January 25, 2017

     
ASPA Website | PA TIMES.org

In This Issue:


Moving from "What" to "How"

Six panelists, many of whom were featured in the recently released Memos to National Leaders resource, gathered together at American University (AU) in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the presidential transition and the first 100 days of the new administration.

Moderated by Jim Thurber, founder of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, panelists Dan Fiorino, Neil Kerwin, Martha Kumar, Janice Lachance and Howard McCurdy each reflected on the current transition from their policy perspectives.

"Now is the time for Trump's team to move from campaign mode—the 'what'—to governing mode—the 'who' and 'how'" observed Lachance, ASPA's President-Elect, in her opening remarks. "They need to establish trust with the career civil service. All administrations do eventually, no matter the campaign rhetoric."

Panelists noted that despite the headlines of recent days—including announcements about reducing regulations by 75 percent and a federal hiring freeze—many of these actions have loopholes and contingencies, and are all harder to execute than they appear on paper.

"Rulemaking is complicated," noted Kerwin, AU's president and an expert on the subject. "But all presidents come to love it. The regulatory apparatus we have has been intact for centuries; eliminating any of it will take more rules."

"This administration has already seen some success in its transition in that the cabinet is in early," said Kumar. "The challenge for the president lies in moving from candidate to president—which is tough and will reflect on his team as well."

"For me, there are really three questions at hand," Fiorino stated. "Will evidence matter—not just for science but across government? What happens to federalism? And, does long-term matter? Answers remain to be seen."

Ultimately, when pondering the main question—"How is this transition going?"—the panelists all responded similarly: it is too soon to tell.

"Trump is very different from previous presidents," Thurber observed. "He has proven that he's willing to throw out the playbook and start from scratch. Only time will tell."

Access a copy of Memos to Leaders from ASPA's website here.

Annual Conference Plenaries Finalized, Panels Complete

Did you know almost 900 people are registered for the 2017 Annual Conference, taking place March 17-21 in Atlanta? Will you be there?

Just in the past two weeks, plenary speakers have been announced, Presidential Panels have been posted and all session data has been confirmed. If you haven't checked out the Annual Conference website for the most recent updates, make sure you take a look!

Additionally, more than 20 ASPA Chapters and Sections will be holding business meetings at the conference—as well as symposia and workshops—giving out awards and using these gatherings as an opportunity to reconnect with their members. A full schedule of events, including these meetings, is posted on the Annual Conference website so you can use this resource to plan your time in Atlanta.

Students and those job searching, ASPA's Career Fair is back! We are partnering with Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies to provide this excellent opportunity for recruiters and recruits to connect. State, federal and local employers will be on hand in Atlanta to showcase their job opportunities and talk with you about your career path. Bring your resume and come dressed to impress! (If your organization or agency wants to buy a table, check out more details on our website and sign up now!)

Further updates are expected in the coming weeks, including ASPA awards information, Presidential Panel additions, Honorary Co-Chair names—to name but a few.

Keep your eyes on the Annual Conference website and make sure to follow @ASPANational and #ASPA2017 on Twitter for updates and fresh information.

Register today to be a part of the premier public administration event of the year. We look forward to seeing you there!

Webinars and BookTalks on the Horizon

ASPA's professional development webinars are ongoing throughout the year. Averaging 75 attendees per webinar and free to ASPA members, these e-learning opportunities provide you with valuable insights and information at your fingertips. Here's a quick look at upcoming opportunities. Make sure you register today for sessions that interest you and visit our website to review further details about all upcoming webinars and BookTalks.

Employee Engagement
Feb. 14, 2017 | 1 p.m. ET
Presenter:
Bob Lavigna, Institute for Public Sector Employee Engagement

Leaders need to pay attention to their workforces. It is no mystery that the more engaged your staff are, the more productive they are, the better they feel about their jobs and the more effective the organization is. Our expert will talk through the finer points of employee engagement—what it is, why it matters (especially in government), how to gauge it, how to foster it and how to sustain it.




BookTalk: The Presidential Appointee's Handbook
Feb. 16 | 1 p.m.
Presenter:
Edward DeSeve, University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute for Government

The transition from one president to another means many things, one of which is that some 3,000 to 4,000 new senior presidential appointees will take office in the next few months. But the federal government has no formal, or even informal, continual learning program for its new high-level managers. This new, revised and updated edition of The Presidential Appointee’s Handbook is intended to fill the need for learning by helping new presidential appointees develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities they will need in their challenging assignments.

