Board development gets straight A's: a rural hospital example. Interview by Karen Gardner

Copley Hospital, Morrisville, VT, is living proof that "good things come in small packages." The governing board of this 50-bed rural hospital has not let size stifle its imagination and eagerness to learn. Trustee Mary Paul Hankinson of Hyde Park, VT, has been instrumental in instituting board development activities at the hospital since she began her board tenure in 1979. Hankinson, who has taken a leave from full-time college development work to raise a family, devotes more time to Copley and her governance responsibilities than most salaried employees. As a member of the board's education and evaluation committee and the American Hospital Association's Congress of Hospital Trustees, Hankinson is alert to the educational needs and concerns of her colleagues. She recently spoke with Trustee editor Karen Gardner about the Copley board's sophisticated process for trustee orientation, self-evaluation, and continuing education.