In This Issue:

• ASPA Statement on Events of January 6, 2021
• In Memoriam: Audrey Mathews
• E-Learning at Your Fingertips
• Focus on Membership: A New Year
• Getting Ready for #ASPA2021
• ASPA Partners with CPS HR to Help Members Build Employee Engagement
• Chapters and Sections: File Your Information Forms!
• 2020 Census and Schedule F: An Update
• New Podcast: Public Sector Works!
• PAR: A Changing of the Guard
• Tips and Resources
• Coronavirus in the News
• (Otherwise) in the News
• Members in the News
• Around Public Administration
• Jobs!
• PA TIMES Online

ASPA Statement on Events of January 6, 2021

The National Council of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) calls for the resignation or removal of Donald J. Trump as president. Should the president not resign his office immediately, it urges in the strongest possible terms that the vice president, secretaries of cabinet departments and members of the House and Senate use every means at their disposal to achieve the same result.

The U.S. Constitution charges the president of the United States, through his oath of office, to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic." President Trump has concretely and egregiously violated this oath. The Council condemns his role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, as he exhorted a mob to disrupt the constitutionally mandated certification of the Electoral College vote. His efforts have fomented civil unrest and undermined another essential element of our democracy—the electoral process—through false and baseless claims of election fraud, pressures on public servants to commit election fraud and much more. This pattern has cast a dark pall on our judicial system, the work of state and local governments' election officials and now on the work of Congress, leaving death and destruction in its wake.

The president's actions are unprecedented and deserve a swift response. Indeed, they fly in the face of a strong, robust democracy, for which free speech and peaceful protest are essential. Violence, harm against other persons and destruction of property are antithetical to it. They are criminal acts and those responsible for them must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

ASPA expresses its appreciation to those dedicated public servants who have worked tirelessly to protect our electoral and judicial processes and our institutions themselves. During these dark days for our country, we urge our members, partners and friends—so many of whom serve at all levels of government—to look forward to the peaceful transition of power and work together for an increased respect for public servants and newfound gratitude for the work they do. Yours is a noble calling and your efforts are invaluable to our nation. We commend you.

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In Memoriam: Audrey Mathews

Audrey Mathews, professor emerita at California State University—San Bernardino, dedicated more than 35 years to public service in local and state governments as a professor, budget director, planning commissioner and consultant. She also has served as a member of the San Bernardino County's Planning Commission and was a member of the San Bernardino Workforce Investment Board.

An ASPA member since 1977, Mathews was a life member and a long-time member of multiple Sections, including the Section for Women in Public Administration (SWPA), where she served as the first editor of SWPA's newsletter, "Bridging the Gap"; and the Conference of Minority Public Administrators, which she chaired in the mid-1990s. Active in ASPA's daily work, programs and governance, she served on numerous committees including award selection committees, the audit committee, a PAR editor search committee and the PA TIMES editorial board. She attended annual conferences throughout her membership in ASPA including serving as conference co-chair for the 2014 Annual Conference (ASPA's 75th anniversary celebration). She received the Elmer B. Staats Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Public Service in 2013.

Mathews' career began at the Chicago police department, after which she moved to Beverly Hills and served as a payroll clerk. She went on to become budget director for Beverly Hills, served in Compton, California and, after earning her MPA and DPA, moved to Washington, DC to become director of budget operations under Mayor Marion Barry. She taught full-time in California State University—San Bernardino's College of Business and Public Administration (1996-2006), developing curriculum on diversity management, economic development and budget and finance. She also was CEO of Mathews and Associates, her consulting firm based in Los Angeles.

A 2007 National Academy of Public Administration fellow, Mathews has written numerous chapters in textbooks, journal articles and technical reports on topics of diversity, mentoring and urban governance. She received her DPA from the University of Southern California and her MPA from California State University—Northridge.

Asked to describe her philosophy of service, Mathews stated, "I have dedicated my life to helping those in need in the communities where I live, work and play, never thinking my life's dedication to the public service as something remarkable," she said. "I'm just doing what I was born to do: mentor and provide a helping hand to those in need of my services."

