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ASPA Announces Enhanced Commitment to International Engagement
ASPA recently announced its enhanced commitment to international scholarly engagement with the release of a new report, “Meeting the Challenges of International Engagement.”
Developed by the ASPA President’s Committee on International Scholarly Engagement, chaired by Mary-Lee Rhodes of Trinity College and Alasdair Roberts of University of Massachusetts Amherst, the report recommends that scholarly organizations make clear the core values that guide their international engagement and take steps to ensure the values are embedded within their decisionmaking processes. ASPA’s governing body, the National Council, has endorsed the committee’s report, adopted its recommendations and integrated them into its processes for engaging internationally.
“The challenges of engagement are growing, not shrinking,” observed Roberts during a recent presentation at ASPA’s 2023 Annual Conference. “What tends to happen is that we react to controversies rather than anticipating them, and sometimes we fail to treat cases with consistency. We’ve established a number of core values that are important to guide these decisions and recommended that organizations have a mechanism for thinking about how they weigh the values and make decisions about engagement in a transparent and reasoned way.”
The key values described in the report are:
- Promoting dialogue and understanding.
- Protecting academic freedom.
- Respect for human rights.
- Supporting the development of scholarly capacity.
- Respect for the self-determination of communities.
- Protecting the safety and dignity of colleagues.
- Accuracy, fairness and transparency in decisionmaking.
ASPA’s National Council found the key values to be fundamental to effective and principled international engagement, as well as inextricably linked to ASPA’s four core values of accountability and performance, professionalism, ethics and social equity. The Council also found the values to be embedded within one or more of its Code of Ethics’ principles. The values will be a key lens and consideration through which the Society will view its programs, decisionmaking and partnerships in the future, including when:
- Making decisions related to conferences and events.
- Evaluating prospective international partnerships.
- Approving formal relationships with non-U.S. organizations.
“I asked Alasdair Roberts and Mary-Lee Rhodes to co-chair this committee and look at how ASPA can think about interacting with those in places where academic freedom and freedom of speech are either limited or under considerable threat,” stated Allan Rosenbaum, ASPA’s immediate past president who established the committee. “This report is already gaining traction with related good governance organizations around the world for its significance.”
“I am grateful to the committee for its work, as well as to Alasdair Roberts for his thoughtful feedback about how we, as an organization, can move forward with these recommendations,” said ASPA Executive Director and CEO Bill Shields. “I look forward to implementing these key values within our decisionmaking processes, and to working with our leadership to engage thoughtfully, deliberately and strategically about our international programs, now and in the future.”
“We all gain valuable perspectives when we partner with organizations and individuals in other countries,” stated ASPA President Patria de Lancer Julnes. “But potential partners may be in countries with regimes where our values collide. Rather than making a harsh decision, this report provides a roadmap for thoughtful deliberation about how and when to pursue mutually beneficial collaboration.”
The full report is posted online, including a feedback mechanism for those with questions or comments about the organization’s engagement activities. More information will be posted to the website in the weeks ahead.
E-Learning at Your Fingertips
ASPA staff work tirelessly to keep your skills up to date and the information flowing all year long through our e-learning program. Visit our website to see more details about upcoming KeepingCurrent, BookTalk and Student and New Professional series programming.
BookTalk: Women, Power and Rape Culture: The Politics and Policy of Underrepresentation
April 13 | 1 p.m. EDT
Presenter:
Bonnie Stabile, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, George Mason University
The election of Donald Trump precipitated one of the largest outpourings of political protest on a single day in U.S. history with the 2017 March for Women. The emboldened #MeToo and #TimesUp movements reacted not only to the historical injustice of sexual offenses perpetrated upon women, but also women’s associated underrepresentation in positions of power and public authority. This book examines the principal events, actors and paradigms in the politics of rape, sexual assault and harassment since Trump’s election. Unlike other studies, it connects these traumatic events to women’s underrepresentation in the public sphere. Chapters consider the power of presidential speech, judges and Congress to create structural barriers to women’s representation as well as the stultifying effects of weak college and university responses to sexual violence. Disparities in women’s representation in positions of public authority are considered in light of the disproportionate burden imposed on women by a culture that discounts the prevalence of rape and harassment and by the policies that inadequately address them, allowing them to perpetuate.
