A Profile of Villanova University’s Partnership with Local Government Managers

This paper examines existing management concepts and practices that make up three contemporary approaches to public policy and public administration. We attempt to understand whether municipal public administrators and public administration graduate students validate these perspectives in “reality” versus “ideally.” Addressing the extent to which practicing public administrators and students identify with theoretical frameworks, which one(s) they deem most prominent, and how closely their preferred frameworks correspond to what they see in practice, we offer an exploratory analysis of results from 176 respondents through descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-tests, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). We hypothesize significant differences with respect to 1) what is preferred and what is perceived in the workplace, 2) group membership (administrator, graduate student, or undergraduate student), and 3) gender (female or male). This research will help public administration educators bridge the gap between theory and practice and narrow the distance between the “is” and the “ought.”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How managers and students view public service: The theoretical vs. practical divide

Wood¹,

Kickham

2021

“…It is also important for students to be provided with opportunities for experiential learning, or 'service learning' as it is often called (Karl and Peat, 2004;Lambright, 2008). The primary means by which public administration programs do this, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, is to require students to complete an internship (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2000;Wheeland and Palus, 2010). Educators and advisors must ensure that students' internship experiences are meaningful (e.g.…”

Section: Strategies and Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying and developing desirable soft skills for public service

Kinsella

Waite

2020

One of the key goals of any academic program is to ensure that skills taught in the classroom apply to post-graduate employment. Failure to do so can impact an academic department’s recruitment and retention efforts, strain relations with alumni and damage the institution’s reputation. Using interviews conducted during a faculty externship at a high-performing municipal government, this paper identifies soft skills employers expect students to have when entering the public-sector workforce, and offers suggestions for how to best prepare students for public-sector employment in light of these findings.

“…Arguably, service learning pedagogies are already widely incorporated into PA education (e.g. Gerlach and Reinagel, 2016;Kapucu and Knox, 2013;Stout, 2013;Wheeland and Palus, 2010;Witesman, 2012). The field's pedagogical literature abounds with case studies (i.e.…”

Section: Defining Engaged Teaching Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the practice of engagement in public administration

Neely

Coggburn

Phelps-Hillen

2018

Following recent calls for greater synergies between public administration's (PA)’s academic and practitioner communities, this paper examines the prevalence and use of engaged teaching and faculty practices in Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA)-affiliated schools. Results are reported from a survey of PA academic program leaders that includes specific practices – such as the use of service-learning pedagogies, teaching-cases, and faculty–practitioner exchange programs – suggested in the literature. While anecdotal evidence suggests that these practices promote connectedness between PA’s scholarly and practitioner communities, little is known empirically about how widely they are employed or how their use differs across faculty cohorts and institutional settings. This study attempts to address that gap, providing both empirical context and a baseline against which future studies can be compared.