Learn more about Mathews in her "Ask Me Why I Care" video, posted online here.

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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 Students and New Professionals series programming. Members, visit our webinar archives to catch up on what you have missed!


ASPA will be launching new webinars later this month, including a student and new professional webinar focusing on compensation; a look at COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa; a BookTalk with Amy Conley Wright and Sheldon Gen, authors of Nonprofits in Policy Advocacy: Their Strategies and Stories; and more. Keep your eyes on your inbox for scheduling details!

From the Webinar Archives
Held in September 2020 but timely in light of current events, give a listen to this BookTalk focusing on Don Kettl's book, The Divided States of America. An innovative system of power sharing that balanced national and state interests, federalism was the pragmatic compromise that brought the colonies together to form the United States. Yet even beyond the question of slavery, inequality was built into the system because federalism. by its very nature, means many aspects of an American’s life depends on where they live. Over time, these inequalities have created vast divisions between the states and have made federalism fundamentally unstable. Listen in to this insightful discussion and learn more about federalism's impact on inequality in the United States.



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Focus on Membership: A New Year

As is evident by the updates throughout this newsletter, ASPA Chapters and Sections are busy planning events and gatherings (online for now!) in the new year. These events are prime ways for members to connect regularly with each other, whether in your region or subject-matter areas. We encourage you to start your new year with reconnecting with your Chapter and Sections to find out how you can get involved in the coming months. While the pandemic keeps us socially distant from each other, it is important that we stay in touch and work together on our shared challenges.

If you need to contact your Chapter leadership and do not know who they are, or want to add a Section to your membership, reach out and we will be happy to help you. Our team stands ready to help you make the most of this important aspect of your ASPA community!

Another way to stay connected in the new year is by including announcements for the good of the membership in this newsletter. If you are involved in a Chapter, Section, journal or other group within the field, please send us your news so we can make sure your information gets circulated as broadly as possible. We have many ways to do this and can help amplify your good work!

These are all special members-only benefits that can be very helpful. Make the most of them and help us all advance excellence in public service.

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Getting Ready for #ASPA2021

The 2021 Annual Conference is beginning to take shape and we will have many more announcements coming soon as we invite panelists, schedule plenary speakers, set up our virtual exhibit hall and more. Focusing on our theme, "Picking Up the Pieces: Pandemics, Protests and the Future of Public Service," this will be more than your average ASPA Annual Conference, as we emphasize the events that have been troubling our nation, and the entire world, for the past 12 months.

Featuring seven days of content, across 56 hours of programming, including more than 150 panels, this event will bring you everything you have come to know and enjoy about the ASPA Annual Conference—in a convenient, online format!

Mixed into that programming time will be keynote speakers, presidential panels, Chapter and Section meetings and symposia, networking events, an exhibit hall, virtual chats and much more, making this an engaging, energizing event full of valuable content, collaboration and consensus.

Registration is available on our website now. A simple process featuring only two rates ($175 for standard attendance; $50 for students), we encourage everyone to save their virtual seats today for what surely will be the premier event of the year.

As we gear up, now also is a great time for universities and other organizations to secure visibility as part of the event. Sponsorships, virtual exhibit booths and program ads are all available. If you are interested in using our Annual Conference as a way to promote your brand across the field, we have a variety of ways to help you do so! Contact us for more details.

Follow #ASPA2021 on Twitter (@ASPANational) for updates and visit www.aspanet.org/annualconference for registration and other details.

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ASPA Partners with CPS HR to Help Members Build Employee Engagement

Public sector organizations across the nation are facing enormous challenges, including maintaining performance and services despite COVID-19. To succeed in this difficult environment, government needs talented, committed and engaged employees.

Decades of research, including in the public sector, have shown that a high level of employee engagement drives productivity, organizational performance, strategic goal achievement, employee retention, and customer service and satisfaction. Highly engaged employees believe in their organization’s purpose and find their work meaningful and rewarding. As a result, they are highly motivated to help achieve their organization’s mission. This is especially important now, as public sector organizations experience first-hand the demand to do more with less—and even more with even less.

