The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Category: Faculty Honors & Awards

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Events Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research

CPPA Will Celebrate Faculty Books, Awards on October 27

The Center for Public Policy and Administration will celebrate two authors at a reception in the Gordon Hall Atrium on Thursday, October 27, from 4-5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Kathryn McDermott (education and public policy) will discuss her new book, High Stakes Reform: The Politics of Educational Accountability, and Brenda Bushouse (political science and public policy) will speak about her recent book, Universal Preschool: Policy Change, Stability, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, for which she has been awarded the 2011 Virginia Hodgkinson Research Prize.

McDermott’s book, which was published in September by Georgetown University Press, examines the relationship between important political and historic events and the current trend in education policy reform of performance accountability in public schools.

McDermott’s research focuses on the formation and implementation of state-level education policy and the effects of policy on educational equity. In 2001, she led a statewide study of Massachusetts’ capacity to implement the Education Reform Act of 1993, and also has examined the role of policy in providing access to higher education in New England. She is the author of Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity, which critiques the current American system of local control of public schools.

Bushouse’s book explores the reasons why it recently became politically advantageous for state legislators to support universal access to preschool programs and how political and budgetary stability was achieved to spur this initiative. The Hodgkinson prize recognizes the pioneering role of Virginia Hodgkinson in research on philanthropy and nonprofit organizations. She also was instrumental in developing many of the important institutions and organizations supporting research on philanthropy, volunteering and nonprofit organizations and was a mentor to many scholars and policymakers in the field.

Professor Bushouse conducts research on the role of nonprofits in the U.S. and is an expert on the national universal preschool movement. She is a past recipient of an Ian Axford Fellowship in Public Policy (New Zealand) and has served as a researcher for Zero to Three, a national nonprofit that advocates for infants and toddlers. Her current research is on governance issues and how they impact nonprofit accountability, effectiveness, and decision-making in nonprofits. Prior to coming to UMass, she worked in economic development for both local and federal government.

Contact:
Susan Newton
Extension 7-0478
snewton@pubpol.umass.edu

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Gordon Hall
418 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01002-1735

Tel: 413.545.3940
Fax: 413.545.1108
www.masspolicy.org

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Governance Science, technology & society

Future of Government Report Launched in Vienna

Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy, hosted a dinner on June 7, 2011, in Vienna, Austria at which the World Economic Forum launched its new report, The Future of Government: Lessons Learned from around the World.

Fountain chaired this year’s World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government, which includes 15 innovative experts and leading government practitioners from around the world.

The report documents the best (and worst) governance practices for enhancing global innovation, including those that depend on social media and other new information and communication technologies.

About the report, Fountain states, “As the world moves forward amid economic and political change, the future of government has catapulted to center state as one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. On behalf of the Council, I am pleased to present this collection of lessons learned drawn from some of the world’s most interesting and rapidly developing settings, and from a remarkable and seasoned group of experts.”

The report will be used at the World Economic Forum’s Middle East Summit in Jordan this coming fall and throughout the next year as the Council expands its focus and work.

Fountain will move next year into the role of Vice Chair for the Council, and Karl Bildt, former finance minister of Sweden, will take over as Chair.  At UMass Amherst, Fountain also directs the National Center for Digital Government and the Science, Technology and Society Initiative.

A press release about the Future of Government Report, which contains links to the report and a video about the Council’s work, is available here.

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Environmental policy Faculty Honors & Awards

Ash Profiled by CSBS

Michael Ash, associate professor of economics and public policy, is the subject of a recent faculty profile by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.  Check it out!

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Events Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Governance Science, technology & society

Fountain Presents Keynote at UN Conference on e-Government in Seoul, Korea

Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy, and director of the National Center for Digital Government and the Science, Technology and Society Initiative, gave the keynote address at the United Nations Conference on e-Government in Asia and the Pacific held in Seoul, Republic of Korea on May 11-13, 2011.

The keynote address, “National Development in the Digital Age,” set the tone for the overall Conference deliberations from the national perspective by depicting the overall picture of national developments in e-Government globally as well as key issues and challenges to be considered by policymakers.

The Conference was organized by the United Nations Project Office on Governance in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with the Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Conference speakers included the Chief Information Officers and other government experts, including parliamentarians, from several countries in the region including Korea, Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Japan.

The purpose of the Conference was to provide a forum to discussion regional e-Government issues and exchange country experiences while also exploring potential for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region thereby building policymaking capacity.

While in Seoul, Fountain was interviewed about e-Government and the role of youth as global citizens, by Focus News Network, one of Korea’s largest newspapers.  She delivered a lecture, “Digitally Mediated Institutions: the Case of the European Commission Office of Harmonization of the Internal Market,” at Yonsei University, the oldest private university in Korea.

Fountain is currently the Chair of the World Economic Forum, Global Advisory Council on the Future of Government, a high-level international group of senior government, business and academic leaders from around the world.  The Council’s report on the Future of Government will be released at the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia to be held in Vienna on June 8-9, 2011.

The National Center for Digital Government is a research center that has hosted several doctoral and faculty fellows from Asia and the Pacific, as well as from a host of other countries.  The Science, Technology and Society Initiative, a multi-disciplinary research, education and outreach program of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is based in the Center for Public Policy and Administration.

