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Iowa State University’s Department of Political Science honored former Anamosa city administrator Patrick J. Callahan with its 2017 Dwight Ink Public Service Award on Wednesday, April 19 at a ceremony in Ames.

The Dwight Ink Public Service Award, named in honor of federal civil servant Dwight Ink (’47 government), was established in 1997 to honor public managers in Iowa who exemplify the highest standards of dedication to public service.

“Public servants like Patrick Callahan are exactly what the doctor ordered for local county and municipal governments and for the residents of those communities,” Mack Shelley, University Professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, said. “He brings decades of expertise from having held public office himself in several different communities, and shares that expertise with the current and future leaders of Iowa and in other states. Patrick is a shining example of how to make public administration and public policy function in the real world.”

Shelley noted that Callahan’s recognition also reaches a global level, with Callahan’s receipt in 2015 of the Distinguished Service Award from the International City/County Management Association, which advances professional local government worldwide.

Callahan is an experienced municipal manager, having served as city manager for Maquoketa, Iowa from 1978 to 1993 and city administrator for Anamosa, Iowa from 2006 to 2010. He has also served as a consultant for the Municipal Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Iowa from 1993 to 2005.

In 2013, Callahan established his own consulting business, Callahan Municipal Consultants, LLC, and provides services to cities in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. He was appointed to the Jones County Board of Supervisors in 2015 and served until 2016. Callahan has a B.A. degree in political science from Loras College and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Iowa.

Ink graduated from Iowa State University in 1947 with a double major in history and government and went on to hold executive positions in a variety of federal agencies under the administrations of seven U.S. presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan. His public service includes leadership roles at the Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Agency for International Development, Atomic Energy Commission and the Community Services Administration. He was a principal founder of several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency. In a past issue of Government Executive magazine, Ink was named one of the 20 all-time federal civil service leaders.