Des Moines Mayor-elect Connie Boesen was selected to participate in an ongoing, nationwide program for new mayors at Harvard University. The initiative is called the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University’s Program for New Mayors: First 100 Days. As a participant in the program, Boesen received “world-class training from Harvard faculty, urban innovation and management experts, and other mayors on how to set strategic citywide priorities, build effective city hall organizations and deliver for residents,” according to a news release. Boesen was at Harvard from Dec. 6 to 8 with other incoming mayors from 19 states. Going forward, there will be a few virtual classes, and then a general networking relationship with her classmates, said Debbie McClung, chief communications officer for the city of Des Moines. The program is delivered in collaboration with the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Program for New Mayors builds on the tradition of a seminar for new mayors that originated at the Institute of Politics in 1975.