SPA News
Professor Tom Catlaw named university exemplar.
In recognition of their outstanding teaching and research, six faculty members have been named exemplars this year by ASU President Michael Crow. These individuals are “rising stars” whose talent and hard work make them leaders among the finest teacher-scholars ASU has to offer. Read more ...
Perspectives in Public Affairs v. 6 available now
Perspectives in Public Affairs is the student run, peer-reviewed journal of the ASU School of Public Affairs. It engages students, faculty, and practitioners in ongoing discussion under the broad themes of leadership, governance, and public service, and within the specific content areas of public affairs, public policy, urban affairs and leadership. Perspectives in Public Affairs is edited and produced yearly by students from the ASU School of Public Affairs and welcomes original, unpublished works from public administration students, alumni and practitioners throughout the globe. Read more ...
President Obama addresses graduates
Says core mission of ASU matches that of his presidency - read speech.
At what may have been the largest U.S. graduation in history, President Barack Obama told graduates at Arizona State University that opening the doors of higher education to students from every background is a core mission of ASU and of his presidency, and should serve as a model for universities across the country. Read more ...
SPA professor emeritus & former SRP head Jack Pfister dies at 75
A.J. "Jack" Pfister, who headed Salt River Project during an era of booming growth for the company and the region it serves, died Monday.All campus flags at the state's three universities will fly flags at half staff until July 27 in memory of his service on the state Board of Regents and his association with the schools after his term, including efforts to make education more available and affordable. Read more ...
ICMA confers honory membership to Robert Denhardt
The Executive Board of the International City/County Management Association will confer ICMA Honorary Membership to Bob at their National/International Conference in Montreal, Canada in September 2009. Honorary membership in ICMA is awarded to an individual outside of the profession of local government management because of his or her distinguished public service and contributions to the improvement and strengthening of local government. Individuals eligible for Honorary membership include, but are not limited to, academic leaders, elected officials, and civic leaders. This is a prestigious award for Bob and wonderful recognition for the ASU School of Public Affairs.
'Canal villages' could become Phoenix legacy by Nan Ellin
Amsterdam has 47 miles of canals. Venice 125. And Phoenix has ... 181! Yet, Amsterdam and Venice are widely known ... Read more.
Policy Briefing Examines Second-class Status of Behavioral Health Care in Arizona
Some of Arizonans' most common and destructive illnesses -- those of the brain -- are failing to receive adequate treatment due to a combination of modern governmental gridlock and a centuries-old philosophy that separates the mind from the body, according to a new publication from Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University. Read more ...
Jim Svara receives top urban management award
Jim Svara will receive the International City/County Management Association's (ICMA) Academic Award in Memory of Stephen B. Sweeney, which recognizes an academic leader who has made a significant contribution to the formal education of students pursuing careers in local government. This is the top academic award in the field of urban management. Read more ...
Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: Tested Strategies for Local Leaders
The Alliance for Innovation (and its partner, the ASU School of Public Affairs), led by Professor Gerald Miller and James Svara, have developed a research paper to help local government officials more fully understand the scope of their current fiscal situation and how to deal with it. In addition the paper analyzes previous recessions and highlights past local government actions that may provide guidance to those at the local level dealing with the implications of today’s troubled economy. Read more ...
Kosovo president receives leadership award at ASU
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu is the first recipient of the Arizona State University Distinguished Global Leadership Award. President Sejdiu was a professor of law at the University of Prishtina when he spent a semester in residence at the ASU School of Public Affairs in 2003. Read more ...
From Student to City Manager: Reflections of MPA Students and Aspiring City Managers
Four current MPA students asked themselves and several other students and recent graduates of the MPA program at Arizona State University about their unique position as aspiring city managers and about the relationship between their generation and the future of local government. Read more. Also, read the full edition of the Alliance for Innovation's Idea Quarterly featuring artciles by SPA faculty and SPA faculty associates.