To meet this challenge, ASPA is partnering with the CPS HR Consulting Institute for Public Sector Employee Engagement to provide ASPA members and public sector organizations across the country with the tools and resources needed to understand, measure and improve employee engagement.

The Institute will survey your employees to enable you to understand the level of engagement in your workforce and what influences your employees’ engagement. CPS HR also will provide recommendations to help you create a more engaged workforce, thereby improving performance and service delivery.

The Institute has helped government organizations across the country measure and improve engagement. According to one government leader, "We selected the CPS HR Institute because of its holistic approach to engagement. Not just conducting the survey but also analyzing the results and helping us decide how to take action to improve engagement."

To learn more about how you can improve performance and service delivery by improving employee engagement, visit the CPC HR website or contact ASPA.

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Chapters and Sections: File Your Information Forms!

Chapter and Section leaders, this is a friendly reminder that we have sent you your annual information forms for completion by March 5, 2021. We will issue multiple reminders between now and the deadline, but the sooner you send us your information, the fewer reminders you will receive!

ASPA uses these forms for two purposes: first, to satisfy IRS requirements as we file your 990s later this year; second, to help us know more about your activities and how we can best support and assist you in the new year and beyond.

Please complete your form and send them to ASPA staff by March 5. If you did not receive an information form and need one, let us know and we can resend it.

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2020 Census and Schedule F: An Update

Those who actively read Bridge will know we covered the 2020 Census and Executive Order 13957 throughout the fall. While not much changed with either of these important issues during the holiday season, here are high-level updates. We will continue to provide more information about both of these issues in the coming weeks as the Biden administration begins its work.

2020 Census: While there were a few court cases pending and some unresolved work at the Department of Commerce at the end of last year, recent days have provided some specific resolutions to this critical decennial process. The Commerce Department recently announced it will not have its work completed before early February, and challenges with calculating the data have further impeded any ability to provide data to President Trump prior to when he exits office. The data-crunch process typically takes at least six months; the Trump administration had asked the Census to complete its calculations in half that time. The Biden administration will now receive 2020 Census results when they are finalized (presumably next month) under new department leadership.

Schedule F: Implemented via an executive order in mid-October, the newly created Schedule F aims to create a new class of federal employees that strips them of all civil service protections. While a couple agencies have reclassified positions and all agencies have been tasked to do so prior to January 19, very little activity has been reported in recent weeks. This classification remains in question after January 20, though, as President-Elect Biden will need to not only repeal the executive order in question, but also agencies that have begun work will need to reverse any actions taken, which could take some time.

Contact ASPA staff if you have any questions about either of these issues.

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New Podcast: Public Sector Works!

ASPA's South Florida Chapter has launched a podcast: "Public Sector Works!" With plans for monthly broadcasts, the podcast will deal with best practices in public service administration and management in the South Florida area, as well as other areas nationwide. Best practices in academic administration, research and public sector higher education in the South Florida area will be included, as well as private, for-profit and nonprofit universities.

Thomas Hotz, Isidoro Lopez and Benjamin Paley will be your hosts. Tom, a veteran New York State and New York City government employee with experience in the medical board licensure investigations and human resources areas, received his MPA at New York University Wagner School of Public Services and currently is pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) at Northcentral University. He is a member of the South Florida Chapter's Board of Directors. Isidoro is president of the ASPA South Florida Chapter and a professor at Florida International University; Benjamin is a member of the South Florida Chapter's Board of Directors and a current law student. Launching this podcast is an interview with ASPA President-Elect Allen Rosenbaum, distinguished professor at Florida International University, speaking to the Schedule F Executive Order and its potential impacts on the federal civil service.

The podcast is available on Podbean, iTunes, Spreaker and other apps. If you’d like to be considered as a guest for a future episode, contact Tom Hotz for further information.



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PAR: A Changing of the Guard

Public Administration Review Editor in Chief Jeremy Hall has announced an update to the journal's associate editors and editorial board.

