public affairs Inside:
ASU Joins Network to Design Modern Governance
SmartCities: Financing the Future McCain Institute: Promoting Character-Driven Leadership
Josue Macias, Outstanding Graduate from the School of Public Affairs
school of public affairs | college of public service and community solutions
director’s welcome I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our readers. As you turn these pages, the story that unfolds is an unmistakable one – the story of a school that is growing, building, and increasing its impact, advancing the public good. During the 2014-2015 academic year, we added seven new faculty to our ranks, in addition to seven new appointments the year before. In Fall 2015, we will welcome Stuart Bretschneider, Brian Gerber, Akheil Singla and E. Shawn Novak. I am proud of all of our highly accomplished faculty, who have won nine national and international awards since 2011, with eight of those since 2013. The most recent is the 2014 NASPAA/ ASPA Distinguished Researcher award given to Barry Bozeman, Arizona Centennial Professor of Technology and Public Management. A recent international comparison of published research in public administration ranked ASU #12 globally, with only three other U.S. institutions placing higher in the ranking. But, our story is more than awards and rankings. At ASU, we are developing a New American University focused on excellence, access, and impact, and the School of Public Affairs is at the heart of this commitment.
We have rapidly added centers and institutes over the past several years to promote our impact, including the two most recent: the Center for Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Studies and the Center for Organization Research and Design. In local government management, where we are ranked #2 by US News and World Report, we have the Center for Urban Innovation, which works closely with a unique national partnership of city managers called the Alliance for Innovation. Connecting the various streams of research and teaching in our school is a focus on change and innovation in public policy and public management. We have distinctive strengths in information technology; science and technology policy; environmental policy; civic engagement; and new forms of governance. Across all of these areas and more, we view our role as offering evidence and ideas for the creation of new solutions. One example described here is the participation of the Center for Policy Informatics in an international network on Open Government that has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation. We continue to add new academic programs. Over the past year, this has included Emergency Management and new
concentrations in the Master of Public Policy degree in Science and Technology Policy and Environmental Policy. We have a new concurrent degree for the MPA and the MA in American Indian Studies. Our undergraduate programs did not exist seven years ago; today they enroll more than 350 students. Next year we will take our undergraduate Public Service and Public Policy program beyond the walls of our downtown Phoenix campus through ASU Online. Through ASU Online’s collaboration with Starbucks, their employees will receive full tuition to obtain a bachelor’s degree. The Starbucks initiative is just one example of our priorities for broad and transformative access to education at ASU. The School of Public Affairs has one of the highest proportions of first-generation students at ASU, in a university that has been a leader in academic access and diversity. By promoting success for all students, we have the opportunity to help shape the next generation of public sector leadership in our communities, the nation, and beyond. Our alumni are already fulfilling this promise in many ways, and we measure our impact through the contributions of all of the members of our SPA community, current and former students, and faculty and staff.
inside this issue Center News//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 Morrison Institute to House New Kyl Center for Water Policy.....................................2 Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies Established at ASU.........................................................3 Susan Crawford Keynotes International Digital Government Conference at ASU...........................................................................3
Community Engagement///////////////////////////////////// 4 Conference Brings Together City, County Managers....................................................4 Alliance for Innovation: Partnering to Improve Communities........................................5
Students/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 6 Fall 2014 Outstanding Graduate: Jeanne Jensen...........................................................6 Students Bring Campus Safety Campaign Ideas to National Conference...............7 New Degree Programs..........................................................................................................7
Alumni Highlights ////////////////////////////////////////////////// 9 Features/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 10 ASU Joins Network to Design Modern Governance.....................................................10 SmartCities: Financing the Future.....................................................................................12 McCain Institute: Promoting Character-Driven Leadership.........................................13
Global Engagement ///////////////////////////////////////////// 14 Grant Expands China-US Culture Collaboration...........................................................14 Leading the Design of Higher Education.........................................................................15 Center for Emergency Management Establishes International Connection............15
Research Briefs///////////////////////////////////////////////////// 16 Faculty Awards ////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 18 Expanding Our Expertise//////////////////////////////////// 19
center news
Morrison Institute to House New Kyl Center for Water Policy The Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy was officially launched Nov. 14, made possible by a $1 million gift from the Morrison family, with a mission to seek consensus for wise water policy and lasting solutions for Arizona. Named after retired U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, who will lend both his expertise as a water attorney and leadership as a statesman, the Kyl Center will convene a diversity of stakeholders to collaboratively address many of the state’s water challenges – just as Arizona leaders successfully did in decades past. The Kyl Center will serve as a forum for public evaluation and public education, as well as an alternative to litigation for a more expeditious resolution of outstanding issues. It all starts with a “serious conversation” and a commitment to finding solutions, Kyl says. Kyl noted that the center will not be a competitor of existing water centers or efforts, but rather a collaborator and partner in finding new ways to address new challenges for a growing state and region. Whenever and wherever possible, we must look beyond conflict and the courts,” says Richard Morrison, advisory board chairman for the Morrison Institute. “We’ve seen where that leads us. Instead, we must look to collaboration and, in some cases, agree to compromise. Ultimately, it must be Arizonans who solve Arizona’s problems by working together.”
Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies Established at ASU Science and technology policy is a growing area of distinction for ASU’s School of Public Affairs. Director and associate director, Eric Welch and Mary Feeney joined the school in 2014.
CSTEPS promotes collaborative research among faculty, students, scientists and practitioners on interdisciplinary problems related to science, technology, information and the environment. The center places strong emphasis on conducting policy—relevant empirical research and on training new generations of policy professionals and academics.
Susan Crawford Keynotes International Digital Government Conference at ASU Digital Government and Wicked Problems: Climate Change, Urbanization and Inequality | May 27 – 30 The School of Public Affairs will host the 16th annual international conference on digital government research, bringing together interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to discuss a wide range of governance, engagement, innovation and application. Featured speakers include Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Yeshiva University, who worked in the Obama administration and is a leading expert on broadband competition, affordability, and innovation. Arizona State Senator Bob Worsley will speak at a reception where participants will see demonstrations of the Arizona Voices platform, which allows users to rate,
comment on, and propose ideas for state legislation. A dinner at the Heard Museum will feature Traci Morris, director of the American Indian Policy Institute and a prominent scholar researching tribal broadband and indigenous digital media. This year’s conference has seven thematic tracks: social media and government; organizational factors, adoption issues and digital government impacts; open government, open data and collaboration; smart cities, smart citizens and smart government; digital government and (in) equality; technology, governance and solutions to natural and manmade crisis; and emerging topics. dgo2015.dgsociety.org 3
community engagement
Conference Brings Together City, County Managers The ASU Annual Public Finance Conference attracts nearly 100 attendees to discuss one of the key challenges in contemporary governance: financial capacity in the public sector. Now in its third year, the annual conference aims to bring together leaders in the field to share applied knowledge in the field. Last year, attendees came from cities and towns across Arizona as well as from surrounding states. A focal point of the conference was a new report released by the Smart Cities Council and ASU’s Center for Urban Innovation which outlines 28 tools for municipal financing. Morning sessions explored the changing landscape of public finance including SEC regulations and alternative financing approaches. Speakers from leading financial services firms RBC Capital Markets, CitiGroup and PFM brought varied client experience, coupled with legal expertise from Greenberg Traurig. Afternoon sessions examined case studies in infrastructure challenges--with speakers sharing lessons learned through projects for the City of Mesa, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Valley Metro. Keynote speaker, Georgia Levenson Keohane shared insight into novel approaches to financing such as the growting use of social impact bonds. The 2015 ASU Public Finance Conference on March 13, 2015 included an expanded focus on sports financing and strategies for financing smart infrastructure.
Alliance for Innovation: Partnering to Improve Communities The Alliance for Innovation is a unique collaboration among ASU, The Innovation Group and the International City/County Management Association. On the surface, these three organizations do not have much in common. ASU is the largest public university in the US. ICMA just turned 100 years old as the institution that represents city and county mangers. The Alliance, under its former name—the Innovation Groups—has been in business for 35 years—but is nimble and not steeped in traditions. What we share is a common goal to help accelerate innovation in local government. This includes 350
local government members, and established programs such as the Marvin Andrews Fellows program to support training for aspiring city managers, and the Innovation Academy which aims to help foster organizational change through a collaborative online platform. This year, following the success of earlier white papers, ICMA, ASU and the Alliance began a self-funded Enhanced Research Partnership. The initial outputs from the partnership include a multi-faceted Citizen Engagement montage and most recently a tool to assess readiness and likelihood of success in Collaborative Services.
