ASPA is proud to host a robust e-learning program including three series of webinars: BookTalks, KeepingCurrent events and Students and New Professionals topics. This list is refreshed constantly as new events are added to our calendar. Please contact us if you have any questions about our upcoming discussions or would like to join us to host an event.

KeepingCurrent: Bolstering Trust in State and Local Government

April 23 | 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT


About 45 percent of Americans have a less than favorable view of the trustworthiness of local governments, according to the engagement and analytics company, Polco, and its think tank, the National Research Center. That may be better than is the case with the federal government, but it’s still a somewhat sour statistic. A lack of trust in government has important ramifications. Mistrust in states and localities impairs officials’ ability to do their jobs well. As Byron Decoteau, director of the Louisiana Department of State Civil Service has said: “When citizens have confidence in their government, there is a higher likelihood of their adherence to policy decisions, laws and regulations. Ultimately, the cultivation of public trust empowers states to accomplish their objectives with greater efficiency and in a timely manner.” Fortunately, there are solutions—for example, connecting with residents, in part by using performance measures to keep them informed of what’s really going on. (But if the measures aren’t transparent, there can be a rebound effect). This webinar, sponsored by the Center for Accountability and Performance, will shed bright light on this hugely important issue.

Speakers
Richard Greene, Moderator, Principal, Barrett and Greene, Inc., and Chair, Center for Accountability and Performance
Marc Holzer, Distinguished Research Professor, Institute for Public Service, Suffolk University—Boston and Author, Rethinking Public Administration
Nick Mastronardi, CEO, Polco; Hoover Veteran Fellow, Hoover institution, Stamford University; and Honorary Fellow University of Wisconsin, Madison
John O’Leary, Senior Manager, Deloitte Services LP and State/Local Government Research Leader, Deloitte Center for Government Insights
Michael Pagano, former Dean, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago and former Director, University of Illinois at Chicago's Government Finance Research Center

BookTalk: Experts in Government

April 25 | 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT


From Caligula and the time of ancient Rome to the present, governments have relied on experts to manage public programs. But with that expertise has come power and that power has long proven difficult to hold accountable. The tension between experts in the bureaucracy and the policy goals of elected officials remains bitter. President Donald Trump labeled these experts as a "deep state," seeking to resist the policies he believed he was elected to pursue—and he developed a policy scheme to make it far easier to fire experts he deemed insufficiently loyal. The age-old battles between expertise and accountability have come to a sharp point and resolving these challenges requires a fresh look at the rule of law to shape the role of experts in governance.

Presenter:
Don Kettl, Professor, University of Texas at Dallas

BookTalk: The Curious Public Administrator

This BookTalk is being postponed to a future date. We will provide more information when it is available.

Louis Brownlow, one of public administration's historical thinkers, argued that “the principal requirement of a good administrator is an insatiable curiosity.” This book is rooted in the notion that public administrators must practice insatiable curiosity to be effective, fair and democratic. By seeking to uncover how the world works, and therefore practicing curiosity, public administrators may be more likely to move toward evidence-based decisions, improving the efficacy and efficiency of public service. Curiosity encourages public administrators to seek answers in a caring manner and, in doing so, empathize with the communities that they serve.

This book incorporates the concept of curiosity into the field of public administration. Scholarship in philosophy, business administration, social science and other fields address curiosity, but public administration has yet to examine this concept in detail. The Curious Public Administrator fills that hole. The book also presents novel primary data on curiosity in public agencies by examining curious organizations and surveying local government officers, and on how public affairs faculty view curiosity and incorporate the concept in their research and the classroom. Finally, Hatcher integrates this information to present a model of administrative curiosity, focusing on creating a guide for future research and teaching.

Presenters:
Will Hatcher, Chair, Department of Social Sciences and Professor, Augusta University
Sean McCandless, Associate Professor, University of Texas at Dallas
Beth Rauhaus, Moderator, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University