Existing editors Lotte Bøgh Andersen, Nicola Bellé and Sanjay Pandey will be joined by Dominic Bearfield (Rutgers University—Newark), P. Edward French (Mississippi State University) and Staci M. Zavattaro (University of Central Florida). The journal also welcomes Cullen Merritt (Indiana University) to its roster of associate editors. New managing editors joining the team include Berg George (Ghent University) and Yuan "Daniel" Cheng (University of Minnesota). Twenty-seven new editorial board members have been announced.

Find the full announcement and other PAR updates online here.

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Tips and Resources

Here are a range of resources posted online recently that you should check out!

How (And Why) to Measure Your Own Happiness
Are you a Mad Scientist, a Cheerleader, a Sober Judge, or a Poet?

Beware of COVID-19 Vaccine Scammers, FTC Warns
The Federal Trade Commission expects some opportunists to attempt to bilk the public as COVID-19 vaccines are made available. FTC outlined ways crooks may target victims, including: "You likely will not need to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine during this public health emergency," "You can’t pay to put your name on a list to get the vaccine," "You can’t pay to get early access to the vaccine," and others.

Five Common Questions About Federal Procurement Answered
Small business owners can take steps to try and make the process of selling to the government more successful and efficient as the new year nears.

How Your Brain Decides to Put in Effort
If you want more coffee, but the pot is empty, is it worth getting up and brewing some more? Researchers have figured out how your brain decides.

A Good Time for Some Long Term Thinking
The COVID-19 pandemic provides a sobering reminder of the potential need for long-term care.

Seven Ways to Recharge When You Need a Break
Whether you've had a morning full of meetings or experienced an afternoon slump, you've probably found yourself drained at some point of the day and in desperate need of a break. Here are seven tips for recharging during your break.

How to Outsmart Your COVID-19 Fears and Boost Your Mood in 2021
Releasing negative emotions is the first step in preventing stress overload.

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Coronavirus in the News
While you can find our usual assortment of news headlines from the past several weeks below, here are stories specific to the coronavirus that are noteworthy.

Infrastructure

• 'There's No Place for Them to Go’: I.C.U. Beds Near Capacity Across U.S.
• Federal Meat Inspectors Decry Lack of Access to COVID-19 Tests, Working Through Exposures
• The Next Six Months Will Be Vaccine Purgatory
• Army Issues $25 Million Sole-Source Contract to Monitor COVID-19 Vaccine Temperatures
• The Pandemic May Be the Catalyst for the Digital Government We All Want
• U.S., Pfizer Reach Deal Expanding American Vaccine Supply
• Shots Are Slow to Reach Arms As Trump Administration Leaves Final Steps of Mass Vaccination to Beleaguered States

• How Bad Was Virus Aid Fraud? One Banker Was 'Frustrated With Humanity'
• Mnuchin Grilled Over Whether Relief Money Was Politicized
• Small Banks Helped Businesses Win More PPP Loans
• Will COVID Finally Force Us to Think Differently About National Security?
• Here's How the U.S. Can Jump-Start Its Sluggish COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

• Trump Administration Has Yet to Launch Promised Effort to Get Americans to Trust COVID-19 Vaccines
• 'Toxic Individualism': Pandemic Politics Driving Health Care Workers from Small Towns
• Expanded National Service Could Provide Boost to Pandemic Recovery

• How Black People Learned Not to Trust
• One Vaccine Side Effect: Global Economic Inequality
• The Pandemic Has Been Extra Hard on Single Mothers
• Researchers Examining COVID Vaccine Barriers, Skepticism in Five Communities
• Prioritizing Prisoners for Vaccines Stirs Controversy

