Live Panels

The Communities We Want: The Role of Policy Schools in Inclusive State and Local Governance

Data is the coin of the realm in public policy decision-making but without skilled public leadership, data can be misused or simply lay fallow. Policy schools can provide the trusted leadership to bring citizens, government, and other stakeholders together to discern what policies matter to communities, assess performance to achieve those policy goals, and help guide resources to address needs. This panel will examine best practices by policy schools to provide the leadership in inclusive processes to help state and local governments build the communities their citizens want.

Paul Brown, University of Maryland, College Park*

Daniel Schugurensky, Arizona State University

Eric Luedtke, University of Maryland, College Park

Sherri Greenberg, The University of Texas at Austin

Sybil Francis, Arizona State University

Coping with COVID Cutbacks: Deans and Directors Perspectives

The knowledge base of cutback management is a framework that can be applied to the budgetary situation facing schools of public affairs. Five deans and directors from a wide spectrum of schools discuss the budget challenges they are facing, how they are responding, and lessons for cutback management.

John R. Bartle, University of Nebraska at Omaha*

Charles E. Menifield, Rutgers University, Newark

Edella Schlager, The University of Arizona

Judith Kelley, Duke University

Juliet A. Musso, University of Southern California

Robert W. Smith, University of Illinois at Springfield

Core Competencies in Undergraduate Education: Skills for the Civic Square

For future professionals with undergraduate degrees in public affairs and related fields, what knowledge and skills best promote well-informed and inclusive decision making on public issues? Undergraduate programs need to find balances between theory and practice, among techniques of evidence-based analysis, between ethics and pragmatism, between the liberal arts and professional education, and between undergraduate and graduate curricula. This panel will review data about core competencies, discuss competencies from a diverse range of programs, and lead a discussion among panelists and attendees in an effort to contribute to the understanding of the critical competencies necessary for undergraduate public affairs programs.

Jennifer Littlefield, University of Maryland, College Park*

Denise Thompson, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

Elizabeth Nisbet, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

Richard Barke, Georgia Institute of Technology

Wendy Bolyard, University of Colorado Denver

Empathy, Equity, and Ethics in the New Civic Square: How Teaching and Practice Can and Should Inform One Another

To serve the public in ways that ideally improve lives, public servants must be grounded in empathy, equity, and ethics. Educational programs must teach these topics to positively inform practice and make sure that practice informs pedagogy. This panel features practitioner and academic perspectives in a Q&A-style format. Panelists will discuss how teaching/practicing empathy, equity, and ethics in public affairs increases positive impacts that programs, policies, and practices have on communities. We will emphasize that teaching/implementing these priorities are not optional outcomes but must undergird approaches to public service that consistently center these priorities and related values across the field.

Sean McCandless, University of Illinois at Springfield*

Brian Williams, University of Virginia

Kathleen Yang-Clayton, The University of Illinois at Chicago

Richardson Kimberly, City of Evanston, Illinois

Stephanie Dolamore, Gallaudet University

The Field of Public Service Education: What should we be teaching?

This panel provides educators with an opportunity to discuss the new civic education from an end-user perspective: What do public servants assess they need to know to perform their public service effectively? Professor Lewis will present the results of the 2020 Survey on the Future of Government Service, highlighting federal government employees’ self-assessment. Discussion among the panelists will focus on their personal experience to illuminate how the experience and opinions of those in government inform the design of programs and curricula and position graduates to solve and manage the most complex problems facing the public.

Maggie Mello, The Volcker Alliance*

Dustin Brown, US Office of Management and Budget

Jackie Speedy, Carnegie Mellon University

David Lewis, Vanderbilt University

NASPAA's Commitment to Sustainability, Inclusivity, Civic Engagement, and Globalization in Public Service Programs: Learn How to Earn your Badge

NASPAA's Executive Council has indicated it would like to see programs make strides in the future in four key areas: Sustainability, Inclusivity, Civic Engagement, and Globalization. To incentivize programs and to recognize those who have made a commitment in these areas, the NASPAA data committee has developed a NASPAA-driven recognition system to highlight and market our members in these areas. This panel will discuss the work of the NASPAA Data Committee to identify measures and indicators, the results of the initial pilot of programs and the roll out of the badging indicators (planned to occur late summer early Fall 2020). There will be a panelist from each of the four pilot schools.