National Center for Digital Government: www.ncdg.org

Science, Technology and Society Initiative: www.umass.edu/sts

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Faculty Honors & Awards Policy Viewpoints

Fountain interviewed on social media, politics

Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy, was interviewed by Robert Rizzuto of the Springfield Republican for a feature story on the effect of social media on politics as an increasing number of politicians begin to reach out to their constituents via Twitter and Facebook.

“Technology has led a march toward transparency, and we now have a better view of what our elected officials are doing,” she said. “It is a good way for citizens to get more information about the process and see how it all works.”

The print edition of the article ran on March 15 on the front page of the Republican as part of Sunshine Week. For the web article, visit masslive.com.

Professor Fountain is the founder and Director of the National Center for Digital Government, which was established with support from the National Science Foundation to develop research and infrastructure for the emerging field information technology and governance. She also directs the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Initiative, a campus-wide effort based at the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts. The STS Initiative is designed to build social science, policy, and cross-disciplinary research on a range of social, political, and economic challenges posed by science and technology. Fountain is the Principal Investigator of the Ethics in Science and Engineering Online Resource Beta Site project and of the International Dimensions of Ethics in Science and Engineering project (IDEESE).

Fountain is the author of Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change (Brookings Institution Press, 2001), which was awarded an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice and has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Her articles have been published in scholarly journals including Governance, Technology in Society, Science and Public Policy, the National Civic Review, and The Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Policy Viewpoints

Mednicoff Speaker at Harvard University’s Belfer Center

David Mednicoff (public policy), acting director of the Social Thought and Political Economy Program, spoke at the concluding session of the conference Revolution and Reform: The Historic Transition in the Middle East, held on April 8-9, 2011, in Cambridge, MA.

Mednicoff’s participation in the conference was the culminating event in his year-long fellowship as part of The Dubai Initiative, a project of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

He also organized and moderated the conference’s panel, “Between Order and Liberalization: The Rule of Law and Politics in the Arab World.”

The conference was attended by over 275 people, including many prominent scholars and policymakers from the Middle East and the United States.

Additional information about the event is available here.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Policy Viewpoints

Thompson Winner of Richard Musgrave Prize

Jeff Thompson, assistant research professor at the Political Economy Research Institute and a CPPA faculty affiliate, has received the Richard Musgrave Prize.  The prize is awarded annually to the author or authors of the outstanding paper published in the National Tax Journal.

Thompson, who will be teaching a course at CPPA in the fall on state and local public finance, received the award with co-author Katie Fitzpatrick (Economic Research Service, USDA) for their article, “The Interaction of Metropolitan Cost-of-Living and the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit: One Size Fits All?”

Thompson received a doctorate in economics from Syracuse University and joined PERI in 2009. His expertise is in domestic economic policy and public finance, with a particular emphasis on New England.  Prior to his doctoral work, Thompson was a labor analyst at the Oregon Center for Public Policy.  Thompson also holds a masters degree in economics from the New School for Social Research.

For additional information about Thompson, please visit the PERI website.  Additional information about the Richard Musgrave Prize is available through the National Tax Association website.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Governance Policy Viewpoints

Fountain Featured on Davos/YouTube Video

Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy, is featured on a recent video taped at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  In response to the question, “What keeps you motivated?,” Fountain notes the importance of using new media to bring the voice of the people to governance.  For more, go to the YouTube link.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research

Fountain Moderates New Media and Government Session at World Economic Forum

Jane Fountain, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Director of the National Center for Digital Government, moderated a session on New Media and the Future of Government for journalists, business executives, government officials, and NGO leaders at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.

Participation in the annual meeting is by invitation only and limited to the chief executives of the world’s leading businesses, G20 politicians, the heads of major international organizations, chairs of the Global Agenda Councils, and the top representatives, journalists and entrepreneurs from around the globe. Professor Fountain was one of approximately sixty women world-wide invited to the Forum.

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, known to many as simply “Davos,” provides leaders with an unrivaled platform to shape the global agenda. Professor Fountain’s session explored transparency, innovation, and security in the information age and addressed power shifts, job loss and creation, and diplomacy in light of recent advances like Ushahidi and recent controversies like the leak of sensitive data through WikiLeaks. The Global Advisory Council on the Future of Government, which professor Fountain chairs, produced a discussion paper exploring these and similar topics in more detail. The paper will be available online after the annual meeting.

Fountain is the author of Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change (Brookings Institution Press, 2001), which was awarded an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice and has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Her articles have been published in scholarly journals including Governance, Technology in Society, Science and Public Policy, the National Civic Review, and the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research

Schweik and Fountain Article on Top Download List

A joint paper by CPPA faculty members Charles Schweik and Jane Fountain was recently listed on the Social Science Research Network’s top download list for BHNP: Management (Topic) and Nonprofit Organizations eJournal.

As of December 30, 2010, the paper– “The Transformational Effect of Web 2.0 Technologies on Government”–has been downloaded 252 times, and 867 viewers have accessed the abstract.

Fountain is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, and director of the National Center for Digital Government and the UMass Science, Technology and Society Initiative.

Schweik is Associate Professor of Environmental Conservation and Public Policy, and associate director of the National Center for Digital Government.

The abstract for the article can be viewed here.  Ines Mergel, a collaborator of Fountain’s and Schweik’s at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is a co-author of the paper.