(Otherwise) 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

• Two Hurricanes Devastated Central America. Will the Ruin Spur a Migration Wave?
• 'Existential Peril': Mass Transit Faces Huge Service Cuts Across U.S.
• Exclusive: U.S. Air Pollution Monitoring Network Falling into Disrepair—GAO Report
• Mile-by-Mile, Proposed Nationwide Bike and Foot Trail Sees Progress
• Russian Government Hackers Are Behind a Broad Espionage Campaign That Has Compromised U.S. Agencies, Including Treasury and Commerce
• What We Know About the SolarWinds Breach
• EPA Announces $17.7 Million to Support Water Systems in Rural and Small Communities
• What Trump's Order on Trustworthy AI Might Mean for Agencies
• CISA: SolarWinds Is Not the Only Way Hackers Got into Networks
• For Public Transit, the Stimulus Is a Lifeline—But a Short One
• CMMC: The Dramatic Year of the Pentagon’s Contractor Cybersecurity Program

• GSA Relaunches Federal Service Desk With New Look and Added Security
• Federal Government Spending Nearly Twice As Much As It Is Taking In
• Spending Agreement Would Allow One Percent Pay Raise, Fails to Ban Schedule F
• Bad Idea: The “Use-It-Or-Lose-It” Law for DoD Spending
• ‘Uncertainty’ in Budget Process After OMB Ends Call for Agency Performance Metrics
• The Trump Administration Keeps Awarding Border Wall Contracts but Doesn't Own the Land to Build On
• Biden Administration Likely to Increase Contracting Opportunities for Small and Minority-Owned Businesses
• Poverty Grows Despite Economic Recovery

• Incoming Biden Officials Praise Career Federal Workers
• In Blue States and Red, Pandemic Upends Public Services and Jobs
• Trump Administration Finalizes Rule to Protect Religion-Based Federal Contractors
• OPM Proposes Prioritizing Job Performance Over Tenure in Layoffs
• Groups Request Reminder of Federal Employees' Whistleblower Rights
• Federal Workforce Attrition Under the Trump Administration
• Rebuilding Government as a Purpose-Driven Organization

• The Federal Gender Pay Gap Is Shrinking, but the Remaining Disparity May Be the Hardest to Eliminate
• Natural Disasters Are Widening the Health Equity Gap, Now's the Time to Address It
• Race and Financial Security Play Central Roles in Student Loan Repayment
• Paycheck-to-Paycheck Nation: Why Even Americans with Higher Income Struggle with Bills
• Racial Stereotypes Drive Students of Color Away from STEM, But Many Still Persist
• Justice Dept. Seeks to Pare Back Civil Rights Protections for Minorities

Welcome New ASPA Members!
Click here to view the most recent new ASPA members!

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:

• South Florida Chapter Best Practices Conference
  Online
  February 19, 2021
  Theme: Placing Humanity in Public Administration
  Highlighting the current best practices in and around the study and practice of public policy and administration, this is the Chapter's 15th annual conference, taking place virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All ASPA members are invited to join the Chapter for this event. Find more details online.
  
  
• 2021 COMPA Conference
  Online
  February 25-28, 2021
  The Call for Papers is online; proposals are due by January 15, 2021. Registration is open; early-bird registration expires January 15, 2021. Click here for more information.
  
  
• Hampton Roads, Virginia Chapter Annual Research Symposium
  Online
  March 18, 2021, 8:30 a.m. - Noon
  The Chapter will be exploring how public and nonprofit agencies seek to identify the evolving needs and expectations of the communities they serve in a dynamic political, economic and social environment. All papers are due by January 23, 2021; send proposals and any questions to Tom Poulin.
  
  
• 2021 ASPA Annual Conference
  Online, starting April 9
  Theme: "Picking Up the Pieces: Pandemic, Protests and the Future of Public Service"
  Registration is now open!
  
  
• 2021 International Conference on Public Administration (ICPA)
  Chengdu, P.R. China
  May 14-16, 2021
  Although public sector organizations may draw strength from their bureaucratic structures, experience increasingly shows the limitations of a hierarchical and top-down approach to the performance of governmental functions. Problems may spill across organizational boundaries so that a hierarchical approach within a single organization may be inadequate to address them. A top-down approach also may deprive decision makers of needed external input about how to fit solutions to the problems they seek to address. And, increasingly in today's world of public access to social media, top-down approaches may lack the legitimacy needed to ensure popular acceptance of governmental decisions.
  