Produced by ASU faculty, materials from the projects are available online. The new partnership builds on the Local Government Research Collaborative, now a 23-member group that self-funds research they see as critical to local government. The Collaborative has recently approved two new projects – a look at “Governance” from a global perspective (with George Washington University) and a “Workforce of the Future” project which will survey MPA and MBA students on their work preferences for their future careers.
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students
Fall 2014 Outstanding Graduate: Jeanne Jensen, Master of Public Administration with a Concentration in Urban Management A management assistant for the City of Tempe’s Water Utilities Division, Jeanne Jensen is interested in driving community innovation. “I think ensuring a safe and reliable water supply to our public helps address issues of economic disparity by treating water access as a human right,” she says. “Supporting the role of government as a service provider and protecting equal access to our government is crucial.” Jensen will add a master of public administration to her credentials. She already holds a bachelor’s in chemical engineering and a master’s in civil and environmental engineering from ASU. She is a licensed Professional Engineer.
“I want to use my technical background and my newly-minted leadership and management skills to continue growing my city in unique ways that strengthen the relationship between government and community,” she says. “As my career grows, I want to move into direct leadership,” she says. “I want to use that opportunity to move others forward, vet and grow their ideas and support growth in those around me.” Jensen has been recognized in her career with the Rookie of the Year award from DSWA/Jacobs and Young Professional of the Year from the AZ Water Association. She is also an advocate for opportunities
for youth in STEM and governmentrelated fields, speaking frequently in K-12 classrooms and overseeing the AZ Water scholarship program which awards $12-15000 to Arizona students each year. Jensen is serving as the chair for the 2015 American Water Works Association/Water Environment Federation Young Professionals Summit. “I think it is important for a new generation of leadership to serve our communities. I want to be a part of the catalyst that fosters change,” she adds.
Students Bring Campus Safety Campaign Ideas to National Conference Arizona State University students Emily Barney and Lauren Bacon traveled to Harvard University as part of a national effort fostering youth political engagement. They joined four-dozen other students at Harvard’s Institute of Politics for “Bipartisan Advocacy: Finding Common Ground,” an intensive training and conference featuring top political practitioners. Barney is a sophomore studying public service and public policy with a minor in criminology and concentration in law in the College of Public Programs. Bacon is a junior studying English linguistics, philosophy, Italian and TESOL in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Both are also students in Barrett, the Honors College. Barney and Bacon chose campus sexual assault prevention and response as their policy issue. The pair notes that there are a number of organizations on campus working on this issue, and they hope to bring these organizations together along with ASU’s Changemaker Central to create a strong collaborative effort.
New Degree Programs To prepare professionals ready to address increasingly complex issues of governance, we have expanded our degree programs and specializations. In our master of public policy program, three areas of concentration enable students to gain targeted skills and breadth of knowledge about emerging areas of practice. The environmental policy concentration applies sustainability
principles to a variety of fields to address environmental—and human—challenges. The policy informatics concentration builds on the growing area of information processing and analysis to help create models and simulation to guide decision-making. Science and technology are increasingly playing a role in policy-making and our concentration in this area addresses a wide ranges of issues from
innovation to technology transfer to research evaluation. We have also expanded our emergency management and homeland security program to include a master of arts degree which emphasizes a systems approach to disaster response and mitigation. The program is available entirely online.
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alumni highlights Ten School of Public Affairs alumni, with an expressed interest in reconnecting and helping fellow alumni and students enter and advance in their public service careers, form the 2014-15 SPA Alumni Advisory Council. Graduates of the PSPP, MPA, MPP and certificate programs from mid-80’s to 2013, advise the School and new Office of Career Services on the development and implementation of career management, employer relations and alumni engagement programs. Leadership development and mentoring quickly became a priority to promote the mission of the School, the academic and professional goals of students and alumni, and to improve alumni-
career connections throughout public, nonprofit and community sectors. Council members cultivate and advance the SPA alumni brand of service, leadership and a sense of community, through work on three committees developing and promoting career management activities such as ‘expert’ panels, mentoring and networking events, faculty lectures, and job shadowing, internship and other worklearning opportunities, for the next generation of public managers. The SPA Alumni Advisory Council is coordinated by the SPA Career Services Manager. For more information on the Council or supporting SPA alumni engagement opportunities, contact us at spa_career@asu.edu.
