SPAA Grants 300 Degrees for 2017

Congratulations Graduates!
SPAA Grants 300 Degrees for 2017

The School of Public Affairs and Administration granted 61 Bachelor of Arts degrees; 234 Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees; and 5 PhD degrees for 2017.

The May 17 commencement ceremony was the final celebration in a week recognizing our students’ academic achievements, following the May 16 hooding ceremony for our doctoral students and the Pi Alpha Alpha induction and awards ceremony on May 15, where a total of 77 SPAA students were inducted into the national honor society for public administration.

The awards ceremony featured keynote speaker Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, Central Ward Councilwoman in Newark, NJ, and honored MPA graduates Cassandra Arnold and Ramsey Abdallah, who both received the E. Drexel Godfrey, Jr. Memorial Award.

At the commencement ceremony, SPAA and the RU-N community paid tribute to Mujahid Henry who lost his life days before he was set to graduate with a BA from SPAA. Henry’s father received the degree on behalf of his late son.

See MORE 2017 SPAA graduate profiles and photos.

Graduate Profile: Kareem Willis (BA'16; MPA'17) Becomes First Student to Pursue Three SPAA Degrees

When Kareem Willis begins his PhD program in the fall of 2017, he will be the first student to study in all three SPAA degree programs – he earned his bachelor’s degree last year as part of the joint BA/MPA program, and just received his master of public administration this May. “I came here wanting to leave some kind of legacy, not knowing that this would be part of it as the first person to go through all three,” said Willis, of Irvington, New Jersey. “So it’s a proud moment." MORE >

Graduate Profile: Rebecca Pena (MPA'17) Seeks to Make a Global Impact

Less than a month after graduating with her Master of Public Administration in May, Rebecca Pena will head to Cape Town, South Africa, for two months of research with fellow Rutgers University-Newark students for her third U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Fellowship there. Shortly after she returns to the United States, she’ll be back in the classroom as a doctoral student in global affairs, the latest in her pursuit of a career in the international nonprofit sector. MORE>

Graduate Profile:
Bernadette Carter (BA'17)

It took Bernadette “B” Carter almost 24 years to return to college, but she received her undergraduate degree this May and will complete her MPA in 2018. She credits her daughter, Jamila Sinkler, an RU-N psychology major, as her inspiration for returning to college. MORE >

Graduate Profile:
Alex Ingrams (PhD'17)

Alex Ingrams earned his PhD in March 2017 after successfully defending his dissertation: "Open Government Performance: An Analytical Framework for Organizational Design." Earning his doctorate followed additional achievements, including beginning an appointment as an assistant professor at Tilburg University, Netherlands, in January 2017. MORE >

Rutgers University–Newark Scholarship Dinner Spotlights SPAA Scholars

At Rutgers University–Newark’s 2017 Scholarship Recognition Dinner on April 5, SPAA alumnus and adjunct professor Norman Eckstein (MPA'08) and his mother Lydia Eckstein were two of the donors united with their scholarship recipient. Dawn Odom (SPAA’18) was awarded the Louis Eckstein Memorial Fellowship at SPAA – a scholarship in the memory of Louis Eckstein, father to Norman and husband to Lydia. She received $2,000 for the spring 2017 semester of her graduate program.
MORE >

SPAA Helps Rutgers Day Attendees Express the Importance of Public Service

Everyone who stopped by the SPAA booth on the second annual Rutgers Day on April 29 at Rutgers University-Newark helped to express how important public service is through illustrations and word art. Visitors were also treated to a host of giveaways, including potted plants! The SPAA Alumni Network (SPAAAN) was in attendance to celebrate Alumni Weekend, which coincides with Rutgers Day.

SPAA Alumna Gabriela Sevilla (BA'15) Finishes First Year at Howard University School of Law

In 2011, Gabriela Sevilla enrolled at SPAA because she wanted to help her community. As a Newark, New Jersey, resident, Sevilla was drawn to SPAA as a local school that emphasized community engagement, nonprofit management, and service internships where students could tackle social issues. MORE >

RU-N Debate Team Honored for National Championship Wins

In celebration of the Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) Debate Team's 2017 national championships, the team was honored in a whirlwind of May celebrations, including a ceremony at Newark City Hall, an RU-N reception, being featured on a float in a Newark parade, and appearing in a full-page ad in major newspapers! MORE >

Awards | Honors | Appointments | Achievements

Pengju Zhang (Assistant Professor) won the Maxwell School (Syracuse University) Doctoral Prize for Best Dissertation for his work, “Three Essays on the Links between Local Government Structural Changes and Public Finance.” The award recognizes an outstanding dissertation from the previous year and includes a $500 prize and a certificate.