New Board Members Join Center for Accountability and Performance

ASPA and its Center for Accountability and Performance (CAP) recently announced that several individuals have been appointed to its nine-member Board of Directors.

Rakesh Mohan and Antoinette Samuel have been appointed to new Board seats, each serving a three-year term. Richard Greene has been appointed to fill an unexpired seat, open through March 2017. Additionally, Beth Blauer has been reappointed for an additional three-year term.

Rakesh Mohan has 26 years of experience in performance auditing/evaluation and policy analysis—working for state legislatures in Idaho, Washington, Louisiana and Kansas. He has been the director of the Office of Performance Evaluations in Boise, Idaho, since 2002.

Antoinette Samuel is currently Deputy Executive Director at the National League of Cities (NLC), a position she has held since 2013. In this capacity she manages organizational accountability, facilitating internal collaboration to ensure all parts of the organization work together effectively to achieve NLC's overall goals.

Richard Greene has served on the Board before. He performs original research and writing in fields pertaining to state and local government. He is a consultant to the Pew Charitable Trusts government performance unit; a senior fellow at the Council of State Governments; a special projects consultant for the Volcker Alliance; a senior fellow at the Governing Institute; and a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration.

Beth Blauer is the Executive Director at Johns Hopkins University Center for Government Excellence, the most recent of a long line of positions she has held focusing on performance management and data-based decisionmaking.

These four individuals join four other colleagues on the CAP Board (with currently one remaining vacancy), serving to provide education, training, advocacy, technical assistance, resource sharing and research on promising practices in performance management. Its webinars and other materials are available to ASPA members as well as the general public.

University of Texas—Austin Scholar Passes Away

Dr. Richard Cole passed away on Jan. 8, 2017. Cole came to the University of Texas—Arlington in 1980 when he was hired as dean of the Institute of Urban Studies. When the Institute became the School of Urban and Public Affairs in 1990, Cole continued as its inaugural dean. He served in this latter position for 18 years, stepping down in 2008 and continuing as full professor until he retired from UTA in 2016.

His academic accomplishments included articles and books that spanned his 47-year career as an internationally recognized scholar of federalism and local governmental relations. Among his many professional contributions, he served as book review editor for Publius: The Journal of Federalism; Chair of the Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Section of the American Political Science Association; Governing Board Member of the Urban Affairs Association; Executive Council member of Southwest Political Association; and member of numerous committees for the Southwest Social Science Association and the North Texas Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. He also served on the Public Administration Review editorial board.

A full obituary is available online.

Member News for PA TIMES Magazine

As ASPA prepares to print its Winter edition of PA TIMES magazine, now is the time to send us any member news you would like us to consider including!

Promotions, leadership announcements, retirements, tenure details and more are all welcome. Please send them to PA TIMES managing editor Karen Garrett for consideration. Member news items must be received by Feb. 3, 2017, to be considered for the Winter edition.

Hiring announcements and other news for the Recruiter section are treated as advertisements and will be sold as such. Contact ASPA's advertising partner, Fox Associates, for details.

New Member Services Rolling Out

ASPA recently announced it has launched relationships with two new organizations to connect our members with the greater public administration community: SmartBrief and The Public Manager. We hope you are enjoying your daily SmartBrief e-newsletters; if you are not receiving a copy and would like to, please contact us and we will add you to the list!

We also hope you have signed up to receive a free copy of The Public Manager each month! This is an independent magazine that shares real stories of unstoppable innovation in U.S. government. Information for how to access this resource is on ASPA's website—make sure you make the most of it! (Please note: you must create an account with The Public Manager in order to receive your free subscription.)

Both of these resources have been carefully chosen to provide our members with the news and information they need to stay connected with public administrators across the country. We hope you find them to be helpful benefits! Please contact us for assistance with either of these resources.

Want to add an event? Email Melissa Jun with the details!

And the News Keeps Coming!

Public administration is busy! Awards deadlines, calls for proposals, calls for papers, conference announcements and more are being announced daily. ASPA's website lists all news we receive, both across the discipline and within our Chapters and Sections. Make sure you check out these news feeds and stay in touch about everything going on within the discipline. Below are a handful of the most recent news and alerts.

Georgia Chapter Conference Call for Proposals

The 19th Annual ASPA Georgia Chapter Academic Conference and Meeting will take place on Feb. 24, 2017, on the Clark Atlanta University campus. Individual presentations and panels identifying the current and future opportunities and/or challenges in public administration are welcome. Paper proposals are due by Feb. 1, 2017. Click here for more information.