*2015 SPA Alumni Engagement Opportunities March 25 Spring Career & Internship Fair – Downtown Campus March 31 Employer Practice Interview Program April 28 Handshake to Hire SPA Alumni-Student Mentoring Event June 17 (tentative) Community and Public Service Career & Internship Fair
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features
ASU Joins Network to Design Modern Governance Erik Johnston, director of the Center for Policy Informatics at Arizona State University, has joined an elite group of international experts on a major effort to improve governance. Along with Center for Policy Informatics colleague Justin Longo, Johnston will study new uses of technologies, data and public engagement to design innovative government programs with evidence of what works best. “A lot of people see government grinding to a halt with the latest Congress being the least effective in history, and they think that they can do it better,” says Johnston. “We’re creating pathways that allow them to do just that. If you have a good idea or a valuable skill set – if you sense that you or a group of people like you can make a meaningful difference – we’re giving you the mechanisms to connect, to act and to create better communities.” Officially called the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Opening Governance, the project is spearheaded by the Governance Lab (The GovLab) at New York University. The three-year project was made possible by a $5 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as well as a gift from Google.org. The Research Network will study what happens when governments and institutions open themselves up to diverse participation. Network members include 12 experts in computer science, political science, policy informatics, social psychology and philosophy, law and communications. This core group is complemented by an advisory network of academics, technologists,
and current and former government officials. Together, they will assess existing innovations in governing, and experiment with new practices and how institutions make decisions at the local, national and international levels. Network members met at ASU in February to plan collaborative actions. “We want to arm policymakers and practitioners with evidence of what works and what does not, which is vital to drive innovation, re-establish legitimacy and more effectively target scarce resources to solve today’s problems,” says professor Beth Simone Noveck, network chair and author of “Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger and Citi More Powerful.” Part of the College of Public Service and Community Solutions in downtown Phoenix, the Center for Policy Informatics is addressing governance challenges and their consequences, which span the seeming inability of governments to solve complex problems and the disaffection of people from their governments. The center seeks approaches that enable our governance systems to address increasingly complex challenges and to meet the rising expectations of people to be full participants in their communities. The Center for Policy Informatics approaches these challenges by applying a combination of complex systems modeling, crowdsourcing, participatory platforms and citizen science to explore complex governance challenges in domains that include education, environment and health. 11
SmartCities: Financing the Future The promise of technology-driven, “smart” cities offers a genuine opportunity to improve the livability of the world’s cities. But the challenge of financing infrastructure updates can be daunting. A new report released by the Smart Cities Council and Arizona State University’s Center for Urban Innovation outlines some of the most promising tools to help cities improve efficiency, from largescale systems, such as water and transportation, to smaller projects. “Knowledge of financial instruments and the processes to engage in sustainable financing of technologies is vital, yet few know how to navigate these complexities,” says Kevin Desouza, associate dean for research in the College of Public Service and Community
Solutions at ASU. “This guide provides practitioners, whether it be local governments or businesses, with an insight into the myriad of financial options that one can use to underwrite investments in smart technologies.” “The problem is rarely the technology, which has been proven in thousands of projects around the world,” said Smart Cities Council Chairman Jesse Berst. “So often, the biggest barrier is how to pay for it.” The findings in the guide, which outlines 28 tools for municipal financing, was be a focal point of discussion at the annual ASU Public Finance Conference held in spring. “More than two dozen creative techniques have emerged in recent years. Arizona State University was the perfect partner to develop
this guide, given their international reputation for insight into municipal governments and finance,” Berst says. While the federal government is the leading source for public financing, alternative approaches are increasing. “Financial capacity in the public sector is one of the key challenges in governance,” says Jonathan Koppell, dean, College of Public Programs. “We are looking at innovative approaches to help city officials implement the infrastructure needed to build strong communities.” “This is an issue that affects local and global communities. This conference is one of the many ways we bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss solutions and implement best practices,” says Koppell.
