President

Kendra Stewart
Professor
Riley Center for Livable Communities, College of Charleston

Kendra Stewart is a professor of political science and public administration and director of the Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Center for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston. She has spent her career working both in government and academia and in her current position has the opportunity to do both, in addition to assisting nonprofits. Her research interests include nonprofit management, government public relations, state and local government and food policy. Stewart was able to use her professional training, along with her academic and applied research, to co-edit an ASPA series book, The Practice of Government Public Relations. Prior to her current position at the College of Charleston, where she has also served as MPA program director, Stewart was a faculty member and MPA director at Eastern Kentucky University and worked for the State of South Carolina Budget and Control Board.

In addition to her service in state government, Stewart has worked with the South Carolina and Kentucky City/County Management Associations.  She serves on a variety of nonprofit boards in her community and has recently been elected into the National Academy of Public Administration. One of her most significant career opportunities was serving on a USAID project in Lahore, Pakistan, assisting a prestigious university develop academic and professional training programs to professionalize public administration in their country. Stewart regularly conducts political analysis for a variety of print, radio and television media, including Good Morning America, NPR, BBC, Fox News Channel, the Associated Press and The New Yorker. She holds two bachelors degrees from the University of Central Florida and an MPA and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Stewart resides in Charleston, S.C. with her husband and their five children.

President-Elect

Allan Rosenbaum

Professor, Public Administration; Director, Institute for Public Management and Community Service and Center for Democracy and Good Governance
Florida International University

Allan Rosenbaum is Professor of Public Administration and Director of the Institute for Public Management and Community Service and the Center for Democracy and Good Governance at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. He went to FIU as Dean of its School of Public Affairs and Services. He is a recent Past President of ASPA and has served two terms as President of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration in Brussels, Belgium. Based on nomination by the Secretary General of the United Nations, vetting with the US Mission, and approval by UN Economic and Social Council, he is a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration where he serves as Vice Chairperson. He has served as acting Budget Administrator of the City of Miami and subsequently worked in state government in Illinois, and on educational policy in the national government.

He has directed large USAID democratic institution building projects in Latin America and Africa, and has carried out numerous international projects for the United Nations, the World Bank, the Swedish International Development Agency and various governments around the world. He has provided technical assistance to governments, lectured or conducted research in approximately 100 countries around the world. He has been Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of Potsdam, Germany and is Honorary Professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance in Beijing, as well as at Babes Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania. He currently serves on the journal editorial boards of 11 journals located in eight countries around the world and is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Prior to coming to FIU, he was on the faculties of the Universities of Maryland, Connecticut and Wisconsin, Madison and held a research position at the University of Chicago.

Immediate Past President

Paul Danczyk
Director of Executive Education
University of Southern California—Sol Price

Paul Danczyk is the director of executive education in Sacramento for the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy. In this capacity, he designs, coordinates and presents in leadership and management programs—impacting national, state and local governmental and nonprofit organizations—teaches master level classes on strategic management, leadership, negotiation and public administration in California and Mexico, and is an executive coach. He cofounded and is the lead architect of www.LeadershipEnergizes.com. A returned Peace Corps Volunteer, he earned his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, focusing on public and international affairs; his MPA from the University of Southern California; his BS from Penn State University; his certified executive coach through the International Coaching Federation, trained at the Hudson Institute for Coaching; and holds Harvard University’s Mediating Disputes certification. He enjoys landscaping, creating sculptures, painting and bee keeping.

Executive Director

William P. Shields, Jr.
American Society for Public Administration

Bill Shields became Executive Director of the American Society for Public Administration, the largest and most prominent professional association for public administration, in January 2014. During his tenure, he has significantly broadened the Society’s professional development programming, strengthened its 60 local chapters and 30 subject matter sections, revitalized its operations and enhanced the quality of its communications. He has recommitted the Society to its core mission of advancing excellence in public service and made considerable inroads in partnering with like-minded organizations on a wide range of activities.