KeepingCurrent: A Digital War Games Cyber Security Event
April 18 | 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. EDT
Presenter:
Ron Sanders, President and CEO, Publica Virtu
If you are a senior leader or scholar in public administration, you probably have been losing sleep about cybersecurity. It’s the latest (and perhaps greatest) worry of public administrators everywhere. Ransomware and other cyberattacks—whether perpetrated by cyber criminals, adversarial nation-states, and/or their proxies—have become a pandemic of their own and it is no longer a matter of if government gets hacked...but rather, when! More, you can no longer point the finger at your CIO or CISO for a breach. The vast majority of cyberattacks come from preying on the gullibility of human beings, so a successful defense is more a matter of policy, culture and leadership than the technical prowess of you and your staff. And at the end of the day, citizens will hold YOU accountable. Working with experts who have "been there and done that" when it comes to government cybersecurity, ASPA has partnered with Ron Sanders and others to provide a three-hour cyber war game expressly designed for non-technical public administration professionals and scholars like yourself: Those who understand the challenges of serving the public but who may not (YET!) know enough about cybersecurity to be dangerous. Register now to join us for this event and get ready for a hands-on training event to help you and your team be more equipped to handle any cyber challenges that come your way!
KeepingCurrent: The Evidence Act and Performance
April 25 | 1 p.m. EDT
Presenters:
Maria Aristigueta, Moderator, Charles P Messick Chair Professor, Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
Nicholas Hart, President, Data Foundations
Kathy Newcomer, Professor, George Washington University
The Foundations for Evidence-based Policy Making Act of 2018 (the Evidence Act) was an unprecedented law with bipartisan support that drew heavily upon the recommendations of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking to require federal agencies to build capacity for both generating and using evidence to inform decisionmaking. Nick Hart, the Policy Director of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking and current President of the Data Foundation, and Kathryn Newcomer, GWU Professor and co-author with Nick of Evidence-building and Evaluation in Government (2022), will discuss current challenges to evidence-building efforts in federal agencies. They will provide an update on the progress that has been made in implementing the Evidence Act, and discuss current challenges. They also will discuss current efforts being made by the executive branch to build evaluative capacity and implement the agency Equity Action Plans.
BookTalk: Technology and Public Management
April 27 | 1 p.m. EDT
Presenter:
Alan Shark, Associate Professor, Schar School, George Mason University
Students of public administration, public policy and nonprofit management require a strong foundation in how government and NGOs are connected with information technology. Whether simplifying internal operations, delivering public-facing services, governing public utilities or conducting elections, public administrators must understand these technological tools and systems to ensure they remain effective, efficient and equitable. Technology and Public Management explores the latest trends in technology, providing real-life examples about the need for policies and procedures to safeguard technology infrastructure while providing greater openness, participation and transparency.
From the Archives
BookTalk: COVID-19, the LGBTQIA+ Community and Public Policy
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated long-standing inequities, both in the United States and throughout the world. As studies emerge to help us understand the effects of the pandemic on every facet of modern life, it is critical that its effects on the LGBTQIA+ communities not be overlooked. While some studies analyzing the impacts have been conducted, and some efforts are being made to collect data that can impact policy development, reliable data resources are limited to a few enterprising states and have not been systematically shared. This webinar explores how the pandemic has affected these communities and what steps need to be taken to ameliorate those effects.
ASPA Celebrates Milestone Anniversaries
Each year at the annual conference ASPA recognizes those celebrating 25- and 50-year ASPA anniversaries: individuals who have been ASPA members continuously for those time spans. We did so again this year in the conference program book, and we are delighted to include those lists here, as well.