McCain Institute: Promoting Character-Driven Leadership Since its start just three years ago, the McCain Institute for International Leadership at ASU has sought to make its mark on complex issues of human rights, humanitarian efforts and national security – while promoting leadership based on character and values. Kurt Volker, executive director of the McCain Institute, says that these are the pillars that unite the Institute’s efforts to bring together public and private leaders in a conversation aimed at results. “We identify issues where we can make a difference,” he says. “We are interested in programs where we can accomplish something tangible.” One such program that has received significant attention is the Institute’s work in the fight against human trafficking. “This is often thought of as an international issue and not happening here at home,” Volker says. “We are looking at ways to improve our own fight against trafficking in the United States through a spectrum of activities, and then hope to use that to foster broader impact.” The Institute is building public awareness—including through the efforts of Cindy McCain, who chairs the Institute’s advisory group on human trafficking and serves as the Co-Chair of the Arizona Governor’s Human Trafficking Council. Mrs. McCain has been a tireless advocate for protecting trafficking victims and going after the traffickers. The Institute has also sponsored original
research led by Dominique RoeSepowitz in ASU’s School of Social Work. This worked has helped establish a census of minor victims of sex trafficking in Arizona, and to correlate online advertising for sex services with the trafficking of minors. In partnership with another organization, Thorn, the Institute is helping law enforcement use technology to spot trafficking victims. Similarly, the Sedona Forum, an annual event that brings together U.S. and international leaders in government, business and activist organizations, aims to develop an “agenda for action” and includes national security, human rights, and humanitarian themes. Last year’s event examined the crisis in the Middle East with perspectives from government leaders like U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as CEOs from major corporations such as GE, Chevron, FedEx, Walmart-USA and Freeport McMoRan. The Institute’s global reach extends to its Next Generation Leaders program. “We are looking to identify, support and build a relationship with character-driven leaders from around the world,” Volker says. “They are already leaders in their respective fields and will ultimately be leaders in their own countries.” Each cohort—a diverse mix of nationalities and expertise—spends a year in the U.S. going through training and developing individual leadership plans that “define in
the detail the implementation of a vision for positive change.” By keeping participants in touch with the Institute and each other, the program is building a global community of leaders. Training is also aimed at aspiring student leaders. Undergraduate students across all disciplines have an opportunity to apply for the Washington Policy Design Studio, a semester in Washington D.C. conducted through the McCain Institute, to gain intensive experience in foreign policy making. Organized as a U.S. embassy abroad, students are challenged to learn, understand and make recommendations for U.S. policy toward that country. Past semesters have included groups that collaborated on problem-solving for U.S. relations with Germany, Mexico and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “We examine issues horizontally through our program pillars,” notes Volker. “For example, undergraduate students worked on challenges facing the Congo in the Policy Design Studio; we have had one young leader from Congo in the NGL program; Dikembe Mutombo, a former NBA star who now leads a foundation he created to improve health, education and quality of life for the people in the Congo, was one of our featured speakers at the Sedona Forum who talked about his path of character-driven leadership from a child in DRC to a player in the NBA and now a leader in philanthropy.” “Our activities link ideas and people together to create impact,” he says. 13
global engagement
Grant Expands China-US Culture Collaboration
Arizona State University has received a $750,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to establish the American Experience Initiative—a multi-platform collaborative model for cross-cultural education and engagement. The program expands the work of The American Centers for Cultural Exchange (ACCEX), a network of 19 American culture centers located on university campuses throughout China. The funding will support development of an American Studies course that will be taught at Chinese universities, both
in-person and online. Development of the course will be collaborative, involving both Chinese faculty and American experts. In addition, it will encourage increased public outreach by the 19 American culture centers in China, and develop a web portal accessible in China and beyond. The American Experience Initiative aims to broaden American studies beyond the typical focus on the bilateral relationship and foreign policy, and help further strengthen connections between ACCEX partner institutions.