Shields brings to his position more than 15 years of executive and management experience in the nonprofit sector, most recently as Vice President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the nation's leading public policy organization dedicated to ensuring that people with the lowest incomes have affordable and decent homes. In this role, he was responsible for the organization’s operational, financial, membership and outreach functions.

For more than a decade, Shields held senior management and research positions at the National Academy of Public Administration, a congressionally chartered organization established to assist government leaders in building more effective, efficient and accountable organizations. As Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Communications, he worked extensively with the Academy’s elected Fellows, the nation’s top leaders in the practice and study of public administration. He served on research teams studying organization and management issues at the U.S. Departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation. He edited more than 50 Academy panel reports on issues ranging from federal compensation issues to FBI reorganization.

Shields served as Director at the Chief Executives Organization, a nonprofit organization of 2,000 chief executives around the world, and in the Executive Office of the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. He earned his MA in government and BA in journalism from American University, where he has been an Adjunct Professor since 2000. In 2015, he received the School of Public Affairs’ Award for Outstanding Teaching in an Adjunct Position. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the governing board of NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement. He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC.

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District Representatives

District I

Electoral District I includes: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont
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Michael J. Ahn

Assistant Professor, Public Policy and Public Affairs
University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA

Michael Ahn is associate professor of public policy and public affairs at McCormack Graduate School, University of Massachusetts—Boston. His research explores technological innovations in government such as e-government, smart cities and artificial intelligence in the public sector, and identifies organizational and institutional factors that facilitate impactful information technology innovations in government. He has published in journals such as Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration and Government Information Quarterly, and is a co-author of the Routledge Handbook on Information Technology in Government.

Ahn served as president of Northeast Conference on Public Administration, ASPA's Massachusetts Chapter and Chair of ASPA's Section on Science and Technology in Government. He is an editorial board member for several journals including American Review of Public Administration, Public Organization Review, International Journal of Public Administration and International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age. He holds a Master of Public Administration and Ph.D. in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizens and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.

Maria D'Agostino

Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Public Management
John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Maria J. D’Agostino is currently chair and associate professor in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. She has been an active member of the American Society of Public Administration since 2004, when she was a doctoral student, and is a former Section on Women in Public Administration board member, and NY Metro ASPA Chapter President, 2005-2006. She also served as a NECoPA Trustee.
 
D’Agostino has published widely in the areas of citizen engagement and public service. Her recent research has focused on women in public service including two co-edited books, Governing in A Global World (Forthcoming 2017) and Women and Public Administration: Theory and Practice. She recently collaborated as a guest editor for the Women and Public Administration symposium published in Administration and Society, and published A Narrative Approach to Understanding the Difference Women Make. She is a recipient of the Section for Women in Public Administration's Rita Mae Kelly Distinguished Research Award. She is also the co-founder of Women in the Public Sector at John Jay College and recipient of the Faculty Mid-Career Research Award. Dr. D’Agostino received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University—Newark and her Master’s from Padova University Italy.

Josh Osowski

Superintendent, NJ State Park Service
Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ

Josh Osowski is a superintendent in the New Jersey State Park Service and a doctoral student at Rutger’s School of Public Affairs and Administration. During his 17 years as a practitioner in state government, Josh implemented change management at Liberty State Park by taking a park that was fraught with problems and turning it into the team driven success that it is today. Josh has made significant improvements to the parks at which he works and has been able to make difficult things happen through collaboration. Josh is also finishing his coursework for a Ph.D. in public administration. Eager to improve the connection between practitioners and academics, Josh has been integral in reestablishing ASPA's New Jersey chapter.