Below are the 22 individuals celebrating 25 years of being an ASPA member:
- Marilyn Balanoff
- Mark D. Bradbury
- David Brunojri
- Nora Campos
- Patria de Lancer Julnes
- Christi Floyd
- Kathleen L. Gahagan
- Sidney Gardner
- J. Ramon Gil-Garcia
- Brenda K. Howell
- Janet Kelly
- Jackie D. Kem
- Kenneth Andrew Kriz
- Christy Maggi
- Kofi Tamba Momoh
- Ricardo S. Morse
- Anita H. Plotinsky
- Kent S. Robinson
- Alan R. Shark
- J. Woody Stanley
- Bethany Stich
- Aziza Zemrani
Below are the 13 members celebrating 50 years of being an ASPA member:
- Mark A. Abramson
- Nanette M. Blandin
- Edwin C. Daley
- Peter M. Detwiler
- Melvin J. Dubnick
- W. Bartley Hildreth
- Donald E. Klingner
- Naomi B. Lynn
- Kenneth J. Meier
- James L. Perry
- Beryl A. Radin
- John F. Shirey
- David A. Warm
ASPA congratulates all of this year's anniversary celebrants on their long-term commitment to our organization and wishes each of them many more years of dedication in the future.
Please reach out to those you recognize on this list with your own congratulations.
Membership Matters: Sponsor a Colleague or Student into ASPA!
It's the beginning of a new governance year for ASPA, and a perfect time for all members to think about introducing someone in your life to our society! Whether you have a favorite service or simply enjoy being a part of ASPA Chapters and Sections, share those experiences with someone you know today and encourage them to join you. Our community is stronger when more voices are a part of it and peer-to-peer influence makes a big difference.
From a variety of e-news digests (like this one!), to conferences, webinars and Chapter events, to journals, magazines and other publications, ASPA provides a range of services that connect you to others in your local area, subject area and the profession at large. Encourage your friends and colleagues to get involved and start making career connections right away.
Ready to sign someone up? Contact us and we'll be happy to assist you.
We look forward to continuing our work together, strengthening public service. We need all of our members to help us get there! Sponsor someone today!
Public Administration Today Highlight
Public Administration Today features white papers, research and blogs from across the profession. This edition's highlight looks at urban structures! If you're interested in more—especially your own curated news feed in your inbox every week—visit the website, create an account and check off your interest areas so you can stay up to date about the latest research being released!
From Waste to Energy: How Urban Waste Is Powering Our Cities
The rapid urbanization and population growth of the 21st century has generated a staggering amount of waste, posing a significant challenge to cities worldwide. Recent advancements in waste to energy (WtE) technologies have offered a promising solution for repurposing waste into energy, providing a sustainable and efficient means of managing waste while also generating valuable energy.
NISPAcee 2023 Conference in Belgrade, Serbia
NISPAcee has announced its 2023 conference will take place May 25-27 in Belgrade, Serbia, with the theme, "The Future of Public Administration Enabled through Emerging Technologies."
Contemporary public administration is tackling the challenges of globalization, social and demographic changes, migration and climate change. Layered and complex reform trajectories and instruments are needed to modernize public administration, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery and achieve high standards of reliability and accountability. All sectors of society, including public administration, will have to play a role in the effort toward a green transformation. Faced with rapid and accelerating socio-economic change, public administration needs to take into account the opportunities offered by new technologies, as well as develop new services aimed at openness, transparency and citizen participation accordingly. The conference will pay particular attention to the topic of the digital transformation of public administration. The issues to be taken into consideration are: the role of the public sector in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as the challenges of implementing new technologies in the transformation of public administration. Moreover, in the knowledge society, the capacity to innovate and ability to implement innovations are very important for the public administration of the future.
Click here for more information and to register.
Policy Pathways Summer Academy Accepting Applications
Policy Pathways’ Summer Academy for Policy Leadership and Public Service Online (SAO) is accepting applications. This year’s session of SAO will be held June 25-July 8.
Policy Pathways offers the Summer Academy as an engaging remote learning experience for youth to learn the foundations of policy formation and analysis to jumpstart future degree programs and careers in public policy, public administration and international affairs. They seek to provide students with college preparedness skills and experience to visualize such a career as both a reality and a means to utilize their passion for change and advocacy in the real world.
