SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
August 2016
SPA Through the Years
THE EXCHANGE
A Message from Our Director
CREDITS
Dr. Ethel Williams
Editors Lizz Barnhart Megan Nelson
The School of Public Administration has earned a global reputation for preparing students for public and nonprofit careers through its outstanding scholarship, excellent teaching and community engagement. This was affirmed again this year with the 2017 U.S. News and World Report rankings showing we remain in the top 10% in the nation. We remain dedicated to strengthening this reputation by continuing to build upon traditional public sector values and principles while encouraging innovation.
Contributors John Bartle Jodi Benenson Bob Blair Tyler Davis Angie Eikenberry Hans Louis-Charles Chris Reed Meagan Van Gelder
I would also like to congratulate our graduates! Hallmarks of great educational programs are great graduates. We applaud you on your accomplishments and encourage you to begin or continue to make a positive impact on public service.
STORY IDEAS Submit story ideas to megnelson@unomaha.edu. CONNECT WITH US spa.unomaha.edu facebook.com/spa twitter.com/unospa
Faculty Offices-1920s
A Mentor in the Truest Sense “He was my mentor in the truest sense.” This is how Dr. Bob Blair remembers his mentor, Dr. Dave Scott -- the chair of the Political Science Department. Bob remembers Dave as a wonderful man with a fierce combination of practical and academic knowledge. Bob explains that Dave “didn’t write books or write a whole bunch of articles but, boy, did he know how life worked.” When Bob graduated with his Master of Political Science, and with the encouragement of Dave, he started working for the Public Works Department. Bob continued working in local government, community development and economic development for over 10 years before returning to his alma mater.
His first job at UNO was in the Center for Public Affairs Research. While in this position he decided it was time for a change and began his PhD in Political Science in Lincoln, taking one class at a time. He said there’s a “point in your career and your life you want to take chances.” It took Bob about six years to complete his PhD. During this time, he also taught classes for Lincoln and realized that he really loved teaching. When the Department of Public Administration needed faculty slots, they looked to Bob to help fill one. Even though Dave did not encouraged him to become a professor, Bob said he has never regretted becoming one. “My regret is that I didn’t do this earlier.”
Bob considers himself a different kind of scholar. He explains, “It really takes a lifetime of reading and analyzing and thinking to be a true scholar. And I didn’t even get my doctorate until I was 45 years old.” He goes on, “I knew I would never be able to do that, so what I’ve always done as a scholar is really try to leverage my practical experience and my work in the field within the classroom.” Dr. Christian Janousek said, “Dr. Blair has been extraordinarily influential in my success and achievements at UNO. As my professor, academic advisor, research partner, and doctoral committee chair, Dr. Blair has been a constant supporter and mentor in my pursuits toward an MPA, PhD, and beyond. He is an outstanding educator with a genuine interest in students and a respected professional in his field, and I sincerely appreciate the impact he has had on my experience at UNO.” When asking Bob what it was like to become a mentor to students he joked, “It doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t get all this wonderful wisdom when you get your PhD.” He feels like mentoring is something that has happened in just the past five or six years. As he gets older he realizes that students look to him for advice. Even students who have graduated years ago, seek out Bob for career and life advice. The thing that makes Bob feel like he is making a difference is when students go out and make a difference in their communities. “I think that’s what it should be all about.”
“Dr. Blair has been extraordinarily influential in my success and achievements at UNO.”
26 students made up the first class in September 1909 at Redick Hall.
The worldwide UNO Alumni network now includes more than 116,000 graduates.
In 1908, Omaha University was located in Redick Hall, on 24th and Pratt streets.
In 1908, Omaha University was located in Redick Hall, on 24th and Pratt streets.
A Legacy of Community Service Shortly after she arrived at UNO she was asked to be the Associate Graduate Dean. She did this for five years, working to change the culture of Graduate Studies. It was after this time that she realized an administrative career was not for her. She said, “I never really thought of myself as somebody doing a full-time administrative career. It wasn’t me, wasn’t the real me.” Chris came back to the School of Public Administration in 1990 and considers her role to be that of a mentor to other faculty members. She explains this by saying, “I feel that my role here is to just do whatever I can to help people because I’m going to be retiring in a few years and they’re the future of the School. I want to pass along that culture, that set of values.”
Talk about a honeymoon unlike any other. Three days after Dr. Chris Reed got married, she and her new husband, Dr. BJ Reed, were on their way to Omaha, Nebraska, to interview at UNO. This is where her nearly three-decadelong career at UNO began.
