Core Values in Public Administration and Policy: Three Levels of Evaluation in the Public Sector

Emily Brandt, PhD

Emily Brandt, PhD
Adjunct Professor
The University of Texas at Arlington
Program Manager, Business Development

Center for European Policy Analysis

Core Values in Public Administration and Policy: Three Levels of Evaluation in the Public Sector
Dissertation, Doctor of Philosophy in Public and Urban Administration, Summer 2024

This dissertation is composed of three separate but interrelated papers that examine the role of core values in public administration and public policy and how they show up at the societal, bureaucratic, and individual levels to inform the identification of the use of values, engaging proper awareness of how these values impact public sector actions, and how individuals can engage the right values frameworks in the face of conflict in various public and public service contexts. The first paper takes a societal look at core values via a systemic literature review on American morality policies; policies that inspire great debate not because of their intrinsic value, logically based reasoning, or data-informed decisions, but instead focus on the symbolic messages these policies convey to a polity about what core values are held in higher esteem by a society. The second paper analyzes where bureaucrats believe the locus of ultimate responsibility for change lies after they publicly contest a policy’s enforcement, compliance, or regulation on the grounds of moral and ethical considerations. Finally, the third paper proposes a conceptual definitional framework of morally conscious decision-making; a concept that can be used by individual public administrators to make values-based decisions when facing a dilemma, to ensure moral engagement in public sector work. Together these three papers help illustrate the influence of core values on public policy and administrative issues.

Emily Brandt is an adjunct professor at University of Texas at Arlington and a Program Manager at the Center for European Policy Analysis. She recently completed her doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington, and previously earned her Master’s Degree from the University of North Texas in International Studies. She has spent the past 10 years working at international development nonprofits on programs focused on promoting democracy, human rights, and governance primarily in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Her work has been published in Administration and Society, and she has two forthcoming articles exploring bureaucratic objection in the media and codifying societal values in public policy.

Dissertation Advisors

  • First Advisor: Alejandro Rodriguez, PhD
  • Second Advisor: Emily Nwakpuda, PhD
  • Third Advisor: Karabi Bezboruah, PhD
By |2024-08-26T13:09:56-04:00August 26th, 2024|NACC Member Research|

A Message from Your Board President: August 2024

Angela R. Logan, PhD

Angela R. Logan, PhD
St. Andre Bessette Academic Director
Master of Nonprofit Administration

Associate Teaching Professor
Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The Start of a New Academic Year

Hello! As you are settling in to read this, if you’re like me, you are also probably starting to make the mental shift from the slower days of Summer to the accelerated pace of the start of the academic year! I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the more quickly Summer seems to fly by. This year was no different: between caregiving, teaching, and professional travel, I barely had a chance to do all the things I encouraged you to do in my June message. And yet, while I bask in the glory that is the Supermoon Blue Moon outside my window, I can’t help but think about the “once in a blue moon” experiences we all get to enjoy…every year!

There’s the moment during New Student Orientation where students come to campus for the first time, full of a mixture of excitement and dread. They may be filled with questions like: “Why did I enroll?” “Will I get a job when this is all over?” “Where do I park?” “Is my Academic Director as cool as everyone told me she is?” Okay, that last one may just be what my students are wondering.

Similarly, as faculty, we, too, are often filled with questions: “Did I upload my syllabi to the online platform?” “Where is my classroom?” “What time does my class start?” “Is this the year I’m going to get ahead on my grading?” Again, that last one is just me! Nevertheless, whether rooted in anxiety, imposter syndrome, or trying to balance professional and personal responsibilities, this time of the year often leads to a wicked bad case of “Academic Year Scaries.”

Whenever I’m plagued with the “Academic Year Scaries,” I engage in one of my love languages, pebbling. Inspired by the behavior of Gentoo penguins, who are known to leave pebbles in their mates’ nests as a sign of affection, the term pebbling is “the act of sending memes, links, and videos.” According to noted psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, Adam Grant, “It signals that you’re thinking of (someone) and want them to share your joy.”

On a recent pebbling binge, I discovered some great advice for how to approach this academic year from Melissa Harris-Perry, Presidential Chair Professor of Politics & International Affairs and head of The Anna Julia Cooper Project at Wake Forest University. I thought I’d wrap this month’s message with excerpts from her Facebook post:

“As faculty members, we labor with challenges too. We are trying to navigate all the complexities of our professional and personal lives and working to be present, prepared, and effective in the classroom and beyond.

Give your students and yourself some grace, some space, some humor, and some second chances.

