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August 9, 2023
ASPANet.org | PA TIMES.org
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Now Announcing: 2024 Annual Conference! Send Us Your Ideas!
ASPA's 2024 Annual Conference will take place April 12-16 in Minneapolis, focusing on "Building Resilient Communities." Our Call for Proposals has been released and we're excited to see everyone's ideas for what should be on the program next spring. Read on for more information about the theme and submit your proposal by the September 8 deadline!
What does building resilient communities mean? We often think of “resilience” as the ability to overcome, grow, adapt and innovate. And, we know that “community resilience” is garnering attention across the public service profession around the globe. But, the definition is complicated, especially given the interconnection of local knowledge, community networks and relationships, governance and leadership, community capital and economic investment, inclusivity, social and economic equity, climate adaptation and environmental justice. ASPA’s 2024 Annual Conference aims to help attendees understand the myriad connections and complex systems involved.
One image that comes to mind is Gumby*, the green claymation character made popular in the 1970s: highly adaptive, bending, twisting and upending around solid objects, always capable of returning to its original form. Current times require creative thinking to build resilience so communities can recover and transform, while maintaining basic functions and identity. The 2024 Annual Conference will provide attendees with the expertise to build “Gumby” communities that can be stretched, shrunk or squished by the forces around them, while also retaining the structural integrity needed to remain whole and thrive.
Most communities have faced intractable problems in recent years and even decades, whether in health, economy, inequity, security or governance. They have needed to twist in unnatural ways and not all of them have settled to their original—or desirable or manageable—form. Some have improved from the experience; others have split into pieces, never to be whole again. Resilient communities are able to withstand the dynamic forces of a global, networked and diverse society. Intractable problems—poverty, environmental crisis, xenophobia, social and economic injustice and the changing nature of work, to name a few—drive a community’s capacity to effectively and equitably govern and serve.
What differentiates in this environment? What makes one community strong enough to withstand crises and bounce back—even bounce back better—while another struggles and suffers, its citizens needing more resources and not being able to cultivate them? Which factors play leading roles and which are tangential? What do communities need to gain to be able to bounce back? What roles must public administration professionals and scholars play in contributing to building resilient communities? How do we nurture relationships across the profession to collaboratively develop resolutions to community challenges?
The 2024 Annual Conference will examine these questions, demonstrating the necessary components of resilience to help all communities become “Gumby” in the years ahead. Six tracks will guide our discussions, all of which will emphasize enduring public administration tasks, plus effectiveness, efficiency, equity and better performance.
We are seeking proposals for sessions, individual papers or topics and workshops that will delve into this theme and its related tracks. These proposals will form the bulk of the sessions presented during the conference and provide attendees with learning objectives throughout the event.
Full track details and more information about the 2024 conference are available online. Check out our website, start planning your proposal and make sure you send us your ideas by September 8!
*Gumby is trademarked by PREMA Toy Company. References do not imply trademark or copyright.
Build ASPA's Future, Answer the Call
ASPA is enriched by the active participation of our dedicated members. Our committed volunteer leadership plays a critical role in charting ASPA’s path: who we are, what we do and where we are headed.
Please consider yourself and/or a fellow member for one or more leadership positions. This year, members will elect five district representatives and a student representative. All will serve on the National Council, our governing board, which is responsible for setting ASPA's policy direction, ensuring our financial and programmatic position and promoting ASPA within the broader public service community. Click here for more information about National Council responsibilities.
We seek nominees representative of the groups and professional interests within ASPA, balancing academic and practitioner, and including international, nonprofit and all levels of government.
In addition, the National Council has charged the 2023 Nominating Committee with presenting a slate of nominees diverse in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation and other important forms of diversity.
Nominations will be accepted until Friday, September 1, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Find more information on our website and start thinking about who you will nominate!
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: Tenure at a Crossroads, Again?
August 15 | 1 p.m. EDT
Presenters:
GLA Harris, Senior Associate Dean and Professor, Arizona State University
Jeanette Taylor, Moderator, Alderwomen of 20th Ward in Chicago
Dwight Vick, Instructor, Texas A&M University
Tenure at a Crossroads, Again? goes beyond the explication of tenure to explore the contemporary challenges facing academia at the K–12 and higher education levels. The book examines increased expectations and how existing policies have spilled over into institutions of higher learning once high school graduates enter this domain. Students’ educational expectations resonate with college administrators and policymakers, forcing institutions to adapt to these needs, moving professors to “dumb down” the curricula and teaching to avoid negative evaluations and protect themselves from unwarranted retaliation. The authors offer practical strategies to mitigate current approaches while incorporating innovative mechanisms for the system’s survival.
