Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Government Whitney Afonso was elected to serve on the Executive Committee for the Association of Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM).  An expert in public finance, Afonso will serve a three-year term beginning January 2018.

“It is an essential part of our mission when Carolina MPA faculty members like Whitney Afonso assume such important leadership roles within the public administration community, said William C. Rivenbark, Professor of Public Administration and Government and MPA Program Director.

ABFM is a section of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the leading interdisciplinary public service organization involving the science and practice of public and non-profit administration. ABFM aims to promote the professional development of budgeting and financial management in the public and non-profit sectors.

At AFBM’s annual conference on September 28-30, Afonso presented on “Internet Taxation and Local Government Sales Tax Capacity” and “A First Look at the Time to Adoption of Local Option Fuel Taxes.”

Afonso joined the School of Government in 2012. She was named Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Distinguished Term Assistant Professor for 2015–2017. Prior to that time, she taught at the University of Georgia, Department of Public Administration and Policy; and Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Administration.

Faculty member Leisha DeHart-Davis, associate professor of public administration and government, was quoted in a News & Observer article that examines the increasing number of women running for public office.

In the article entitled, “Women are half the population. Now they’re half the Raleigh City Council, too,” N&O reporter Henry Gargan examined the trend of women running for public office, both in North Carolina and across the nation. DeHart-Davis commented, “I think women are absolutely more motivated to run. My impression is that women are seeing political issues being addressed very narrowly and not taking into account a range of concerns, and I expect we’re going to see an increasing number of women running in the coming years.”

DeHart-Davis directs the Local Government Workplaces Initiative, which conducts organizational research for improving city and county workplaces, and is also a faculty partner in Engaging Women in Local Government, a program that seeks to equip women to pursue public service leadership positions. Earlier this year, DeHart-Davis was a guest on UNC’s podcast “Well Said,” discussing women in leadership.  Listen to the podcast online.

In fall 2017, Professor of Public Administration and Government Maureen Berner traveled to Belgium to conduct research on food insecurity and poverty as a visiting scholar at Ghent University and its Centre for Global Studies. Berner also exchanged homes with University of Antwerp historian Maarten Van Ginderachter, who visited the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to work on his book and collaborate with faculty here in the United States.

The scholarly exchange was recently featured in Endeavors, a magazine about research and creativity at the University: “In Belgium, Berner observed many similarities between Europe and America. ‘Europe also focuses on employment policies, job training, business growth, education, community development, and social welfare,’ she shares. ‘Affordable housing is a significant issue, and recycling is a priority. Local government is local government in most ways.’”

Berner commented, “Obviously, there are great differences in how governments and non-profits work in Belgium and in Europe, but there is a lot of good information to be shared when we are all talking about the same issues and the same human condition.”

Berner wrote more about lessons learned in her semester abroad for the Community and Economic Development blog.

Read more about Berner’s exchange with visiting faculty at Endeavors online.

Faculty member Leisha DeHart-Davis has been elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Among a group of 41 distinguished practitioners of public administration recognized this year, DeHart-Davis will be officially inducted into the Academy in Arlington, VA, this November. She will join fellow School of Government colleagues Carl Stenberg and David Ammons in NAPA fellowship.

The Academy is a prestigious, non-partisan, nonprofit organization that recognizes individuals with distinguished contributions to the field of public administration through service and scholarship. Its more than 850 Fellows range from professors to Congress members to business executives. DeHart-Davis will be in the company of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. In addition, Leon Panetta, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA Director, will join her as an inductee to the class of 2018.

For 51 years, the Fellows have leveraged their expertise to advise government leaders on addressing the issues and ever-changing discourse surrounding American governance. In the words of the Academy, they are the “primary vehicle for addressing current and emerging issues and contributing to the intellectual and popular discourse on government.”

Leisha DeHart-Davis is a professor of public administration and government, having joined the School’s faculty in 2012. She directs the Local Government Workplaces Initiative, which conducts organizational research for improving city and county workplaces, and is also a faculty partner in Engaging Women in Public Service, a program that seeks to equip women to pursue public service leadership positions. She teaches in the Carolina MPA program, and has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, International Public Management Journal, Administration and Society, and Review of Public Personnel Administration. Her book, Creating Effective Rules in Public Sector Organizations, was published by Georgetown University Press in 2017. DeHart-Davis holds a PhD in public policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Faculty member Carl Stenberg testified before a congressional task force on intergovernmental relations on May 17, 2018. The Speaker’s Task Force on Intergovernmental Affairs was created in May 2017 by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to examine ways to restore the balance of power between the federal government and states, tribes, and local governments.

Stenberg is an expert on intergovernmental affairs, among other areas of public administration, and served as a staff member on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) for 16 years.

