public policy.

Public Policy provides the “substance” of public administration. The goals and objectives to be achieved through public action, the design of public programs, the organization and operation of administrative agencies, the authority and resources necessary to public action, and the activities and tasks managed by public managers are all products of policy decisions. Policy studies encompass a broad range of topics including the theory and design of public policies, the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of public programs, and the management of public activities across levels of government and sectors of society. Furthermore, the study of public policy examines the nature of specific policy areas such as aviation, civil rights, community and economic development, culture and recreation, education, environment, health, human and social services, public infrastructure, public safety and security. Faculty in the School of Public Administration have a substantial record of research in many different areas of public policy. Examples of current research include air transportation, environment and natural resource management, social service delivery, welfare reform, and public-private partnerships. In conducting research and in teaching public policy, the faculty use theories and methods from a number of disciplines including law and history, economics and political science, sociology and psychology, cultural and gender studies.

Students interested in a professional career in the study of public policy should have a background in American or comparative government, the social sciences, and possess solid skills in oral and written communication. Course work in the public policy concentration typically involves doctoral seminars or independent studies in policy design and theory, program implementation, policy analysis, and policy evaluation as well as selected course work in one or more substantive areas of public policy. Students work collaboratively with faculty on research projects, and are encouraged to present their research at regional and national conferences. The field of policy studies leads to ample opportunities for placement as university faculty, as policy analysts and evaluators in government, private enterprise, civic organizations, and professional associations, and as consultants.

Faculty

Robert Blair, Associate Professor (Ph.D, University of Nebraska, Lincoln), teaches and conducts research in the general area of policy implementation theory and practice. He previously worked as a Senior Research Associate at the University's Center for Public Affairs Research. His policy research covers several related substantive public policy areas, including economic development, community development and housing, and urban development. Dr. Blair has contributed chapters to public policy texts, helped produce several applied research monographs and reports, and has published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Quarterly, International Journal of Economic Development, Public Administration Review, and Public Works Management and Policy. He previously served as the editor of the Journal of the Community Development Society. Dr. Blair, a former local government administrator, economic developer, and community planner, also actively works with city manager's organizations, and is currently engaged in research on policy tools and urban sprawl and participatory neighborhood planning and development.

Brent Bowen, Professor (Ed.D., Oklahoma State University), teaches in the area of research methods with an emphasis on advanced qualitative designs in addition to areas of aviation administration and policy. His research interests focus on aviation applications of public productivity enhancement and service quality evaluation, aviation policy, and safety assessment. Dr. Bowen has been an invited expert witness before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Operations and has served on multiple occasions as an invited speaker and panelist at the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board. Dr. Bowen served on the National Research Council Steering Group on the Small Aircraft Transportation System, and was named by the FAA Administrator to a National Academy of Science study group on airspace optimization. Prior to his academic career, Prof. Bowen owned and operated an airport services firm which included a regional air carrier operation.

Dale Krane, Kayser Chair Professor (Ph.D., University of Minnesota), teaches and conducts research in the areas of policy design, implementation, and evaluation; intergovernmental and collaborative management; and state and local government administration. He is a co-author of Compromised Compliance: Implementation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and of From Nation To States: The Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program, and he is an editor of Home Rule In America: A Fifty State Handbook and of Mississippi Government and Politics: Modernizers versus Traditionalists. His research has been recognized with the 1998 Jeffrey Pressman Award for the best article in Policy Studies Review and the 1995 Donald Stone Award for outstanding research in intergovernmental relations. Currently, Dr. Krane is the editor of the annual issue on the state of American federalism published by Publius: The Journal of Federalism as well as chair of the APSA Section on Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations. Long active in ASPA, Dr. Krane is the 2002 recipient of the Donald Stone Service to ASPA award. Dr. Krane has been a Fulbright professor in Brazil, and is a peer reviewer for the Fulbright Senior Specialist in public administration program.

Scott Tarry, Associate Professor (University of Michigan), is the Director of UNO's Aviation Institute and of NASA Nebraska Space Grant and EPSCoR. Dr. Tarry's research focuses primarily on aviation policy. He has recently served as a Faculty Research Fellow at NASA's Langley Research Center where he conducted research on the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) initiative. He currently serves on the SATS Transportation Systems Assessment and Analysis Working Group and his work for the group focuses on air transport in rural areas. Dr. Tarry has published articles in a number of journals including Policy Studies Journal, Public Works Management and Policy, Transportation Journal, and the Journal of Air Law and Commerce. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Section of Transportation Policy and Administration for the American Society for Public Administration and is Program Chair for the Transportation Research Forum's Annual Meeting.

Ethel Williams, Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of Nebraska, Lincoln), teaches in the areas of policy design and implementation, public management, and personnel management. Her research agenda explores social equity and access issues for minority and underserved populations in policy implementation as well as human resources management. She has a particular interest in equity and outcome measurements of welfare reform policies. Dr. Williams' recent professional experience includes serving as the program evaluator for a welfare-to-work grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and serving as a member of the Omaha Partnership for Welfare Reform. This group was designated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with only nine other cities across the country, to receive funds to develop "best practices" for the welfare-to-work initiative.