Its educational programming and real-world capstone projects draw upon an international network of professors, policy decisionmakers and corporate and nonprofit leaders who teach on a wide variety of related topics: critical thinking, foreign policy, statistics, data analysis, advocacy and persuasion, economics, leadership and citizenship development, and more.
Individuals ages 15–25 are encouraged to apply; no prior experience in civics or policy is required for participation. Applications are due May 1, 2023. Click here for more information.
Public Integrity Special Issue: Ethical Challenges in Higher Education in the Contemporary Policy and Political Climate
Current politics, policy debates and the continued fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic have put an increased amount of pressure on the higher education system (Blakenberger & Williams, 2020). State policies that have been adopted or discussed in places such as Florida have created a different institutional system for colleges and universities to operate in. This new policy and political landscape are causing issues of faculty migration, enrollment shifts and funding changes that create difficult administrative decisions evidenced by reducing faculty positions and the battles between unions and institutions over fair pay and working conditions. From a faculty perspective, there are concerns regarding their shifting roles and how they can continue to be effective as the system goes through a significant shift (Lovell, 2023). Trust in public figures is a common topic in administration (De Boer, 2020; Wade & Fiorentino, 2023), especially where education and politics are concerned (Bell et al, 2021).
As policy feedback has hit a new high with the salience of state policies that inhibit academic freedom rising, higher education administrators and decision-makers are faced with a new set of challenging decisions (Jeon & Exmeyer, 2022; Mettler, Jacobs, & Zhu, 2022). With shifts in challenges comes shifts in how administrators approach managing their institutions and how these structures are evolving (Borry, 2017; Khelifi, 2017). This new set of challenges include topics from changes in curriculum to managing faculty positions and power. Morality and ethical shifts have caused changes in higher education (Prisacariu & Shah, 2016) and set standards that administrators and faculty have to respond to in order to evolve. Analyzing these morality and ethical shifts, what these challenges are, and the results of them is the subject of this special issue with the overarching objective being to provide a new platform to expand this discussion within higher education.
The main objective of Public Integrity is to expand the discussion of ethics, morality and administration. This special issue aims to bring together contributions from multiple disciplines and encourages interdisciplinary work that address this focus within higher education. In addition, researchers using a variety of methodologies and approaches (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods) are encouraged to submit their work.
Those wishing to have their work included in the special issue will submit an abstract of no more than 500 words to the guest editor. Submissions should include the scope of the project, the foundations of the work, how the work fits the issue and journal’s aims, and an explanation of the question, methodological approach, and anticipated findings and impacts on the field of research. All accepted papers will go through the double-blind peer review process at Public Integrity and acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee publication.
All abstracts are due May 1. Click here for more information.
Tips and Resources
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A Love Letter to Movie Trailers and the Joy of Shared Anticipation
Many trailers use genre as a way to sell a film. For example, action trailers follow a clear format. They draw you in with spectacle and show fans of the genre that the film will have all the fight scenes and explosions they could want.
King Charles’s Coronation: Two Carriages, Five Swords and a Crown Emoji
The procession route for King Charles III’s coronation will be shorter than the one his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, took on her coronation day 70 years ago. But otherwise, there are few signs that the British royals are toning down the pomp for the May 6 ceremonies.
In the News
Today's headlines contain plenty of news coverage of some of our nation's most pressing public administration challenges. ASPA has curated some of the most important stories from recent weeks. If you have not seen these yet, make sure you read them now!
Infrastructure
Public Finance
Public Service
Social Equity
Members in the News
Closing OPM’s Skills Gaps: A Simple Solution
By ASPA District III Representative Ron Sanders
Tell Me Something Good...
Need some good news in your world? Check this out:
These Are the Four Astronauts Who'll Take a Trip around the Moon Next Year
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have announced the names of the four astronauts who will travel on a spaceflight around the Moon next year. The group will fly aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years, establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface and eventually put humans on Mars.
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