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District II

Electoral District II includes: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and West Virginia.
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Jonathan Del Collo

Prothonotary
Berks County, Pennsylvania

Jonathan K. Del Collo was elected by the citizens of Berks County, Pennsylvania, as their 56th prothonotary in November 2017. Serving more than 420,000 residents, he leads the governmental entity responsible for the filing, recording and processing of all civil actions, family court matters, equity actions, judgments, federal, state and local tax liens, municipal liens, arbitrations, license suspension appeals and appeals to higher courts. Under his leadership, efficiencies created by staff cross training have resulted in more than $616,000 in taxpayer savings. He also has transformed the office into a truly 21st century operation, digitizing more than 350,000 historical and naturalization records and going completely paperless in 2019. Prior to his election, he served for more than 10 years as the county's chief deputy prothonotary and acting prothonotary, implementing an automated payment system and new case management system. He served on the Antietam School Board in the late 1990s, the Mount Penn Borough Council from 2001 to 2003 and the City of Reading Ethics Board. His public service career began as executive assistant to the mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania, under the city's new home-rule form of government. A graduate of American University in Washington, DC, Del Collo has actively supported ASPA's vision, mission and goals as a member of its Financial Management Committee and Audit Committee. He also is a committed member of ASPA's Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management.

Diane Disney

Professor and Dean of Commonwealth College Penn State University

A lifelong public servant, Diane Disney has worked at multiple levels for entities as diverse as the U.S. Department of Defense, the Urban Institute’s Nonprofit Sector Project and Penn State. She has successfully managed a 12-campus college, advised a governor on human resource and economic development issues, crafted legislative language to help Defense workers affected by budget cuts and developed housing for low-income, single-parent families.  Her ability to generate collaboration across economic sectors and levels of government is exemplary. Disney has been a tenured management professor at Pennsylvania State University (where she has also been dean and chancellor) and the University of Rhode Island (where she headed the Research Center in Business and Economics), as well as a management consultant to numerous state and federal departments. Internationally she has worked with governments of Slovenia, Croatia, Chile and others to design executive development programs for civil servants to promote civilian control of the military.

Being a board or committee member for more than 40 nonprofits has made her aware of the importance of strengthening Chapters and Sections to foster sound working relationships and networks within ASPA.  Her ASPA service has included membership on selection committees for the Founders’ Fellows and the Elmer B. Staats Lifetime Achievement Award. A member of the Central Pennsylvania chapter, she has been a conference session chair for NECoPA and most recently has served on the Governance Task Force, which has recommended updates to the organization’s bylaws. She has also accepted a three-year term on PAR’s Board of Editors.

A longtime fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, she has served two terms on its board, most recently as chair. She has also received the George Graham Award for outstanding service to the Academy.  Her education includes degrees from Duke (MAT), URI (MBA) and Brandeis (Ph.D).

Myung Jin

Associate Professor and Public Administration Program Chair
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University

Myung Jin is an associate professor and chair of public administration program at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University. He has been serving as PAA faculty advisor for the last eight years and has been an integral part of a very successful and active Central Virginia Chapter of ASPA since its founding. Professor Jin serves currently as an associate editor at the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs and as a symposium editor for a special issue, “Public Administration Education in Asia,” which is being publicized currently at the Journal of Public Affairs Education. Jin is also very active in his research, publishing more than 17 articles since 2011, and has been awarded more than $330,000 in research funding as either Pi or Co-Pi since 2012. His publications focus on the development of public human resources and have appeared in such journals as Public Performance Management Review, International Review of Administrative Sciences,Review of Public Personnel Administration and American Review of Public Administration, among others. Before joining the Wilder School, Jin worked extensively as a systems project consultant for a number of state government agencies in Florida, including the Department of Financial Services, Department of Health and Department of Children and Families.

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District III

Electoral District III includes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
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Thomas Barth

Professor and MPA Director
University of North Carolina—Charlotte

Tom Barth is currently the MPA Director at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. He came to Charlotte last fall after serving at UNC Wilmington for nearly 20 years, where he founded the MPA program and also served as a chair of the Department of Public Science and two years as the interim vice chancellor for public service and continuing studies.

Barth considers himself a “pracademic,” as his professional career began as a Presidential Management Intern, working as an analyst at NASA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency during the Reagan Administration.  While working in management development at the EPA, he became interested in teaching and research, and decided to pursue a Ph.D. at the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech while he continued to work in the federal government. Upon earning his Ph.D., he took his first faculty position at the University of Memphis.