Marc Holzer (University Professor) received the 2017 New Jersey American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) National Achievement Award at the NJASPA Social and Awards Ceremony on April 18. The award goes to individuals with numerous achievements in public administration and commitment to improve public service.

Lisa Mahajan-Cusack (PhD'16; Adjunct) received the 2017 Award for Most Enthusiastic Professor on behalf of Rutgers University–Newark's Student Governing Association.

James D. Ward (Visiting Associate Professor) was given the National Forum for Black Public Administrators' Educator of the Year Award on April 22 in Little Rock, AR. The award is given to an African-American educator who is committed to excellence in the teaching of public administration. MORE >

Gregg Van Ryzin (Professor; Interim Dean) was elected as the Vice President for North America on the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) Board of Directors. MORE >

Kyle Farmbry (Professor; Dean, Graduate School-Newark) was selected by The American Council on Education (ACE) to be part of the 2017-18 class of the ACE Fellows Program with 45 other emerging college and university leaders offering an experience that enables participants to immerse themselves in the culture, policies, and decision-making processes of another institution. MORE>

Javier Fuenzalida (PhD Student) was awarded a SPAA scholarship to attend the Oxford Spring School in Advanced Research Methods offered by the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Oxford, England, on March 27-31. The program offers a variety of advanced courses to graduate students and researchers about cutting-edge mixed-methods research design.

Min-Hyu Kim (Phd'17) was awarded a $500 travel grant from George Washington University for his project "Exploring the Determinants of Collaborative Service Delivery in Response to Local Government Cutbacks: The Results of a National Survey." His paper will be presented in a special PPMR symposium "Public Administration, Public Policy and Nonprofit Studies Research: Key Challenges and Future Prospects" at George Washington University, Washington, DC, on June 7.

Huafang Li (PhD'17) was appointed as an assistant professor in the School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration at Grand Valley State University, MI.

Seth Meyer (PhD Student) received a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Fellowship to conduct his dissertation work in South Africa this summer. He will be working with the organization Community Chest to help explore the gaps in the services they provide.

Shilpa Viswanath (PhD Student) received an Eagleton Institute of Politics Fellowship and was awarded the Governor's Executive Award. The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University offers these interdisciplinary fellowships that provide select Rutgers graduate students the opportunity to further their understanding of government, public affairs, and the practice of politics, and connect the fellowship experience to their chosen fields of study. MORE >

Shane Fuller (MPA'17) attended Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni Gala on May 6. The gala recognizes outstanding alumni whose achievements have brought honor to themselves and their university. Fuller was one of a select few to win a coveted ticket to the gala where he had the opportunity to mingle with Rutgers' best and brightest.

Kristi Donaldson will join the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) and the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) as a Post-Doctoral Associate in Education Research and Policy starting June 1. MORE >

Grants | Gifts

Cleopatra Charles (Associate Professor), Jiahuan Lu (Assistant Professor), and Lindsey McDougle (Assistant Professor) have received an RU-N Chancellor's Seed Grant to build a New Jersey Nonprofit Panel (NJNP) dataset to examine contemporary trends, challenges, and best practices that the New Jersey nonprofit sector experiences over time in serving the state and its residents.

The National Center for Public Performance (NCPP) at Rutgers SPAA, in partnership with the Rutgers University School of Public Health and the New Jersey Department of Health, has been awarded an RU-N Chancellor's Seed Grant to establish the “New Jersey Public Health Data and Innovation Initiative.” The joint project will serve as the central point of performance data collection, analysis, and advising for local health departments in the state of New Jersey. The grant will provide MPA and MPH students at RU-N the opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend and conduct real-world data analysis.

Publications | Research | In The Media

Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia (Professor) authored the chapter "Xenophobia, Racism, and the Securitization of Immigration," which talks about how speculative concerns inform restrictive immigration policies and thus reinforce the spiral of suspicion and fear, in Handbook on Migration and Security, edited by Phillippe Bourbeau (Edward Elgar Publishing; 2017). MORE >

Sebastain Jilke (Assistant Professor) and Gregg Van Ryzin (Professor; Interim Dean) edited, along with Oliver James, Experiments in Public Management Research: Challenges and Contributions (Cambridge University Press; 2017) which explores the relationship between experiments and public management theory, and the benefits of examining causal effects. MORE >

+Jilke authored, with Marcos Ferndez-Gutierrez and Oliver James, "Competition and Switching in Public Service Markets: Can They Reduce Inequalities?" in Regulation and Governance (March 2017). The article assesses the relationship between the level of competition in electricity and fixed telephony markets in EU countries and evaluates the affordability of these services for different socio-educational layers. MORE >