Try just one thing that is different and see what happens. If you hate it, stop. If it’s a disaster, never use it again. And give your students permission to try something new. See what happens if you reward the effort rather than outcome.

Drink a little more water.

Nap if you can.

Look for the opportunities that imperfection brings.

Try to remember that at times- in moments- if we are lucky, teaching can be really and truly the very best job in the world.

We got this.”

Friends, we got this! Make it a ridiculously amazing academic year!

All the best,

Angela R. Logan
Board President, NACC

By |2024-08-21T15:36:12-04:00August 21st, 2024|President's Message|

Voices from the Community: The Perspective of Nonprofit Organizations in Student Philanthropy Courses

Peter Weber

Peter Weber, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies
Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies Coordinator
College of Human Sciences
Auburn University

Erin Casolaro

Erin Casolaro
Harbert College of Business
Auburn University

Claire Simpson
College of Human Sciences
Auburn University

Portia Johnson, PhD
Assistant Professor/Extension Specialist
Consumer & Design Sciences

Voices from the Community: The Perspective of Nonprofit Organizations in Student Philanthropy Courses
Peter Weber, Erin Casolaro, Claire Simpson, Portia Johnson
Journal of Public Affairs Education, July 2024

This paper investigates the perspective of community members engaged with experimental learning in student philanthropy courses. While most scholarship explores the impact that student philanthropy practices have on students’ learning process and the overall effectiveness of these courses, this study aims to understand the impact of student philanthropy courses on community partners. We rely on a survey and focus groups to assess the perspectives of both nonprofits that participated in student philanthropy courses and nonprofits that decided against participating. We find that nonprofits see relational and advocacy benefits in participating in these courses, beyond the most obvious potential benefit of being awarded a grant. While we found overall satisfaction with the course, we also identified barriers to participation, which informs a list of practical recommendations. This study points to the possibility to better student philanthropy processes and improve the experience of participating nonprofits.

Peter Weber is an associate professor of philanthropy and nonprofit studies and program coordinator of the Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (PNPS) Program at Auburn University, and currently holds the Mike and Leann Rowe Endowed Professorship in International Studies. He holds a doctorate in Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, as well as a Master in History and a Master in International Studies in Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship, both from the University of Bologna in Italy. His research focuses on the way individuals participate in public affairs through voluntary organizations and philanthropic practices. His latest research project investigates the emergence of philanthropic innovations through the lenses of program-related investments (PRIs) by private as well as community foundations. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, including Voluntas, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Journal of Civil Society, Nonprofit Policy Forum, Global Society, Journal of Public Affairs Education, and Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Murray State University, and Auburn University. Among others, his teaching interests focus on grant-making practices, nonprofit management and governance, nonprofit advocacy and public policy, and community engagement. In recognition of his service to the field of nonprofit studies, he was recognized by the 2013 ARNOVA Emerging Scholar Award and selected as a Future Philanthropic Educator Fellow by the Learning by Giving Foundation (2015). At the national level, he serves as the VP of governance on the board of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC), which is the international membership organization of nonprofit and philanthropic research centers and education programs.

Erin Casolaro is a recent graduate of Auburn University with degrees in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies and Accounting. She is a current Master of Accountancy candidate at Auburn University. Throughout college she has worked to bridge her accounting and nonprofit passions through research and internships at the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, and RSM. She was awarded an Undergraduate Research Fellowship during her time at Auburn.

Claire Simpson is an undergraduate student at Auburn University, expected to graduate in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies and a Business Minor. Her dedication to academia is reflected in her consistent placement on the Dean’s List and her recognition as a Kappa Omicron Nu Human Sciences Honor Society inductee. She has conducted impactful research as an Undergraduate Research Assistant, collaborating on projects such as the Alabama FAST Initiative, where her interests in philanthropy, nonprofit studies, and finance intersect.

Dr. Portia Johnson is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist with a joint appointment with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the Department of Consumer and Design Sciences at Auburn University. She earned a Ph.D. in Financial Planning, Housing & Consumer Economics from The University of Georgia, bachelor’s from The University of Georgia, and a master’s in business administration from Arizona State University. Johnson’s research agenda includes household financial well-being and education, post-secondary access, and sustainable homeownership. Johnson has published 10 academic peer-reviewed articles, and 38 extension articles and briefs. She’s given over 60 presentations at conferences and public forums and received $1.5M in grants. Johnson has received numerous state, regional, and national awards for her applied research and community extension educational programming, including being named National awardee for the New Professional Award by the past Presidents of National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences for her contributions to Cooperative Extension.