Barth has always found himself most at home in regional universities where MPA faculty have the freedom to devote time to teaching, research and community engagement; each activity informs the others. His areas of focus include organization theory, human resource management, strategic planning, leadership and ethics.  Current projects include the facilitation of community-police conversations in Wilmington, NC, survey research on the integration of core values in local government and interviews on the personal leadership skills and qualities necessary to be an effective community bridge builder.

Akhlaque Haque

Professor and MPA Program Director
University of Alabama—Birmingham

Akhlaque Haque is professor and MPA program director in the department of political science and public administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the president of the Alabama Chapter of ASPA and serves on the SECoPA Board. Recently, he served as conference chair for the 2018 SECoPA, which was held in Birmingham. He is a long time member of ASPA and has held leadership positions with ASPA and NASPAA. He is a Fulbright Scholar and has been active in national and international development initiatives through his work on GIS and public policy, and is frequently sought for research counsel including as an expert panelist for a U.S. Congressional briefing. He is currently serving his second term (2002-05; 2017-) as editorial board member with Public Administration Review and, since 2015, serving as associate editor for Economic Development Quarterly. He served on the national advisory board of Data Management Task Force of NASPAA and currently serves on the NASPAA Research Committee.

Haque studies the complex social nature of the human enterprise as it relates to information, technology, ethics and social justice, administrative decisionmaking and urban and rural population health. He is the author of Surveillance, Transparency and Democracy: Public Administration in the Information Age (University of Alabama Press, 2015). He received his Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and his master's degree and PhD in urban and public affairs from Cleveland State University.

Kim Hoffman

Associate Professor, Public Administration
University of Central Arkansas

Kim Hoffman is associate professor of public administration at the University of Central Arkansas, where she directs an undergraduate program in public administration. She has been an ASPA member since 1997, including within its Association for Budgeting and Financial Management. She is an active member in the Southeastern Conference for Public Administration (SECoPA). She is part of a planning group to revive ASPA's Arkansas Chapter. She teaches a variety of courses in public administration and conducts an annual workshop on the Arkansas budget process for the Arkansas Public Administration Consortium, which offers training programs to government and nonprofit professionals. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a legislative analyst for the Arkansas state legislature. She holds a PhD in political science, an MPA and a BS.

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District IV

Electoral District IV includes: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
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J. Paul Blake

Retired

J. Paul Blake, retired director of media and external relations at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington, is serving his fifth term on ASPA’s National Council. His professional service includes three terms as president of ASPA's Evergreen Chapter. He serves as Chair of the Financial Management Committee and is a member of the Endowment Board. He has served on the Governance Committee, the Ethics Committee—which revised the Society’s Code of Ethics—and the Ethics and Standards Implementation Committee. A recipient of the Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Award in 2016, he received a Chester Newland Presidential Citation of Merit Award at the 2017, 2018 and 2019 annual conferences. In 2013, the Evergreen Chapter awarded Blake a Lifetime of Public Service Award. As a member of ASPA delegations, he has presented papers in Japan and South Korea. He is a former member of the Advisory Board for the University of Washington Public Relations and Strategic Communications Certificate program. His past memberships include the International Association for Public Participation, the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, the Seattle Association of Black Journalists, the Black Heritage Society of Washington State, Tabor 100 and Blacks in Government.

Stephen Kleinschmit

Clinical Assistant Professor
University of Illinois—Chicago

Stephen Kleinschmit, Ph.D., is the director of program development and engagement and clinical assistant professor in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Department of Public Administration. In May 2018, he will become the director of its Master of Public Administration program. Prior to joining UIC, he was an assistant professor at Western Michigan University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration and served on the faculties of Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and Eastern Kentucky University. He holds a Ph.D. in public administration from North Carolina State University, as well as an MS in technology systems and a dual BS in urban planning and geography from East Carolina University. His practitioner experience includes employment as an urban planner, GIS analyst and development planning consultant. He is also a former Army reservist, having spent six years as field artillery crewmember.