Lindsey McDougle (Assistant Professor) authored "Why Environmental Groups Need More Volunteers of Color?" The article, originally appearing in The Conversation, stresses that it is more important than ever for nonprofit organizations to do a better job of recruiting volunteers of color. MORE >

Gregg Van Ryzin (Professor; Interim Dean) was interviewed about his research on citizen satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with government by the USC Bedrosian Center which sponsors an interview podcast series called "Our American Discourse." MORE >

James D. Ward (Visiting Associate Professor) edited Leadership and Change in Public Sector Organizations: Beyond Reform (Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group; 2007). The book assesses the current state of the literature on leadership and change in government and public policy, and introduces readers to innovative ways to demonstrate leadership in times of change. MORE >

Yahong Zhang (Associate Professor; Director, Rutgers Institute on Anti-Corruption Studies) and David Jancsics (Post-Doctoral Associate) are organizing a symposium on corruption studies for Public Administration Review (PAR). The symposium, titled "Understanding and Reducing Public Corruption," is intended to advance research and generate a comprehensive knowledge base on public corruption. A broad range of manuscripts promoting interdisciplinary dialogues, practical relevance, innovative methodology, or international comparison in corruption studies are invited. MORE >

The National Center for Public Performance (NCPP) at Rutgers SPAA published a column titled "Legislative Performance: Does Mandated Performance Measurement Really Work?" for the PA Times. MORE >

Presentations | Guest Lectures | Conferences | Workshops

James Davy (Distinguished Practitioner in Residence) delivered a three-hour workshop on "Strengths Based Strategic Planning Using Appreciative Inquiry" for the Center for Executive Leadership in Government at Rutgers University–New Brunswick on May 4.

+ Davy delivered a full-day workshop entitled "Bridging Differences with Appreciative Inquiry" to the Newark Community Action Council of the Institute for Ethical Leadership at Rutgers Business School on May 18.

+ Davy is speaking at the NJ Municipal Management Association’s Spring Conference on May 24-25 in Asbury Park, NJ, about "Foundations in Appreciative Inquiry."

Marc Holzer (University Professor) addressed the MPA Student Association of Suffolk University, Boston, on the topic "Confronting Decentralization" on April 5.

+ Holzer gave a talk entitled "'Post-Factual' Evidence: A New Era or Evidence of Counter-Cultural Desperation?" which was based on research done in conjunction with Andrew Ballard (PhD Student) at the Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration on April 18.

Sebastian Jilke (Assistant Professor) and Gregg Van Ryzin (Professor; Interim Dean), with Oliver James and Stephan Grimmelikhuijsen, co-organized a panel at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) Conference held April 19-21 in Budapest, Hungary. The panel, called "Behavioral and Experimental Public Administration," discussed integrating psychological and behavioral science insights into public administration research to better understand the microfoundations of both the theory and practice of public administration.

+ Jilke also presented at IRSPM "Does inserting private competitors increase public service performance? Evidence from New Jersey's public school system" co-authored with Jongmin Shon (Assistant Professor) and "Citizens versus Consumers' Willingness to Coproduce Public Services: Using Public Coproducers and Citizenship Primes to Promote Coproduction" co-authored with Oliver James.

+ Jilke presented "Administrative Responsiveness and Racial Discrimination: An Experimental Audit of Public School Choice in NJ," co-authored with Sinah Kang (PhD Student), at The Midwest Political Science Association 76th Annual Conference, April 5-8, in Chicago, IL.

+ Jilke presented the talk "“Do Market-based Reforms affect Citizenship Behavior?” at Seoul National University and Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, May 19-22.

David Jancsics (Post-Doctoral Associate) presented “State Capture inside the EU” at the Havighurst Colloquium Lecture Series, Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, OH, on April 17.

Norma Riccucci (Board of Governors Distinguished Professor) presented with Gregg Van Ryzin (Professor; Interim Dean) "Representative Bureaucracy, Race and Policing: A Survey Experiment" at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) Conference held April 19-21 in Budapest, Hungary.

Jung Ah (Claire) Yun (PhD candidate) presented "Opportunities and Challenges in Cross-Sector Collaboration: Case of Business Improvement Districts" at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) 2017 DC Regional Student Conference held April 7-8, 2017 at George Mason University in Arlington, VA. MORE >

The National Center for Public Performance (NCPP) at Rutgers SPAA will hold its annual Public Performance Conference Sept. 28-29, 2017 in Boston, MA. Keynote speakers for this year are Gov. Martin O'Malley and Dr. Donald Moynihan. MORE >

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