For Immediate Release
April 16, 2024
Contact:
Karen Garrett
Chief of Communications & Marketing
(202) 585-4313

ASPA Recognizes Outstanding Contributions to Public Service Practitioners and Scholars Honored at 2024 Annual Conference


Washington, DC – More than 40 top practitioners, scholars and organizations were recognized for their contributions and extraordinary commitment to public service at the American Society for Public Administration’s 2024 Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 12-16, 2024. Individuals will be recognized for their contributions promoting integrity in public service, lifetime scholarship and service to ASPA, among other areas. 

This year’s recipients represent a diverse mix of individuals working in the public, nonprofit and academic arenas, as well as the next generation of public servants who are completing their public affairs degrees or beginning their public service careers. 

“Public service is about commitment to others. Those dedicated to the public good invest countless hours to making their communities and the world around them a better place to live, work and thrive. As the leading organization dedicated to advancing public service excellence, ASPA stands at the forefront in honoring their work and commitment to a cause greater than their own,” said ASPA Executive Director and CEO William Shields. 

In recognition of lifetime contributions, scholarship and dedication to the public service and public administration, ASPA will present the following awards:

The National Public Service Awards, recognizing outstanding public servants, were awarded to Maggie Anderson of the City of Richmond, Wally Bobkiewicz from the City of Issaquah, Natalie Veeney of the U.S. Small Business Administration and Meagan Wolfe of the Wisconsin Election Commission. 

The Nesta M. Gallas Award for Exemplary Professionalism in Public Service was awarded to Marc Holzer of Suffolk University.

The Gloria Hobson Nordin Social Equity Award, honoring lifetime achievements in advancing social equity, was presented to Seymour Mansfield, retired from the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis.

The Public Integrity Award, which recognizes an individual or organization who has made outstanding contributions to responsible conduct in public service, was presented to David Cicilline of the Rhode Island Foundation and a former Member of Congress. 

The Elmer Staats Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Public Service, honoring an individual’s contributions to public service over a lifetime, was presented to Teodoro Benavides of the University of Texas at Dallas.

The Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Awards were presented to Galia Cohen of Tarleton State University and Rex Facer, II of Facer Management Consulting.

The Dwight Waldo Award, honoring outstanding contributions to public administration scholarship, was awarded to Sonia Ospina of New York University.

The John W. Gaston Award for excellence in public service management was awarded to Stan Meiburg, retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Exemplary Practice Awards, presented to individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions to a more equal society, were given to Drive to Work of Richmond, Virginia, and Emergency Legal Responders of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Public Administration Review (PAR), the premier journal for those in public management and administration, presented awards for the best submissions, commentary and book review during the 2021 publication year. 

For PAR’s William E. and Frederick C. Mosher Award: Shui-Yan Tang (University of Southern California), Lei Tao (Education University of Hong Kong) and Bo Wen (University of Macau).

Burchfield Award for Best Book Review: Jason D. Rivera (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY).

Louis Brownlow Award: Rik Peeters (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas) and Arjan Widlak (Kafka Brigade Foundation).

Chester A. Newland Award for Best Commentary: Wendy D. Chen (Texas Tech University) and Ilia Murtazashvili (University of Pittsburgh).

The International Public Administration Award was presented to Laila El Baradei of The American University in Cairo.

Two student scholarships, the Wallace O. Keene Conference Scholarship and the Walter W. Mode Scholarship, were presented. Jyoti Aggarwal of the University of Texas at Dallas, Yiying Chen of Rutgers University—Newark, Albena Dzhurova of Florida Atlantic University, Valerie Gudino of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, Kyungmin Lee of University of Central Florida, Michael Lee of University of Nebraska at Omaha, Hao Liu of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Seongdeok Oh of the University of Texas at Dallas and Ying Zhang of Zhejiang University received the Wallace O. Keen Conference Scholarships; Robin Dunbar of Old Dominion University received the Walter W. Mode Scholarship. 

ASPA’s Section on Professional and Organizational Development received the Patricia Yearwood Section Award for the best newsletter in 2023.

###

ASPA is the leading interdisciplinary public service organization that advances the art, science, teaching and practice of public and nonprofit administration. Learn more at www.aspanet.org