Kleinschmit is best known to ASPA members as the founder and president of the Midwest Public Affairs Conference (MPAC), ASPA's midwest regional conference affiliate. Established in 2013, MPAC has held annual events in Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, Columbus and Omaha, with its upcoming meeting hosted at the University of Illinois at Chicago in June 2018. He serves on the ASPA Publications Committee, is a member of the editorial review board of Public Integrity and is a co-founder of the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs. He is a member of the ASPA Greater Chicago Chapter, has served both on the boards of ASPA’s Indiana and Michigan Capital Area chapters, and is a member of the Sections on Public Administration Education and Science and Technology in Government. 

Zhirong Zhao

Associate Professor, Public Administration
Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

Zhirong "Jerry" Zhao is an associate professor of public administration at the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, where he serves as the MPP director. He holds a PhD in public administration from University of Georgia and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Tongji University (China). His research focuses on public budgeting and finance, in particular, infrastructure finance. He founded the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance and directs it today. In his earlier career as an urban planner, Zhao worked on planning projects for local governments across China and published journal articles and book chapters on urban renewal and historical preservation. As a public affairs scholar, he has published in many top journals in public administration, public budgeting and transportation, such as Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research, Public Administration Review, Public Finance Review, Public Budgeting and Finance, Municipal Finance Journal, Transportation Research Record and Journal of Transport and Land Use. He has led or participated on multiple funded projects supported by National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Transportation, Minnesota Legislature and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, etc., and served as consultant for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, National Governor Association, National Council of State Legislatures and Ernst & Young. Zhao served on the executive committee of ASPA's Association for Budgeting and Financial Management during 2014-2016. He was a co-founder of the China-America Association for Public Affairs and served as its president during 2015-2016. Currently, Zhao serves as the chair of ASPA’s Section on Chinese Public Administration.

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District V

Electoral District V includes: Arizona, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah
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Galia Cohen

Senior Lecturer and Associate Director, Justice Admin & Leadership Program
University of Texas At Dallas, Plano, TX

Dr. Galia Cohen is the Associate Director of the Justice Administration and Leadership Master’s Program, housed in the Department of Criminology at The University of Texas—Dallas. She specializes in human resource management and organizational behavior and has more than 10 years of experience in teaching and consulting in the public sector. She teaches Human Resource Management for Public Sector, Leadership in Public and Nonprofit Management and Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the graduate level for executives and professionals in law enforcement agencies across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Cohen received her B.A. and her M.A. from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. She holds a Ph.D. in public affairs from The University of Texas—Dallas. She has published academic articles and book chapters and her research interests include strategic human resource management, organizational theory and behavior, conflict management and public safety administration.

Cohen is a District V Representative for the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and an advisory board member for the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration.

Rex Facer, II

Associate Professor
Brigham Young University

An ASPA member since 1992, Rex Facer has been an active ASPA member in a variety of ways through the years. He served on the Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations' (SPALR) leadership team from 2003-2012 and ASPA’s Finance Committee from 2007-2012. He also co-chaired ASPA's Strategic Imperative Group 2 from 2011-2012, was chair of the Founders Fellows and Mentoring efforts (2012-2013), a member of the ASPA 75th Anniversary Commission (2012-2014) and a member of ASPA’s National Council (2013-2014 and 2018-present). He has been recognized for his service to ASPA as a recipient of the Chester Newland Presidential Citation of Merit multiple times.

Facer is associate professor at Brigham Young University, where he teaches in the MPA program. He was appointed by President Barak Obama to the Federal Salary Council in October 2010 and served until December 2017. He also served on NASPAA’s Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation (COPRA) from 2009-2013, including a year as chair, as well as on the Advisory Board of the Astana Civil Service Hub (May 2013-present). He has lectured, consulted, taught and presented research around the world. His research has focused on public sector pay, alternative work schedules, municipal annexation and local public finance. He received his PhD from the University of Georgia.