By |2024-08-20T21:43:17-04:00August 20th, 2024|NACC Member Research|

What to Be (or Not to Be): Understanding Legal Structure Choices of Social Enterprises from a Resource Dependence Perspective

Latha Poonamallee

Latha Poonamallee
Associate Professor of Management and Social Innovation
Chair of Management Programs
Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment
The New School

What to Be (or Not to Be): Understanding Legal Structure Choices of Social Enterprises from a Resource Dependence Perspective
Simy Joy, Latha Poonamallee, and Joanne Scillitoe
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 2024 | First published online: October 29 2021

Choice of legal structures is a key decision that social enterprises make early in their lives. The range of options now includes not only the traditional for-profit and non-profit structures, but also the new hybrid structures. Viewing legal structures primarily as ‘governance mechanisms to support the mission’, the current social enterprise literature regards ‘mission’ as the normative basis for legal structure choices. Empirical work in the non-profit and social enterprise literatures, however, surfaces another salient, yet under-theorised concern driving legal structure choices, namely resources. In this paper, we aim to develop resource dependence perspectives as an alternate theoretical lens to understand legal structure choices. In this study of 14 New York based socio-tech enterprises, we uncover how, in an interplay of resource needs, autonomy and legitimacy concerns, legal structures emerge as strategic tools to attract the external resource providers that the social enterprises want to form resource relations with and avoid the ones they are wary of. Our findings contribute to advancing the notion of legal structures as a ‘vehicle for resource mobilisation’, and to lay the foundations for a resource dependent framework to examine social enterprise legal structure choices.

Dr. Latha Poonamallee is a tenured Associate Professor of Management & Social Innovation and Chair of the Faculty of Management at the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment & School of Undergraduate Studies, and University Fellow at The New School.

She works on two major research areas both focused on how management, organizations, and leadership can be vehicles to create a more sustainable, prosperous, just, and equitable world.

She serves as Editor in Chief of the Society of Advancement of Management Journal, a preeminent journal that has been published for over 75 years. She also received a Fulbright Scholarship to assist Botswana government, USAID, and Botswana Civil Society in developing a nation-wide social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

She is also the co-founder and Chairperson of In-Med Prognostics, a neuroscience firm that uses AI and Deep Tech to develop brain health predictive analytics. This firm has received accolades such as the Falling Walls Conference (Germany), BIRAC grant (Government of India grant), and GE Health Care’s Edison Startup Collaboration Venture.

Dr. Poonamallee received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University, M.B.A. from Pondicherry University, and B.A. and M.A. from University of Madras.

By |2024-08-20T14:26:01-04:00August 20th, 2024|NACC Member Research|

Assistant Professor of Housing and Homelessness Solutions

The University of Oregon’s School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management is accepting applications for a tenure-track faculty position (Assistant Professor Rank) starting September 15, 2025. The position is a 1.0 FTE, 9-month, full-time faculty position. Candidates must have research and teaching interests in the nonprofit or government sectors. We seek candidates with demonstrated scholarly potential and strong teaching skills.

This position is appropriate for a candidate specializing in policy, public administration, or nonprofit management, which addresses the critical issue of housing insufficiency. We encourage applications from candidates interested in identifying socially just and economically viable solutions to the housing crisis and homelessness.

By |2024-08-20T13:44:59-04:00August 20th, 2024|Job Posting|

Term Faculty (Non-Tenure Track), DePaul University

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at DePaul University seeks three full-time non-tenure track faculty members to teach courses in its School of Public Service 2024-25 academic year. Two positions require the ability to teach graduate and undergraduate courses in public administration, public management, and public policy. The third position will contribute courses to our graduate and undergraduate curriculum in nonprofit organizations and nonprofit management. These positions will be housed in the School of Public Service and primarily serve graduate students, although there will be opportunities for undergraduate teaching. Depending on expertise, successful candidate(s) will teach a range of courses including Introduction to Public Policy, Introduction to Public Service Management, Introduction to Nonprofit Management and the School’s Integrative Seminar graduate-level capstone course. A secondary ability to teach on topics such as local government, advocacy and lobbying, nonprofit fundraising, policy analysis, statistics and research methods, economics, and/or public financial administration is preferred. Emphasis will be placed on finding candidate(s) with skills linking theory to practice in classroom activities. Assigned classes will be in person on DePaul’s Chicago campuses (Loop and Lincoln Park) and remote, both synchronous and asynchronous, following successful completion of DePaul Online Teaching Series faculty training program. At the discretion of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, administrative duties may be assigned in place of a course assignment.

By |2024-08-08T19:18:10-04:00August 8th, 2024|Job Posting|
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