Center Court
- Vol. 6, No. 2 - Spring 2003
ICM Fellow Reaps
Professional Rewards of Coursework
 Dianne
Wilson, a graduate of the National Center’s Institute for Court
Management’s (ICM) program for court executives, is considered one of
the pioneers of electronic criminal case disposition reporting in Texas.
As county clerk in Fort Bend, Wilson serves as a role model for expanding
electronic reporting across her state.
She credits much of
her success to her completion of ICM’s rigorous Court Executive
Development Program (CEDP). Wilson recently earned a Ph.D. in public
administration from Kennedy-Western University, which accepted her CEDP
credits as a master’s degree equivalent, exempting her from completing a
formal master’s study before beginning her doctoral work.
CEDP is considered the
“flagship” program of the National Center’s judicial education
division and the only program of its kind in the country. Upon graduation,
which takes place at the U.S. Supreme Court through sponsorship of a
Supreme Court justice, Fellows receive certification from the four phases
of study that take place over a two-to-five-year period. Admission to the
program is open to anyone with a college degree and five years of court
management experience. ICM, touted as the premier judicial branch
education organization, holds educational courses and conferences
throughout the United States to inform and support the management and
leadership of state courts.
“We
at the Institute for Court Management are delighted that Ms. Wilson's work
in the Court Executive Development Program was accepted as a master’s
equivalent for entry into her doctoral program,” said Mary Sammon, CEDP
director.
Wilson was pleased, but
not completely surprised that her CEDP coursework, which she completed in
1991, fulfilled the university’s master’s requirement. “The CEDP
coursework was challenging and required a high degree of dedication, as
well as organizational and time management skills,” she said. “The
same was true of the doctoral coursework, research, and dissertation. It
was beneficial to have worked through NCSC’s rigorous program
beforehand.”
Wilson currently is serving her sixth term
as Fort Bend county clerk, a position she has held since 1982.
“Being an elected clerk of court in Texas with the distinguished
ICM Fellow on my résumé opened many doors of opportunity for me to make
an impact on the standards, policies, and laws in the Texas judicial
system, especially in the areas of technology, electronic filing of court
documents, and pro se assistance models,” Wilson said.
In
1997, the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court appointed Wilson to the
Texas Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT). As one of the
committee’s original 15 charter members, Wilson is a recognized leader
in integrating information technology into the 2,600 Texas trial courts.
She guides the working group that developed the statewide blueprint,
rules, and standards for an ongoing electronic court filing project and
volunteered to test the system in her office. As chair of the
committee’s standards subcommittee, Wilson focuses on developing
information technology standards, policies, and procedures for the
state’s judiciary. Among those developed and adopted under her
supervision are standards for case management functions, electronic court
filing document format and data interface, information protection and
security, Web site content and presentation, and domain naming.
Wilson’s
subcommittee also developed a proposed policy for public access to court
records. She continues to assist rural counties, helping them obtain free
or low-cost equipment, Internet access, and e-mail services.
More information concerning NCSC’s
educational services and other programs promoting the importance of
judicial administration can be located on the Web at www.ncsconline.org.
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