Aziza Zemrani

Associate Professor
University of Texas—Rio Grande Valley

Aziza Zemrani is originally from Morocco, where she was given an excellent undergraduate education for more than a decade. She held jobs in a variety of top level positions including division chief at the Directorate of Executive Training. She also had the great fortune to work on development projects with USAID, including capacity building for Moroccan institutions. Through this association, she had the chance to attend the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) for her Master of Public Administration.  

Because of GSPIA, Zemrani started her academic career in public administration and got her Ph.D. from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. She is now an associate professor and associate chair of public affairs at the University of Texas—Rio Grande Valley, where she is in charge of its online MPA program. Given her international background and involvement in international public administration conferences, her primary research interest is building better relationships in public administration, especially focusing on cultural competency.

Her professional involvement in ASPA has been a remarkable experience. She joined ASPA at GSPIA when she was an MPA student. Since then, she has joined and served on the boards of different Sections and served as President of COMPA, and is currently the chair of SPOD. She has been active internationally as well, with the honor of being a rapporteur for the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (the international equivalent of ASPA).

International Director

Pan Suk Kim

Professor of Public Administration
College of Government and Business, Yonsei University

Pan Suk Kim was dean of the College of Government and Business and is professor of public administration in the College of Government and Business at Yonsei University, South Korea. He served as Minister of Personnel Management (MPM) of the Republic of Korea (2017-2018) and a Secretary to the President for Personnel Policy in the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea (2003-2005). He served for ASPA in various capacities including: National Council member; Chair of the Section on Professional and Organizational Development and board member of the Section on International and Comparative Administration. He has (co)authored several books and published more than 200 refereed articles in Korea and overseas. He was a deputy editor of the International Review of Administrative Sciences; the Editor in Chief of the Asian Review of Public Administration; and the Editor in Chief of the International Review of Public Administration and the Korean Policy Studies Review. He currently serves on the editorial boards of major international journals and has received several ASPA awards including the International Public Administration Award, the Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Award and the Fred Riggs Award. He received his doctoral degree from American University in Washington, DC and was on the faculties of Austin Peay State University in Tennessee and Old Dominion University in Virginia. He has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University; a Visiting Scholar in Residence at American University; and a Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).

Student Representative

Abdul Samad

Doctoral Student
Florida International University

Abdul Samad is a doctoral student and teaching assistant in the department of public policy and administration at Florida International University (FIU). He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in public administration from Western Kentucky University. His research focuses on the stigmatizing of marginalized groups and its impact on their participation at the local level. He serves as president of the Public Affairs Student Association at FIU. He is former president of the International City and County Management Association at FIU. He was an ASPA Founders’ Fellow (2015), an International Young Scholar (2018), an APPAM Equity and Inclusion fellow (2019) and a Dewey W. Knight JR. Memorial Scholarship awardee (2018). He is fascinated by language. He is fluent in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi, can speak intermediate Arabic and is an enthusiastic beginner in Chinese and Farsi.

COMPA Representative

James Agbodzakey

Associate Professor of Public Leadership and Director, Urban SERCH Institute
University of North Texas at Dallas

James Korku Agbodzakey is president of ASPA's Conference of Minority Public Administrators (COMPA). He is associate professor of public Leadership and director of the Urban SERCH Institute at the University of North Texas at Dallas. He has extensive work experience in public, private, civic/nonprofit sectors in Africa, the Caribbean and the United States. His principal research focuses on HIV/AIDS care and treatment, particularly how the use of collaborative governance framework at local levels impacts categories of services to target populations. He served as a delegate for AIDS 2012 in Washington, D.C.; AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, Australia; AIDS 2016 in Durban, South Africa; AIDS 2018 in Amsterdam, Netherlands; and recently as a delegate at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Mexico City, Mexico in 2019. He serves on the board of NASPAA’s Section on Urban Serving Universities (USU) and is very committed to working with various stakeholders to help address contemporary complex urban challenges for citizens’ benefits.