Global Conference on Transparency Research this June; Abstracts Due Feb. 17

The 5th Global Conference on Transparency Research, being held at the University of Limerick, June 19-21, 2017, has extended its deadline for those submitting abstracts for the conference. The deadline is now Feb. 17, 2017. Further details about the conference, its location, travel options and more can be found online. Registration for the conference will open shortly via this website. More details area also available on the ASPA website.

2017 United Nations Public Service Awards

The United Nations has begun accepting nominations for the 2017 UN Public Service Awards (UNPSA). The UNPSAs recognize excellence in public service at the global level. The awards were launched in 2003 to promote and support innovations in public service delivery worldwide. 2017 UNPSA winners will be awarded during the UN Public Service Forum to be held June 22-23, 2017, in the Hague, Netherlands. The deadline for receiving nominations for the UNPSAs is Feb. 28, 2017.

FDA Fellowships Available

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has opened its annual application process for the Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowships in the Center for Tobacco Products' (CTP) Office of Management. During this one-year, paid fellowship, CTP Fellows actively participate in the tobacco regulatory process. Candidates with an MPA, MPP or MBA are encouraged to apply. Fellows are awarded up to $95,000 based on salary history. The application process closes March 1, 2017. To find out more, visit the FDA Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowship website.

SECoPA Issues Call for Practitioner Award Nominations

The Southeastern Conference of Public Administration (SECoPA) has announced its call for nominations for the Distinguished Public Service Practitioner Award has opened. This award recognizes sustained, outstanding achievement in, and contributions to, public administration and public service through applied practice in the field. Nominations must be received by April 15, 2017. Click here for more information.

Institute for Peace and Dialogue Summer Academy

The Institute for Peace and Dialogue (IPD) is one of the leading organizers of several successful annual international academic training and research programs in Switzerland in the field of peace-building, conflict transformation, mediation, security, intercultural dialogue and human rights, which these events bring together for state, private and public sector representatives. IPD is now accepting applications for its 10-day or three-month academies. All applications are due by June 1, 2017. Click here for more information.

Journal of Health and Human Services Administration Issues Call for Papers

The Journal of Health and Human Services Administration (JHHSA), affiliated with ASPA's Section on Health and Human Services Administration, has issued a call for papers for its Special Symposium on Community Health. Based upon the healthy communities model, this symposium will focus specifically on community health as a facet of public health systems. Contributors have the option of evaluating primary and secondary data from one or more units of analysis including localities, regions or at the aggregated national level (as an indicator of local and regional trends). Manuscripts must be submitted by July 10, 2017, for consideration. Click here for more information.
Welcome to Our New Members!
Click here to view recent new ASPA members!


PAR Update


Administrative Profile
W. Henry Lambright, Editor
City Manager in Three Countries: An Interview with Michael Willis
Evan Berman (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) interviews Michael Willis, a New Zealand city manager who has worked in three countries and is a past president of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) (2005–06). Held in high esteem in his profession, Willis highlights the importance of public values and has been chief executive of a number of councils, including city manager in Palmerston North (New Zealand), chief executive of the Surrey Heath Borough Council (United Kingdom) and general manager of Blue Mountains City Council (Australia). He has helped many communities grow and improve relations among residents and leaders while implementing comprehensive reforms that increased senior management performance accountability, organizational change, strategic financial management, and more. Link to PAR Early View

Public Administration and the Disciplines
Rosemary O'Leary, Editor
Collective Leadership and Context in Public Administration: Bridging Public Leadership Research and Leadership Studies
Sonia M. Ospina (New York University) challenges the view that public leadership research should maintain a separate perspective in the study of public leadership. She discusses the benefits of further embedding the public leadership research domain within leadership studies, constructing a cross-fertilization that contributes to advance both. The article maps key concerns in relational leadership theories, contrasting them with current work in the public leadership research domain and offering suggestions to close the gap. It highlights public leadership scholarship's competitive advantage to contribute to theorizing about leadership, given the importance of context for building contemporary theories of relational leadership. Link to PAR Early View

Research Articles
Beyond Profiling: The Institutional Sources of Racial Disparities in Policing
American policing faces a crisis of legitimacy. A key source of this crisis is a widespread police practice commonly endorsed by police leaders to fight crime. This is the investigatory stop, used to check out people who seem suspicious and to seize illegal drugs and guns and make arrests. Using data from an original scientific survey of drivers in the Kansas City metropolitan area, Charles R. Epp, Steven Maynard-Moody and Donald Haider-Markel (University of Kansas) show that racial disparities in police stops are concentrated in investigatory vehicle stops. In these stops, but not others, officers disproportionately stop African Americans and question and search them. The overwhelming majority of people stopped in this way are innocent and the experience causes psychological harm and erodes trust in and cooperation with the police. Many of the most controversial police shootings during the past two years occurred in these stops. Reforming this practice is an essential step toward restoring trust in the police. Link to PAR Early View

