About

Unlike other civic education organizations, Woods Institute’s size and training specialization allows us to tailor each course we offer to specifically meet our clients’ needs and professional interests. We ensure that our seminars feature speakers that have direct experience working with the federal agencies or businesses most closely associated with course participants.

Woods Institute has a strong relationship with Public Lands and Natural Resources agencies within the Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture. 

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"I have been teaching seminars and studying the federal government in Washington for 25 years. My classes have taken place not only in Washington, but also across the country. In that time I have seen many changes in peoples’ attitudes toward government, both here in the capital and in states and localities. Cynicism of government at all levels seems to permeate the American society. Of great concern to me is this lack of appreciation for the only country in the world that has ever tried to do so much for so many all at the same time. Our form of government is that of a republic. The word republic comes from Latin and Greek words that mean the people, hence the opening line of the U.S. Constitution, “We the people...” Such a notion suggests that care and cultivation of the republic by all of us is a responsibility to keep it alive, growing, and evolving. Perhaps, we have been ripping at the republic because of just what we want or lack, rather than nurturing it by having the same sense of community that built this country. 

Responsible citizenship suggests an informed people who make their elected officials accountable for the spending of the public’s money. Disinterest, perhaps,has contributed to cynicism. Disinterest by the people will not make the elected officials accountable. I hope that you will start to feel an ownership in the federal government. After all, it is yours."

                                                                                                -Patricia D. Woods, PhD

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Patricia D. Woods, President and founder of Woods Institute, has over 25 years of experience at the federal, state and local level of US Government. Prior to the establishment of the Woods Institute in 1984, Dr. Woods was a visiting professor with the Government Affairs Institute of the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, DC. Before that she spent nearly three years with the National Association of Counties and seven years as a staff member in the Louisiana State Legislature. Dr. Woods has since remained actively engaged in US politics across the United States.