  Collaborative governance can help overcome these and other limitations of a hierarchical structure by adding the benefits of a network management approach to help improve the quality of decision making. The literature defining the precise meaning of the term "collaborative governance" is unsettled. On one end of the conceptual spectrum, collaboration merely means the pursuit of joint goals by two or more government organizations. Governance would be the structure and function of making joint decisions to achieve objectives that further the aims of each organization. A more expansive definition is that collaborative governance is a process where government decisionmakers bring relevant stakeholders—public, private and NGO—into the decisionmaking process. In all cases, collaborative governance takes place under applicable laws and other rules and is shaped by them.
  
  
• NISPAcee Annual Conference 2021
  Ljubljana, Slovenia
  May 20-22, 2021
  Theme: "Citizens' Engagement and Empowerment—The Era of Collaborative Innovation in Governance"
  The steering committee continues to evaluate the COVID-19 situation to determine if it will be safe to have attendees in Slovenia in May. If not, the conference will be postponed to October 2021.
  
  
• 2021 PA Theory Annual Conference
  Portland, Oregon
  June 3-6
  Theme: "Administrative (Dys)function and Dedication: Contradictions in Public Service Values"
  
  

• Arthur S. Flemming Awards Commission Opens Nomination Period
  The George Washington University and the Arthur S. Flemming Awards Commission are accepting nominations for the 2020 Arthur S. Flemming awards. Presented annually across five categories, these awards honor outstanding federal employees. Recognized by the president of the United States, agency heads, and the private sector, the winners are selected from all areas of the federal service. The awards recognize outstanding service, attract and recruit talent to public service and work to retain the best of the best in government service. Agencies are encouraged to nominate outstanding public servants with three to 15 years of experience in the Federal Government. All nominations are due January 31. Contact [email protected].
  Click here for more details and to view the nomination form.
  
  
• South Florida Chapter Now Accepting Scholarship Nominations
  The South Florida Chapter annually awards five scholarships to excellent students. The application period has opened for each. Details are as follows:
  
  The Dewey W. Knight Jr. Scholarship application deadline is January 31, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Applicants are competing for a scholarship up to $750, and no less than $500. Students must be currently enrolled and seeking a degree from a College or University in South Florida. Click here for more information.
  
  The Natasha Seijas “Women in Public Service” Scholarship application deadline is January 31, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Applicants are competing for a scholarship up to $1,000 and no less than $500. Student must be female. Click here for more information.
  
  The Dr. Ray DeArrigunaga Memorial Scholarship application deadline is January 31, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Applicants are competing for a scholarship up to $1,000 and no less than $500. Students must be currently enrolled and seeking a degree from a college or university in South Florida. Click here for more information.
  
  The Girls in Government Scholarship application deadline is March 1, 2021. Applicants must submit via email a 700-word article or 2 1/2 to 3-minute video explaining, "Why Women in Local Government and How Can Agencies Increase the Number of Women in Leadership Positions?" Click here for more information.
  
  Meek Foundation Scholarship Award application is due on March 1, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Applicants are competing for scholarships up to $1,000 and no less than $500. Click here for more information.
  
  
• NCL All-America City Award Application Period Opens
  The National Civic League (NCL) is accepting applications for the 2021 All-America City award, themed "Building Equitable and Resilient communities." Since 1949, the NCL has designated more than 500 communities as All-America Cities for their outstanding civic accomplishments. The Award, bestowed annually on 10 communities, recognizes their work in using inclusive civic engagement to address critical issues and create stronger connections among residents, businesses and nonprofit and government leaders. Finalists are announced in March and invited to assemble a community team to present their program at the virtual All-America City Event, June 4-6. The All-America City Award shines a spotlight on the incredible work taking place in communities across the country. By celebrating the best in local innovation, civic engagement and cross-sector collaboration, the All-America City Awards remind us of the potential within every community to tackle tough issues and create real change. All applications are due February 10.
  Find application details online here.
  
