institute of Public Affairs in 1927, the organization was charged with providing “a forum to study international, national, state, and local affairs and to make recommendations for improved governance.” It combined research, technical assistance, training, and publications.

Over the course of the following decades, the Institute of Public Affairs expanded to address the needs of the state’s rising population, and it underwent several name changes—Institute for the Study of Georgia Problems (1938), Institute of Law and Government (1953), and Institute of Government (1965). The organization finally became the Carl Vinson Institute of Government in 1983 when it was renamed in honor of Georgia Representative Carl Vinson, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 50 years.

The Vinson Institute moved its headquarters to its current location at the historic Lucy Cobb Complex in 1991. It also maintains offices on other parts of the UGA campus and in Atlanta, Georgia, near the Georgia State Capitol.

The Vinson Institute provides:

The Vinson Institute conducts a variety of assistance programs to help governments and agencies improve their operations and plan for the future. Many of these programs are geared toward promoting efficient and effective service delivery. Faculty at the institute also perform program evaluation for departments and agencies within Georgia’s state and local governments.

There is a human resource management group that conducts classification and compensation studies, executive searches, promotional testing for public safety organizations, and other HR-related functions. The local government studies group performs annexation and consolidation studies, service delivery studies, departmental reviews, tax equity studies, and other projects about the issues facing cities and counties.

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