Leading the Design of Higher Education Ecuador’s higher education institutions are going through significant reform. A recent conference, “The Future of the University and the University of the Future: A Global Perspective,” held at the Technical University of Ambato, Ecuador, brought an international audience together to discuss the design of educational institutions, particularly the role of science, technology, policy and social embeddedness. Anderson is a faculty member in the Center for Organization Research and Design. Assistant professor Derrick Anderson was among the contingent that presented ideas and methods that have been implemented at ASU. Anderson brings a view from two perspectives: as an academic and researcher in the Center for Organization Research and Design, and as an institutional architect in the Office of the President at ASU. “The surprising thing was that there were so many robust discussions of public value and social responsibility,” Anderson said. “They were interested in thinking about meaningful institutional design – not just in education but also in research – I thought that was really interesting. I think we brought a set of frameworks for them to contextualize their diverse ways of thinking, and we were able to help them discipline and systematize those ideas.”
Center for Emergency Management Establishes International Connection ASU could play a role in how the country handles future natural and human-caused disasters. The university’s Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security (CEMHS) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Serbia’s
International Security Institute. The independent non-profit research and policy organization is the main agency responsible for development and implementation of national emergency management and homeland security policy and strategy. 15
research briefs Feeney, Welch Explore Use of Social Media in Government Settings Research recently published in The American Review of Public Administration examines how local governments are using social media to collaborate, both internally and externally, as well managerial perceptions of the outcomes of these tools. Mary Feeney, associate professor, and Eric Welch, professor, both in the School of Public Affairs, coauthored the article, “TechnologyTask Coupling; Exploring Social Media Use and Managerial Perceptions of E-Government.� Findings show that social media and their use for specific tasks have limited impact on either positive or negative perceived
outcomes. These non-findings may demonstrate that the implementation cost of social media technologies outweighs the managerial benefits they realize; that technology–task applications substitute for traditional approaches to the same task, but no effect is incurred; or that social media technologies are relatively new to local governments, and efforts to effectively utilize them for internal work tasks and external engagement are in their infancy. Smart Communities Evaluation Looks at Neighborhood-Level Change The Smart Communities evaluation report provides a unique view of neighborhood-level change surrounding a digital inclusion initiative in Chicago. No other city
has neighborhood-level data on Internet use and activities online, which allowed for comparison of target communities with other Chicago neighborhoods over a fiveyear period. The research was conducted by Karen Mossberger, director, School of Public Affairs, and colleagues from the University of Iowa, Caroline Tolbert and Christopher Anderson. With data drawn from citywide surveys in 2008, 2011 and 2013 (and estimates based on multilevel models) the study compared the nine Smart Communities to other Chicago neighborhoods over this period, controlling for other factors that might affect Internet use, such as demographic change in the neighborhoods.
The analysis shows the Smart Communities neighborhoods experienced during the five-year period a greater rate of growth in several areas: Internet use (in any location); home broadband adoption; use of the Internet for job search, mass transit and health information. The program was funded by a $7 million federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant to the City of Chicago from 2010-2012, and was implemented by a partnership of the Chicago Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and community organizations. Evaluation was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Partnership for a Connected Illinois. Desouza Examines Challenges, Opportunities in Big Data In a report released earlier this year, Kevin Desouza, professor and associate dean for research in the College of Public Programs, examines a new frontier for the public sector: big data. In a data-intensive environment-with 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every year--the need to capture, manage and analyze information is an ever-increasing challenge. Desouza addresses the use of big data and the opportunities for federal leaders. The report was conducted in partnership with the IBM Center for The Business of Government. U.S. Strategy Toward Developing World Ethan B. Kapstein, senior director of research at the McCain Institute and Arizona Centennial Professor at SPA, has received a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation for a new project on American strategy
towards the developing world since 1950. This project will explore how the U.S. Government understood local conflicts within developing countries and how it shaped strategies to advance its interests in these environments. It is anticipated that a book and several academic and policy-oriented articles will result. Improving the Health and Safety of Child Care Last year Christ Herbst released a report that analyzed the benefits of a universal child care program operating throughout World War II—finding that the program led to lasting positive effects in children. The Lanham Act of 1940 enabled the government to pay for child-care facilities, allowing mothers to enter the workforce, particularly in defense –related fields. During its three years of operation, over 600,000 children were provided with daycare, meals and other benefits. Herbst found that the benefits extended beyond employment for women—leading to higher rates of graduation, marriage and employment among the children served. And, he found that “benefits appear to be particularly large for the most economically disadvantaged adults.” The debate over public investment in this arena has been brought to the forefront. In his State of the Union speech, and at events since then, President Obama has cited the World War II program that Herbst has researched as he proposes expanding child care subsidies and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child each year. The president’s proposal calls for doubling the amount of money spent on subsidized child care, which would cost about $80 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