From the Archives
KeepingCurrent: Setting Up and Evaluating Programs with an Eye on Equity
The drive toward creating DEIA in the public sector is a significant issue for many governments, as well as the people they serve. How can they establish an environment that fosters these goals and then be held accountable for their success or failure—and how can they achieve better measurement toward improved outcomes? This webinar, sponsored by ASPA's Center for Accountability and Performance, explored a number of related questions including what can governments do to get better at centering racial, economic and gender equity throughout the work they deliver?; how can they best be set up to achieve equity and inclusion outcomes, including effective measurement toward these outcomes?; and what are some tools and best practices that can be used to evaluate programs and services through the lenses of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility? (Members Only)
ASPA New Member Orientation Video Online
ASPA held an in-depth new member orientation earlier this summer to introduce new ASPA members to the many services and benefits at their disposal. Some of the highlights included:
- An introduction to how to use the ASPA website—and where to find PAR!
- An overview of who ASPA members are
- Details about how to connect with your Chapter and Sections
- How to access valuable member services like webinars, the webinar archives, PA TIMES and more
We know many of our new members could not join us so we have posted the video to our website. This resource is open to all audiences to learn more about how to put your ASPA membership to use!
For Purchase: A Call to Serve
Put some motivation in your pocket this fall—or any time of the year!
A Call to Serve is a pocket-sized book of motivational quotes about public service, ethics, compassion, citizenship and more.
Filled with hundreds of quotes from a range of public servants, humanists, philosophers, actors, policymakers and more, this mini-book will help your students remember their public service motivation all year long.
Click here to purchase your copy today! Bulk orders can be accommodated; contact our membership team for quotes and assistance.
Call for Member News!
ASPA is working on the next edition of PA TIMES magazine, to be published digitally at the end of the summer. Each edition includes a section of member updates and news. If you have anything you'd like us to consider for this section, please send it to us by August 15, 2023.
For those who need an idea of what we include: Most things! But, check out the most recent edition of the magazine online here and flip to the end for the member updates. (If you missed our most recent round of the magazine, use the link to download your copy and get caught up!)
Public Administration Today Highlight
Public Administration Today features white papers, research and blogs from across the profession. This edition's highlight looks at K-12 education. 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!
What It Would Take for U.S. Schools to Fully Recover from COVID-19
Via McKinsey - Learning delays, diminished mental health, absenteeism: U.S. K–12 students face significant challenges in the wake of the pandemic. Schools must prioritize investments to best meet their needs.
Tips, Resources and the Fun Stuff
Has Tipping Gotten Out of Control? How to Navigate the New World of Tipping
A.M. Roberts was paying for an hourlong paddleboard rental on the Chain of Lakes when the screen flipped and she was faced with a familiar question. Should she tip? How much?
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
Fixing Accountability First: Another Look at the Restore VA Accountability Act
By Ronald Sanders
An Underused Approach to Fighting Cyberattacks
By Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene
Tell Me Something Good...
Need some good news in your world? Check this out:
50 Years of Hip-Hop: Rhythm, Rhyme, Reinvention, Respect
It started at the parties, but spread out to the world. Check out the Associated Press's catalog, exploring 50 years of the music genre’s culture, from its origins in the Bronx to its impact on everything from sports to social justice. (Photo courtesy of the AP.)
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Around Public Administration
Here are the most recent updates from across the profession. Did we miss you? Send us your news and we'll include it in the next round!
Upcoming Events:
Calls for proposals and other updates:
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Nonprofit Policy Forum Call for Papers
Nonprofit Policy Forum (NPF) invites papers for a special issue on nonprofits, public policy and migration crises. Crises of migration draw attention in many parts of the world, but are overlooked with dire consequences in others. Nonprofits, NGOs and other civil society actors participate in and are affected by migration crises in a variety of ways. This special issue explores the relationship between nonprofits (or NGOs or other civil society actors), public policy and migration crises. the editors use the term “migration crises” here to capture situations of vulnerable migration that include refugees and internally displaced persons, but might also include other individuals who do not technically qualify for refugee status but are migrating at risk and in vulnerable circumstances. The special issue will be comprised primarily of research articles, and may include one or more research note, policy brief, commentary, case study, interview or book review. All submissions are due August 15. Click here for more information.
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Public Performance and Management Review Special Issue Call for Papers
Public Performance and Management Review (PPMR) will produce a special issue focusing on the potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to transform administrative decisionmaking and impact the way the public engages with government agencies. Generative AI refers to systems that, in response to prompts written in natural language, dynamically generate content that is, or appears to be, novel. The recent proliferation of generative AI models has received a great deal of attention, increasingly serving as a source of controversy as speculation over these tools’ effects on society proliferates. With this in mind, PPMR seeks contributions that consider the implications of generative AI for public administration. The editors are particularly interested in studies that reflect on whether these new tools stand to reinforce existing bureaucratic pathologies, as previous generations of government technology have typically done, or to qualitatively change the way public bureaucracies function. Editors welcome all types of contributions, including conceptual and empirical articles. Proposals that include the title, list of authors, and a 300-word abstract should be submitted to the special issue editors by August 15. Contact editors Kaifeng Yang, Gregory Porumbescu or Matthew Young with questions or for more information.