Chris has applied these values when working on her research. She views her research as somewhat of a reflection on things that she has experienced in her personal life. For example, from a young age, Chris took riding lessons and fell in love with horses. She uses this passion to fuel her research on the public management of wild horses.
After spending years working on the east coast in local government and development, Chris received her PhD. Early on she was recruited by UNO to help fill open faculty spots in the Department of Public Administration. When asked what attracted her to UNO, she said it had a lot to do with the mission of UNO, and its focus on community service.
Dr. Gary Marshall, Chair of the PhD program, says, “Chris embodies the School’s collaborative, high– achieving culture. She has a wide range of expertise from environmental policy and sustainability to administrative law and public administration theory. She garners the trust and respect of students, faculty colleagues and community members alike.”
When Chris first started teaching at UNO, Dr. David Paulsen became her mentor. Chris jokes about how it took him almost two years to pass on the Administrative Law class to her. She remembers she had to do three things: first observe him teach the class, second they had to team teach the class and finally, David had to observe her teaching for a semester.
The legacy continues on campus. Chris and BJ are not the only Reeds who have found a home at UNO. Their son, Charley, graduated from UNO with a bachelor’s in broadcasting and a master’s in communication. After earning his degrees, Charley now serves as the Associate Director of Media Relations for University Communications. Chris and BJ also have a daughter, Brenda. Last year they welcomed their first grandchild, Aidan.
“She garners the trust and respect of students, faculty colleagues and community members alike.�
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Angie Eikenberry Please discuss your academic background. I have a PhD in Public Administration, a Master in Public Administration (specialization in Nonprofit Management), and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (specialization in Asian Studies/Korea)—all from UNO. How did you become interested in the nonprofit sector? I’ve long been interested in community service and social justice advocacy. Nonprofit organizations are often at the forefront of these areas. I’m especially interested in the role these organizations, and in particular philanthropy, play in relation to social policy and democratic governance. How has your research evolved over the years? I’ve always been attracted to emerging areas and/or looking at areas in new ways within the field of nonprofit and philanthropic studies. I’m not sure much has changed in that regard. I am pleased to be collaborating more and more with other scholars in the U.S. and abroad.
Please discuss your international work and research. Last year I had a Fulbright affiliated with the University of Birmingham in the UK. During the year, I conducted two research projects on giving circles in the UK—one examining the impact of being in these groups on members and one examining the impact of these groups on funding recipients. I’m also working on papers or projects with several colleagues in the UK and Europe. One is an edited book project on Critical Perspectives on Nonprofit Management. I am co-editing the book with two U.S. colleagues but several authors of chapters in the book are in the UK and Europe. Another project is with a group of top scholars from various countries in Europe—Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden—examining the intersection of volunteering and civic engagement. I also have papers I’m working on with colleagues at the University of Kent, in Canterbury, England, and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Finally, I’m also on the board of Voluntas, the journal of the International Society for Third Sector Research.
How has the School of Public Administration changed over the years? We’ve had many new and really great people join our faculty and staff in the last few years, which has been exciting. We all share a passion for public service and wanting to make SPA the best it can be for our students, the university, and the community. These have always been important values in SPA. It’s also been exciting to see the continual growth of the nonprofit area in the School. It’s the most popular concentration in the MPA, next to the general catch-all public management concentration, and there has also been growth in the BGS in Nonprofit Administration, the introduction of a new Nonprofit Minor, and more and more interest from PhD students focusing on this area. Our ranking at #12 in the country in nonprofit management attests to the impact we’ve had on the field. What are your research goals in the future? In the immediate future, my goals are to get several big projects done: • I already mentioned that I’m working on a book project with colleagues—this will be a textbook that is meant to be used as a companion text in nonprofit management classes, providing a critical perspective on key topic areas such as finance, volunteering, planning, and so on. We have a collection of international scholars working on this project. • I’m also just starting a new project to update previous research done on giving circles in the U.S. With a team of colleagues from Grand Valley State, Syracuse University, and long-time collaborator Jessica Bearman, we’re studying the impact of being in a giving circle on members as well as the impact of giving circles on host organizations. This research is funded by the IUPUI Women’s Philanthropy Institute and the Mott Foundation. We hope to expand this research to be both global and longitudinal as next steps. Long term, I hope to keep doing interesting and meaningful work!
