School of Government’s Whitney Afonso Named NAPA Fellow, Following ABFM Scholarly Engagement Award

Originally posted by Beverly Bowen, School of Government, October 26, 2026

Albert and Gladys Coates Term Professor Whitney Afonso will be inducted into the National Academy of Public Administration as part of the 2026 cohort.   

Afonso is a professor of public administration and government who educates public officials and teaches in the UNC Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. Her research focuses on state and local public finance, with an emphasis on local sales taxes, and she often works with elected officials and practitioners across the state. She was elected vice chair of the Association for Budgeting & Financial Management (ABFM) in January 2026.   

NAPA fellows are highly regarded in the field of public administration and available to advise governments upon request. Afonso joins more than 1,000 current fellows; among them are School of Government faculty such as Kimberly Nelson, Willow Jacobson, Leisha DeHart-Davis, Carl Stenberg, and David Ammons, as well as several MPA alumni. The fellowship is also composed of former federal cabinet officers, members of the U.S. Congress, governors, mayors, and state legislators, as well as prominent scholars, executives, and nonprofit leaders.  

Induction of the new fellows will occur during NAPA’s2026 National Conference in November at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C.   

Afonso’s selection as a NAPA fellow follows her recent recognition by the ABFM with the 2026 Scholarly Engagement Award. The award recognizes exceptional public budgeting and finance scholarship from the previous year that serves the public or community and is aimed at practitioners and public servants. 

Afonso is being recognized in part for creating and directing the North Carolina Certified State Government Budget Professional Program in 2025.   “The goal was to establish a professional development opportunity for state government employees working in budget roles—an area challenged by high turnover and numerous unfilled positions,” said Willow Jacobson, colleague and director of the School of Government’s MPA program. Afonso built the program’s curriculum around scholarly literature and real-world needs, with input from the Office of State Budget and Management practitioners and School of Government colleagues. “[She] intentionally approaches training, research, and engagement with students and practitioners to ensure that they leave with new knowledge, skills, and abilities to more effectively do their work.”   

Both honors reflect Afonso’s commitment to making public finance research useful to the people who put it into practice.