Herbst has written that the proposal misses some important opportunities to fix structural flaws. He and research colleague Erdal Tekin, a professor of public administration and policy at American University, found that the federal government’s child care subsidy program failed to meet the health and developmental needs of preschoolers, leaving them illprepared to start school. While changes will increase the investment needed, he argues that cheap child care policy has not worked and a focus on quality is needed. 17
2014 NASPAA/ASPA Distinguished Researcher Award Barry Bozeman, Arizona Centennial Professor of Technology Policy and Public Management
faculty awards, 2014 – 2015 2014 Herbert A. Simon Book Award, Public Administration Section, American Political Science Association Jonathan Koppell, Dean, College of Public Service and Community Solutions, for World Rule: Accountability, Legitimacy, and the Design of Global Governance (University of Chicago, 2010) 2014 Don K. Price Book Award: Science, Technology and Environmental Politics Section, American Political Science Association Ethan Kapstein, Professor, for AIDS Drugs for All: Social Movements and Market Transformations (Princeton University Press, 2013)
2014 Best Dissertation Award, Public and Nonprofit Division, Academy of Management Linda M. Williams, Assistant Professor, for Welcoming the Outsider: Variations in Local Construction of the Law Toward Immigrants 75 Most Influential Articles in Public Administration Review Since 1940 (Selected 2014 for 75th Anniversary) Karen Mossberger, Director, for “The Effects of E-Government on Trust and Confidence in Government.”
2014 Herbert A. Simon Best Paper Award, Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technologies (DESRIST) Conference Kevin DeSouza, Associate Dean, College of Public Service and Community Solutions and Ph.D. students Srivatsav Kandala and Rashmi Krishnaurthy for “Data Analytics and Human Trafficking”
expanding our expertise
Leading Scholars Will Be Joining the School this Fall.
Dr. Stuart Bretschneider will serve as Foundation Professor, and participate in the Center for Organization Research and Design. Bretschneider joins ASU from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University where he is director of the Center for Technology and Information Policy. His expertise includes e-government, e-democracy, public management information systems, forecasting and decision making in public organizations, and evaluation of environmental policy. He was director and past president of the International Institute of Forecasting and served as associate editor for the International Journal of Forecasting. Bretschneider was also managing editor of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Bretschneider is widely recognized as a scholar and as one of the most prolific and productive academic mentors in public administration. In 2014 he was the inaugural winner of the NASPAA/ASPA Duncombe award for graduate teaching and mentoring.
Dr. Brian Gerber will join ASU as an associate professor. Currently, Gerber is associate professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, where he is also director of the concentration in emergency management and homeland security in the School’s MPA program. Gerber’s research interests include disaster policy and management, homeland security policy and administration, and environmental regulatory policy. He also brings extensive expertise performing policy analysis and evaluation work for state and local government agencies as well as major national nonprofits engaged in disaster relief and recovery work. His work is funded by organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. He holds a Ph.D. from Stony Brook University (SUNY).
Akheil Singla will join the School as assistant professor, contributing to work in public finance and urban management. Singla is finishing his Ph.D. in public policy and management at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. His dissertation is entitled “Risk Management or Risky Business? An Analysis of Government Use of Debt-Related Derivatives.” Singla has taught courses in state and local government finance, managing public sector organizations, and economics of public and nonprofit organizations. E. Shawn Novak, will join the School as professor of practice, teaching financial management and tax policy. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Accounting at Boise State University, and director of the M.S. in accountancy and taxation. Novak recently worked as a senior accountant and tax advisor for the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
He holds a Ph.D. in public administration from The Ohio State University. 19
about the school of public affairs The School of Public Affairs is part of ASU’s College of Public Service and Community Solutions, a comprehensive college that is advancing research and discovery of public value, and furthering the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities that we serve. We are meeting new demands on public leadership in the context of changing models of governance, with faculty and students who are redefining ideas about public management and policy, in the classroom and in public institutions.
Follow Us: facebook.com /ASUpublicaffairs twitter: @spa_at_asu Š 2015 Arizona State University College of Public Service and Community Solutions
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