Institutional Analysis of Neighborhood Collective Action
Sublocal governance organizations may provide a way for some urban neighborhoods to stabilize and improve property values. Recent advances in collective action theory, spatial statistical methods and data availability now make it possible to more directly evaluate the effects of these organizations. Michael Craw (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) combines geocoded assessor's data and data from a survey of neighborhood and homeowner associations to analyze a model of prices of single-family homes in Little Rock, Ark., from 2012 to 2016. The results show that neighborhood and homeowner associations both have significant positive effects on neighborhood property values relative to unorganized neighborhoods and that the effect of neighborhood associations is at least as large as that of homeowner associations. Moreover, the results indicate that neighborhood association structure mediates the effect on property values, although this is not the case for homeowner associations. Link to PAR Early View

Managing the Entanglement: Complexity Leadership in Public Sector Systems
Complexity in public sector systems requires leaders to balance the administrative practices necessary to be aligned and efficient in the management of routine challenges and the adaptive practices required to respond to dynamic circumstances. Conventional notions of leadership in the field of public administration do not fully explain the role of leadership in balancing the entanglement of formal, top-down, administrative functions and informal, emergent, adaptive functions within public sector settings with different levels of complexity. Drawing on and extending existing complexity leadership constructs, Joanne Murphy (Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom), Mary Lee Rhodes (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland), Jack W. Meek (University of La Verne) and David Denyer (Cranfield University, United Kingdom) explore how leadership is enacted over the duration of six urban regeneration projects representing high, medium and low levels of project complexity. The article suggests that greater attention needs to be paid to the tensions inherent in enabling leadership if actors are to cope with the complex, collaborative, cross-boundary, adaptive work in which they are increasingly engaged. Link to PAR Early View

Corruption and State and Local Government Debt Expansion
Theories describing rent seeking in the public sector posit a number of negative fiscal outcomes that the choices of corrupt officials may generate. Cheol Liu (KDI School of Public Policy and Management, South Korea), Tima T. Moldogaziev (The University of Georgia) and John L. Mikesell (Indiana University, Bloomington) show that states with greater intensities of public corruption have higher aggregate levels of state and local debt. If corruption in the 10 most corrupt states were only at an average level, their public debt would be nine percent lower, or about $249.35 per capita, all else being equal. Notably, institutional control measures may not have succeeded in restraining the expansion of state and local public debt in the presence of greater levels of corruption. State and local governments would achieve more efficient levels of fiscal discipline by curbing public sector corruption. Link to PAR Early View

From Birth to Death: The Life of the Standards Board for England
Organizations wax and wane, and some cease to exist altogether. The Standards Board for England was abolished after a 10-year life. Created to regulate the ethical behavior of local politicians in England, the ethics of politics was undermined by the politics of ethics. Alan Lawton (Federation University Australia, Australia) and Michael Macaulay (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) analyze the life of the Standards Board initially through the lens of a life-cycle approach to organizations but find that a problem-cluster approach provides a sharper picture. Over its lifetime, the Standards Board faced a number of crises; its failure to resolve these crises and an unfavorable political climate led to its demise. Link to PAR Early View

New on PA TIMES Online


Every Tuesday and Friday, ASPA publishes a curated collection of original content that covers public service, management and international affairs.

This quarter, we welcome submissions that focus on local, state and national law enforcement. Send your contributions to us now! The deadline is rolling; contact us for more information.

Check out our recent articles and columns:

What's a Bureaucrat to Do?

Going for Greatness in City Government

The Hillbilly Elegy Story is Important to Government

Career Resources


Find your next career opportunity at publicservicecareers.org. This online job board is the perfect resource for making a career change or landing your first job in the public service. It lists dozens of positions in academia, government and the nonprofit sector. Below are just a few current listings.

Director – Hillsborough County Civil Service Board – Tampa, FL

Executive Assistant/Office Manager – Community Housing Network – Ohio

Assistant Director, Executive Education – Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Public Policy – Atlanta, GA

American Society for Public Administration
1730 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036
     

Please send inquiries to Managing Editor Karen E. T. Garrett.