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International Journal of Public Sector Management Call for Papers
IJPSM is releasing a call for papers for a special issue: Governance and accountability of multiple values of municipal corporations. Municipal corporations have been established in different parts of the world to provide local public services (such as infrastructure, utilities, education, health care, cultural and social services) under the influence of new public management doctrines and related neoliberal ideologies. Their hybrid organizational nature implies that their governance is permeated by a multiplicity of values. Scant attention has been paid by previous scholars to how different actors (i.e. board members, auditors, controllers, CSR managers, etc.) and their values affect goals in hybrid municipal corporations and their role in the development of governance and accountability practices. The aim of this special issue is to improve the theoretical and practical understanding of the drivers, obstacles, and tensions for value creation and the accounting implications in municipally owned corporations. This special issue also will explore the role of governance and accountability practices to disclose multiple values created by municipal corporations, with a particular focus on the societal and public values. Editors encourage theoretical, conceptual and empirical submissions from different institutional contexts and by scholars across disciplines. The guest editors will run an online CIRIEC workshop on September 21 and 22, 2023, where authors will be given an opportunity to present and get feedback on their research. The deadline for submissions (full or work-in-progress papers formatted in line with IJPSM’s submission requirements) to the workshop is August 31, via email.
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2023 NECoPA Call for Papers
The 2023 Northeastern Conference on Public Administration (NECoPA) will take place online November 2-3; the theme is "Flexible Governance and Public Service in a Post-Pandemic World." The theme recognizes that the events of the last three years accelerated the reliance of public and nonprofit organizations on increased digital governance, which transformed service delivery and work relations. But during this digital transformation, the lines between work and life have been blurred, and residents expect the public and nonprofit sectors to deliver services at a faster pace and during unconventional/flexible hours of operation. Public and nonprofit administration has been tasked with adapting and managing public service programs in this evolving world to ensure services continue to be delivered effectively, efficiently, equitably and responsibly in both in-person and remote formats. The conference welcomes proposals related to this theme or additional topics relevant to public and nonprofit administration. The deadline for submissions is August 31. Contact [email protected] for more information.
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Public Money and Management Call for Manuscripts
Public Money and Management will publish a theme issue in 2024 that comparatively explores the recruitment, training and retention of senior public officials. There have been many changes in approach to the recruitment, training and retention of senior public officials in different regions across the globe, including a general trend away from purely merit-based recruitment toward the focus on and acquisition of definable skills. This has occurred alongside a more nuanced recognition of the need to reflect greater diversity in the background of public officials in many countries. In the drive to gain more efficient and effective delivery of public services, and to overcome the wicked problems often grappled within the public sector, the move to skills-based recruitment and training alongside attention to equality and diversity concerns frequently coincide in modernization drives. This theme seeks to solicit articles from an international range of sources to address the question: How should we recruit and retain a public service fit for purpose and what will it look like? All research articles are due November 20; debate and ND articles are due January 31, 2024. Click here for more information.
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2024 COMPA Conference Call for Proposals
The COMPA 2024 conference will take place February 25-28 in New Orleans. The theme is "Reshaping Public Administration: A Search for Self-Determined, Participatory and Sustainable Governments." The conference serves as a call to all public servants—scholars, public and nonprofit practitioners, and community advocates and stakeholders—who seek to rethink the future of local communities by revisiting past and present experiences as the foundation for engaging debate on reshaping self-determined, participatory and sustainable local community initiatives. COMPA 2024 challenges public administrators, researchers, scholars, policy wonks, think tanks, nonprofits, faculty, students and both scholars and practitioners across multiple fields and professions to rethink the future of local communities by revisiting past and present experiences as the foundation for engaging debate and reshaping self-determined, participatory and sustainable local community initiatives. We will examine the future of local government and tackle those issues that most directly impact each of us. We welcome research and praxis from different backgrounds and methodological orientations, current updates to traditional models and frameworks, and other emergent perspectives on all issues of public service related to the theme. All proposals are due December 15. Click here for more information.
PA TIMES Online
Here's a selection of current pieces on PA TIMES Online, covering a range of issues within the profession. We accept individual articles on a rolling basis; if you have a piece you think would fit our publication, submit it to [email protected] for consideration. (Please review our submission guidelines in advance!)
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