  
• SPCM Now Accepting Scholarship Nominations
  The Section on Procurement and Contract Management (SPCM) is now accepting student nominations for its three available scholarships of $150 each. These scholarships will help defray the costs of attending ASPA’s Annual Conference, which will be awarded during the SPCM board meeting during the 2021 Annual Conference. Applicants must submit their proof of enrollment in a college or university; a current resume or CV; and a completed application. The deadline for all submissions is February 12, 2021, delivered to Roslyn Alic-Batson.
  
  
• SICA Gould Scholarship Call for Nominations
  SICA is now accepting nominations for its 2021 David Gould Scholarship, providing one or two students with a stipend to defray registration costs for ASPA's 2021 Annual Conference. To nominate a graduate student, send a letter of nomination by a faculty member and the student's CV to Kim Moloney, SICA Chair. The deadline for sending nominations is February 12, 2021.
  
  
• SICA Call for Nominations: 2021 Fred Riggs Award
  The Section for International and Comparative Administration (SICA) is seeking nominations for the 2021 Fred Riggs Award for Lifetime Achievement in International and Comparative Public Administration. The Fred Riggs Award was established by SICA in 1985 to recognize scholars who made significant and widely recognized contributions to the conceptual, theoretical and/or operational progress in the fields of international, comparative and/or development administration. This award is named in honor of Fred W. Riggs, a pioneer in these fields and a founder of SICA. The award is made annually at the SICA business meeting held in conjunction with the ASPA Annual Conference. Each letter of nomination should indicate in some depth the person's intellectual achievements and relevant qualifications for the award and include the nominee's CV and other supporting documents. There should be at least two letters of recommendation with at least one letter from a SICA member. The deadline for all nominations is February 12; the awardee will be announced by March 15 and the award will be offered online during ASPA's 2021 Annual Conference. All nomination materials should be sent directly to Kim Moloney, SICA and Riggs Award Chair.
  
  
• SPOD Now Accepting Scholarship Nominations
  The Section on Professional and Organizational Development (SPOD) is now accepting student nominations for its two available scholarships of $250 each. These scholarships are designed to facilitate learning to advance students’ academic work and interests in finding solutions to public organizational challenges., and to introduce students to SPOD’s work and encourage their long-term involvement in the Section’s activities. Candidates must be pursuing a master's or a doctoral degree from an accredited school in the United States; have submitted at least one proposal to present at the 2021 ASPA National Conference; and be willing to assuming an active role in SPOD’s ongoing activities in the coming year. To nominate a graduate student for a SPOD scholarship, send a letter of nomination by a faculty member and the student’s CV to SPOD Chair Carol Rusaw. The deadline for sending nominations is February 15, 2021.
  
  
• Sustainability Issues Call for Papers for Special Issue
  The journal, Sustainability, has issued a call for papers for a special issue: "Building Smart and Sustainable Cities: Emerging Technologies and Innovation for Digital-Era Governance and Long-Term Impacts." Although cities around the world already are implementing an array of initiatives in an attempt to become smarter, there is still no consensus among researchers and practitioners about what should be included or not in the conceptualization of "smartness." However, it seems to be clear now that smart cities are not only about harnessing the potential of new data and emergent information technologies, but also that many other components are essential to achieve some of the promises in terms of better services and improved quality of life. No matter what definition scholars and practitioners use, smart city success should involve being sustainable in the medium- and long-term. This special issue attempts to address a research need in terms of studies focusing on the (ecological, economic, social, and political) sustainability of smart cities. Manuscripts will be accepted until March 1, 2021.
  Find the call online here.
  