Who was your mentor during your master’s degree and PhD? What was it like going from mentee to mentor? I am grateful to many, many folks, too numerous to list, who have provided great advice and support to me along the way. Just to mention a few: Drs. Gary Marshall and Chris Reed have long been my inspiration for teaching and whom I still rely on for their wisdom and support in many areas. Dr. John Bartle encouraged me to pursue a PhD and provided helpful advice along the way. Drs. Camilla Stivers and Larry Terry, as then editors of Public Administration Review, encouraged and mentored Jodie Drapal Kluver and I in publishing our first paper. I’m pleased to now be in a position where I can play a role in helping newer scholars establish and grow their careers.
Welcome New Students!
The Bridge to Success
Dr. Meagan Van Gelder
What motivates you to come to work each day? I love my job. I really look forward to working with students and our faculty. I love to problem solve and try to make things better whether it is through advising, problem solving and having the discussions about making student learning the best we can give. What brought you to UNO? The position was a perfect description of my interests in supporting graduate students who are seeking to learn and grow and improve their careers. I knew the School of Public Administration had a great reputation of strong faculty who are progressive as well as home to high quality degree programs.
How would you describe the current state of the School? I describe it as evolving. This place is never static. As we implement new curriculum, we are hoping to get new certificates approved and available to fill needs of the public and nonprofit sector. We are welcoming new faculty members and record number of online students and an entering doctoral cohort this year. What excites you most about being the Academic Program Coordinator for the School of Public Administration? I really love being “the bridge� to connect students to what they need to successfully complete their degree and supporting faculty who are directing academic programs.
Dean’s Directive What were some of your successes during your time as the School of Public Administration’s Director? • The School of Public Administration was given the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Award for Academic Excellence in 2007 • The MPA, one of the largest graduate programs at UNO, as of 2016 is ranked 25th in the broad category of “public affairs” by US News & World Report. • Increased SPA degrees granted from 71 in 2006-07 to 114 in 2011-12 • Successfully launched the Nebraska Certified Public Managers® Program • Created new dual degrees, partnering the MPA and the Masters of Social Work and the Masters of Science in Information Science • Increased distance enrollments from 301 in 2006-07 to 1003 in 2011-12 • Helped forge partnerships with Sun Yat-Sen University (PR China) and Agder University (Norway) • Expanded the number of MPA concentrations/ specializations that are available online from two to six by 2011-12
What are some of your future goals for the School? • Continue to grow the BS in Emergency Management, and also expand the MPA concentration in that area. • Expand the use of modeling, simulation and visualization in teaching. • I am excited about the new changes in the MS in Urban Studies. I think that can be a very appropriate degree for the right people in the modern urban world. • Investigate the potential to incorporate unmanned aerial vehicles (“drones”) for our B.S. Aviation students Other constant priorities: • Uphold and if possible, improve our national rankings • Keep a world–class faculty • Maintain the MPA as a relevant, practical degree that serves students for the arc of their career • Continue to be a top-rated aviation program where alumni have top-level positions in the industry • Attract and place top–quality doctoral students • Grow the number of scholarships
New Faces of SPA
Dr. Jodi Benenson
Dr. Hans Louis-Charles
Tyler Davis, EMBA
Where did you receive your degrees from? • B.S. from Indiana University • MPA (Master of Public Affairs) from Indiana University • Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandies University. Hometown: Minneapolis, MN What brought you to UNO? SPA’s commitment to scholarship, collegiality, and preparing students for careers in the public and nonprofit sectors. Research Focus: Social policy, nonprofit organizations, civic engagement, inequality Share some quick facts about yourself: • I love geography, maps, and traveling (and hope to visit all 58 national parks!) • I danced for 13 years • My favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip.
Where did you receive your degrees from? • BA from University of Central Florida • MA from American University • PhD from University of Delaware Hometown: Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago What brought me to UNO? The fantastic growth, reputation and faculty of the Emergency Services Program and SPA. Research Focus: International Aspects of Disasters and the nexus of State Sovereignty, Human Rights and Disaster Recovery Share some facts about yourself: • Love sports, music and stand up comedy • Serve on the Board of Directors for the Bill Anderson Fund.
Where did you receive your degrees from? • B.S. Political Science from UNO • M.S. Security Management from Bellevue University • EMBA from UNO Hometown: Columbia, Missouri What brought you to UNO? UNO is where I received the majority of my education and started a professional career. Research Focus: Emergency Preparedness and Biosecurity Share some quick facts about yourself: • I farm in Northwest Missouri. • I own a security management/ emergency management firm. • I am working on my PhD at UNMC in Medical Sciences Interdepartmental Area with a concentration in Emergency Preparedness.
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