Stacy Drudy, Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Admin*

Michael A. Shires, Pepperdine University

Representative, University of Washington

Representative, Pepperdine University

Representative, University at Albany, SUNY

Representative, Oakland University

Internships and Experiential Learning during Telework and Social Distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted many government and non-profit workplaces to telework. Some student interns made this shift with their workplace while others were displaced. Both the rise of telework and the economic challenges accompanying the pandemic impact the ability of students to engage in internships and experiential learning. This panel explores how public affairs programs have helped students and internship host sites navigate these challenges. Through examples of engagement with intern supervisors, counseling students, and developing alternative online experiential learning, the panel will spur conversation about how graduate programs maintain student access to public service professionals during social distancing.

Eric Zeemering, The University of Georgia*

Sara Rinfret, University of Montana

Agatha Caraballo, Florida International University

Andrea Vernon, University of Montana

Carrie Evans, University of Washington

Nonprofit Management Education in Times of Crisis

This panel brings together scholars of nonprofit management education to address the implications for nonprofit management education of the current pandemic crisis. In the last 25 years, nonprofit management education has expanded greatly in scope and depth within schools of public administration. But the present crisis could dramatically change the role of nonprofit organizations in the “civic square” including their capacity to engage citizens, promote volunteerism, and develop innovations in public policy and administration. Given the unfolding crisis, nonprofit management education programs will need to rethink their curriculum, relationship to the local nonprofit sector, and even their approach to students.

Steven R. Smith, American Political Science Association*

Jennifer Mosley, The University of Chicago

Kelly LeRoux, The University of Illinois at Chicago

Kirsten Gronbjerg, Indiana University, Bloomington

Pier Rogers, North Park University

Promoting Equity and Inclusion through Education: Priorities, Challenges, Lessons Learned and Best Practices for Giving Voice to Women, Minorities & Others Who’ve Historically Been Marginalized

Institutions of higher education have a critical role to play in fostering equity and inclusion, equal voice and influence. Colleges and universities have the opportunity to broaden access, influence and well-being through the communities they create, and the skills and knowledge they impart. This panel will feature a conversation among deans about efforts they and their institutions are using on their campuses and in their classrooms to increase the focus on the need for inclusion and broad participation. The conversation will focus on work underway, and highlight lessons from past efforts, building on two years of discussions among deans nationwide.

Carla Koppell, Georgetown University*

Alison Cullen, University of Washington

Karen L. McGuinness, Princeton University

Laura Bloomberg, University of Minnesota

Suzanne Cooper, Harvard University

Safeguarding Democratic Values in a Turbulent Time

Public administrators around the world are serving in a turbulent era – one marked by growing distrust of public institutions, intensifying levels of political polarization, and rising support for populism, all of which threaten democracy, the rule of law, and the public interest. This roundtable addresses three questions: (1) What are the obligations of public administration – as a scholarly endeavor and as a professional field – to safeguard democratic values, the rule of law, and human rights? (2) What are the implications for graduate programs in terms of research and teaching? (3) What are the implications for our field-wide institutions and associations?

Jocelyn Johnston, American University*

Rosemary O'Leary, The University of Kansas

Alasdair Roberts, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Palmira N. Rios-Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras Campus

William Resh, University of Southern California

Tina Nabatchi, Syracuse University

Mauricio Dussauge-Laguna, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)

Teaching Public Administration Ethics to Build a New Civic Square—Lessons and Contested Issues Past and Present

The changing landscapes of public administration, higher education, and accreditation standards present numerous challenges for ethics educators. This panel will explore the lessons and contested issues both past and present concerning how the content of ethics is to be conveyed effectively so that public administration ethics will contribute to the building of a new civic square.

Richard M. Jacobs, Villanova University*

James Svara, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jonathan P. West, University of Miami

Carole L. Jurkiewicz, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

4th Annual Voinovich Public Innovation Challenge

In this annual competition, the three finalists will “pitch” an innovative idea or approach to enhance teaching, learning, or community impact. This year’s challenge focuses on COVID-19 and the related economic crisis. A panel of expert judges from diverse schools and areas of expertise will select the 2020 winner and award $10,000 to launch or further develop the winning innovation. Join us for an inspiring discussion of what’s next in public affairs teaching and learning!

The Voinovich Innovation Challenge is co-sponsored by NASPAA and Ohio University’s George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.

Master of Ceremonies, Mark L. Weinberg, Dean, Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs

 

*Panel Convener