Canalscape Symposium explores unique canal project
Historians, planners, urban designers, engineers, attorneys, architects, artists, policy-makers, and developers gathered at this event to discuss the potential for one of the region’s most important pieces of critical infrastructure: the canals. Read more ...
Morrison Institute for Public Policy Names Interim Director
ASU Professor John Hall, School of Public Affairs, is named as interim director for Morrison Institute for Public Policy. As a founder and former director of ASU’s School of Public Affairs and Morrison Institute for Public Policy and as Professor of Public Affairs and Public Service at ASU for 35 years, Hall has worked closely with Morrison Institute and most recently was a co-author of Morrison Institute’s Megapolitan: Arizona’s Sun Corridor report. He also contributed two chapters to the recent Greater Phoenix Forward report. Read more ...
Svara receives prestigious Levine Award for Excellence in Public Administration
The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) has informed Jim Svara that he will receive the 2009 Charles H. Levine Memorial Award for Excellence in Public Administration. The award will be presented at ASPA’s 70th National Conference, March 20-24, 2009 in Miami, Florida. The Levine Award recognizes a public administration faculty member who has demonstrated continued excellence in all three major areas of the field: teaching, research and service to the wider community. It is unquestionably one of the most significant and prestigious awards in the field of publuic administration.
Denhardt first to assume role of Coor Chair
The first Lattie and Elva Coor Presidential Chair has been awarded to School of Public Affairs Director Robert B. Denhardt, providing a $1 million endowment to develop scholarship and education in leadership and ethics across ASU. Read more ...
PAF 505 Policy Videos
One of the most important factors in policy analysis is successfully communicating about policy issues and policy recommendations in a very short period of time. The students in Heather Campbell's PAF 505 Public Policy Analysis met this challenge in a creative, visual way by producing 90-second policy videos, on topics as wide-spread as K-12 teacher tenure, child prostitution, and road rage. View all videos.
Downtown Phoenix Partnership
The Downtown Phoenix campus at Arizona State University is the result of an extraordinary partnership between ASU and the City of Phoenix. View more ...
Program helps veterans play new role in serving nation
A new initiative of Arizona State University’s Bob Ramsey Executive Education Program is helping military veterans earn national recognition by becoming Certified Public Managers. Read more...
StARs shine light on college life for potential students
A group of six students at Arizona State University’s College of Public Programs are using new media in unique and creative ways to recruit students. Read more ...
ASU visionary Brent Brown remembered for dedication
Brent Brown was an ASU visionary who will long be remembered for his dedication to students, the university and public service. Brown passed away Saturday, May 24, after a long illness. Read more ...
Denhardt first to assume role of Coor Chair
The first Lattie and Elva Coor Presidential Chair has been awarded to School of Public Affairs Director Robert B. Denhardt, providing a $1 million endowment to develop scholarship and education in leadership and ethics across ASU. Read more ...
New Morrison Institute Study Looks at Arizona's "Megapolitan" Future
Morrison Institute’s new report Megapolitan: Arizona’s Sun Corridor, one of the first reports in the U.S. on a single megapolitan area, recognizes a more sophisticated technique for analyzing urban growth—that shared economic and quality of life interests are more important than physically growing together. Read more ...
Robert Denhardt selected Regents' Professor
Regents' Professors stand out for their accomplishments in many areas, including excellence in teaching, exceptional achievements in research or other creative activities, and national and international distinction in their fields. Read more ...
SPA Celebrates Year's Achievements
At the 2007-2008 SPA Annual Awards Luncheon, 20 students were inducted into Pi Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for public administration. In addition the following students, faculty and staff were recognized for their achievements and contributions over the past year.
- Undergraduate Outstanding Service: Samuel Feldman, Erica Schwartzmann, Otoniel Navarrete,
- MPA/MPP Outstanding Scholar-Citizen:
Michelle Hindman, - Outstanding Doctoral Paper: Jill Young,
- Outstanding Faculty Associate:
LaVerne Parker Diggs, - Outstanding Faculty Research:
Tom Catlaw, - Outstanding Faculty Teaching: Joe Cayer,
- Outstanding Faculty Service: Jim Svara,
- Outstanding Staff Award: Collette Brooks
Ron Perry receives Faculty Achievement Award
This award was established by the Provost last year to recognize and honor top intellectual contributions in a range of categories. Professor Perry is the recipient of the Faculty Achievement Award in Defining Edge Research, Best Professional Application.