  
• Journal of the Social Sciences Call for Articles
  The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences has issued a call for articles for a special issue on "Social and Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic." The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare and exacerbated many of the structural inequalities in the United States. Within a few months of the first documented community transmission, nearly one quarter of the workforce filed for unemployment benefits, with low income workers and those with less flexibility in scheduling and the ability to work remotely disproportionately experiencing job loss. Meanwhile, workers deemed essential, from health care providers, to supermarket employees, to delivery workers, bore the brunt of exposure to infection, while others sheltered in place under state and local orders. These unequal labor market experiences may have exacerbated existing inequalities in material hardship, household economic insecurity and poverty, but the impacts of the pandemic may have also exposed previously economically secure groups to insecurity. In this issue, we invite original research contributions pertaining to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on socioeconomic inequality in the United States and in particular how pre-existing inequalities may have mediated the impact of the pandemic and in turn been exacerbated by the current crisis. We particularly are interested in studies that focus on how institutions, ranging from the health care system, corrections and criminal justice, childcare policies, social safety net programs, and labor market policies have either mitigated or exacerbated the impact of the pandemic on social and economic outcomes as well as studies that focus on the likely longer-term impacts of the pandemic on inequality in the United States. All proposals are due no later than 5 p.m. EST on March 10, 2021.
  Click here to submit an abstract and contact [email protected] for more information.
  
  
• 2021 Annual E-PARCC Teaching Case and Simulation Competition
  The Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC) at the Syracuse University Maxwell School is sponsoring its 15th annual E-PARCC competition to further stimulate the creation of effective and innovative teaching cases and simulations. E-PARCC, a project of the "Collaborative Governance Initiative," provides free online resources for those who teach conflict and collaboration around the world. More than 3,000 visitors per month from more than 40 different countries take advantage of E-PARCC teaching materials. The E-PARCC competition now consists of two tracks: (1) collaborative problem solving, collaborative governance, and network governance and analysis, and (2) collaborative methods in international development. All entries are due by March 15.
  Find more information online here.
  
  
• Journal of Emergency Management Special Issue: Analysis of Pre- and Post-Disaster Response and Recovery Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
  The Journal of Emergency Management (JEM) Editorial Review Board invites the submission of original research papers, brief communications, case studies, etc. supporting a special issue: “Analysis of Pre and Post Disaster Response and Recovery due to the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.” As we transcend this global pandemic, the goal is to bring together a complete and comprehensive accounting of the event and its post mortem. This may include a pre-disaster assessment of the state of preparation as well as any post-disaster response, preparedness, mitigation and recovery. We expect this to be a comprehensive look at what went wrong and just as important, what went right. Manuscripts will be accepted for review immediately and will continue (tentatively) through the first quarter of 2021.
  Find the Call for Proposals online here.
  
  
• Call for Chapter Proposals
  Antoinette Christophe is issuing a Call for Chapter Proposals for a new book, The Underserved: African Americans Challenges in the Catch-22s of Disasters, Pandemics Environmental Injustice and Beyond. The proposed book is written from the perspective of the experiences of the underserved African American communities. Various authors will share their perspectives through scholarly research and, to a lesser extent, life experiences. The book will cover well-known environmental justice issues, catastrophic disaster events, the COVID-19 pandemic, health disparities, social inequalities, policies and laws and more. The focus will be on how the underserved African American population experiences these occurrences. The perspective and lens from which the authors will view these issues are health disparities, human behavior, socioeconomic standing, urban planning, artificial intelligence/technology, disaster response and preparedness and more. African American lives also are impacted by socioeconomic status resulting from little or no education, low income and occupations without benefits. This social standing come s with inequities that emanates from the lack of access to resources (i.e., healthcare, homeownership, disaster response, etc.). These influences will be considered.
  Contact Antoinette Christophe for more information.
  
  

Jobs!



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 couple current listings.

Director, Research Institute for Social Equity—L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Richmond, VA

Human Capital Analyst—Department of Human Services, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, PA

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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!)

• COVID-19: An Educational Paradigm Breaker
  By Tracy Rickman, Don Mason and Ygnacio "Nash" Flores
  
  
• Coping With Fiscal Shocks: Are Small Municipal Governments Masters of Their Fates?
  By Rebecca Hendrick
  
  
• Room for Improvement: The Government Employee Experience in 2021
  By Bill Brantley