Stenberg is advising the Task Force on whether or not to reinstate U.S. ACIR and offered his “pracademic” opinion, including concerns around the absence of such institutions. He explores these themes in his new book, Intergovernmental Relations in Transition: Reflections and Directions. Laid out as a series of essays by scholars, thought leaders, and practitioners, this book assesses how a myriad of issues—ranging from health care to climate change to food safety—have markedly altered intergovernmental relations. In addition, contributors explore how these issues will shape the direction of the field moving forward.

This book is useful for students of intergovernmental relations as well as government officials involved in forming public policy. Stenberg edited the book alongside David K. Hamilton, retired professor at Texas Tech University.

Intergovernmental Relations in Transition: Reflections and Directions is available for purchase through Routledge Publishing.

Stenberg joined the School of Government in 2003. He served as director of the MPA program at the School of Government from 2006 to 2011, and is a James E. Holshouser Jr. Distinguished Professor of Public Administration and Government. He teaches local government courses to public officials and Master of Public Administration students. Stenberg holds a BA from Allegheny College and an MPA and a PhD from the State University of New York at Albany.

Faculty member Willow S. Jacobson analyzes the development of internal human resources policies in her latest publication, The Development of County HR Policies: The Perspectives of Counties in Two States. Alongside Kristina Lambright of Binghamton University, Jacobson conducted interviews with 40 county HR directors from New York and North Carolina.

In their findings, Jacobson and Lambright present the HR tactics found to be most and least popular among their interviewees in shaping the direction of office policymaking. The release of this publication helps provide much needed insight into how government HR professionals deploy strategies to develop internal HR policies for their workforces. The Development of County HR Policies: The Perspectives of Counties in Two States is available for download through SAGE Publications.

Jacobson joined the School of Government faculty in 2003. She teaches in the Master of Public Administration program and directs the LGFCU Fellows program, which she helped found in 2011. She also was an integral player in establishing the 2005 inaugural session of the Public Executive Leadership Academy. Her research interests include leadership, organizational theory and behavior, and Strategical Human Capital Management. Much of this research has been featured in Public Administration Review and Public Personnel Management. Jacobson earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Oregon and a PhD in Public Administration from Syracuse University.

UNC Master of Public Administration faculty member Kimberly Nelson has been selected to edit State and Local Government Review (SLGR), the premier journal of scholarship on state and local governance. Along with co-editor Eric S. Zeemering, the UGA School of Public and International Affairs Master of Public Administration Director, Nelson will curate the journal and develop its distinctive voice in the areas of state and local government politics, policy, and management.

With the help of an expanded and diversified editorial board, Zeemering and Nelson plan to develop a robust article submission process for the journal and increase the population of peer reviewers. They also plan to increase outreach to professional and academic associations.

For Nelson, this is an invaluable opportunity to further serve the journal’s mission by bridging the gap between practice and policy.

“I’m very excited to take on this role, because SLGR fills such an important niche in public administration and government scholarship,” said Nelson. “State and local governments are closest to the people and improving these governments can lead to meaningful differences in the people’s everyday lives. I look forward to helping connect research with practice in a way that’s rarely seen in academia.”

Historically, the pages of the journalilluminate the challenges faced by state and local policy makers and public managers. Now, as scholars think about the policy and management challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the political polarization that strains policymaking at all levels of government, and ongoing pressure for innovation in our federal system, Dr. Zeemering hopes SLGR will be among the first journals they think of as a source for high-quality research.

“Particularly now, scholars need journals to operate efficiently and provide valuable feedback during the process of peer review,” said Zeemering. “We are dedicated to managing a professional and constructive peer review process. We believe authors, reviewers, and readers will be excited about the changes coming to the journal.”

As co-editors, Nelson and Zeemering will work in tandem toward this goal – strengthening a collaborative bond between their respective institutions.

“Eric and I will work as partners, restructuring the journal, promoting it, and determining the content,” she said. “We also see this as an opportunity to develop a partnership between two institutions that are leaders in state and local government education and scholarship.

Founded by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government of the University of Georgia, State and Local Government Review is the official journal of the Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM) of the American Society for Public Administration. Peer-reviewed and published quarterly, the Review welcomes manuscripts that focus on state and local governments and those that explore the intergovernmental dimensions of public sector activity. The journal includes general interest research articles, perspectives essays from leaders in state and local government, field notes (including traditional research notes and examples of innovation from practitioners), and response essays. As they move forward with their planned changes, Nelson and Zeemering will enhance the journal as a venue for dialogue among scholars and public service professionals in state and local government. 

State and Local Government Review is published by SAGE Journals.