Read more ...
New Morrison Report - Sustainability for Arizona: The Issue of Our Age
The 6th edition of Arizona Policy Choices, Sustainability for Arizona describes sustainability as a defining issue and organizing principle for the 21st century. The report provides real-life examples of sustainability in practice as well as advice and insights of 28 policy leaders and thinkers from the public and private sectors. Read more ....
SPA Hosts Local City Manager
The School of Public Affairs was honored to host Dr. Frank Benest, City Manager for Palo Alto, California for a presentation April 3, 2008 on “Coping with Accelerating Change in Local Government”. Dr. Benest copes with inevitable, quick change in his municipality by creating a learning culture and “growing successors” from within city government. Read more ...
Urban planners draw upon School of Public Affairs expertise
It may not seem like the Valley has much in common with cities in the Middle East or Australia. But large urban areas springing up in desert locales share many common issues – water supply, pollution problems and affordable housing – among them. Read more ...
Students abound at social equity conference
A recent national conference on social equity co-hosted by the School of Public Affairs drew more students this year than previous events held in other cities, organizers say.
Read more ...
MPA and MPP Students Awarded City of Phoenix Scholarship
Three graduate students in the School of Public Affairs were honored last month from the Phoenix Women's Commission for the Mary Ann Huerta Jenkins Fellowship which recognizes the strength of women in public service. Read more ...
Catlaw named editor of leading journal
Thomas Catlaw has been named the Editor in Chief of Administrative Theory & Praxis (ATP), a leading journal in public administration. With a particular focus on critical, normative, and theoretical research, ATP is the journal of the Public Administration Theory Network. For more information see www.patheory.org
Donation provides funds for urban management fellowships
Citing an important need to provide support for graduate students with aspirations to enter local government, the Pederson Group Inc. has announced it will donate $25,000 for fellowships in the Marvin Andrews Graduate Program in Urban Management in ASU’s School of Public Affairs. Read more ...
Svara believes Phoenix mayor will win re-election
James Svara, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Public Affairs, said he believes Gordon will win a second term, noting that he has high visibility in the community, strong name recognition and a well-financed campaign. Read more ...
Phoenix Business Journal honors ASU professor
ASU’s Nan Ellin of the School of Public Affairs is earning recognition from the Phoenix Business Journal's “Power Book” for her design and revitalization of urban environments. Read more ...
Third annual alumni lecture focuses on innovation
Keynote Speaker, Katy Singlaub is the Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Innovation in local government, an exciting new partnership involving the International City-County Management Association, the Innovation Groups, and the ASU School of Public Affairs. Katy serves as the County Manager for Washoe County, second-largest county in Nevada. Katy was appointed County Manager in 1998 after serving two years as Asst. County Manager for Finance and one year as Deputy County Manager. Read a transcript of the speech ...
$1 million Ramsey gift advances ASU executive education
The Arizona State University School of Public Affairs’ executive education program is celebrating its expansion across the Southwest United States through a major investment of $1 million from Bob Ramsey. The contribution insures that public executives in the newly-named Bob Ramsey Executive Education Program will receive premier education in building successful public-private partnerships, leadership, ethics and community resilience.
New downtown degree preps students for urban growth
Students in the new urban and metropolitan studies program at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs are learning about community and economic development, historic preservation, social justice, and acute needs in rapidly growing urban areas such as housing, transportation, and environmental quality in the classroom and in the City of Phoenix. Their trip this past week to the downtown Phoenix historic Warehouse District south of Jackson Street, hosted by artist and property owner, Michael Levine, exposed them firsthand to the challenges of making a city livable and to ongoing historic preservation and zoning debates. Read more ...
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