Sexual violence on college campuses is rampant with an estimated one in five women being victims of sexual assault. Faculty members at all levels of education should be particularly concerned with this and strive to facilitate justice and support for survivors. This study adds to the literature on Title IX and sexual violence by using the theoretical framework of institutional betrayal to examine the nature of institutional response. Specifically, it couples Department of Education Title IX sexual assault agreements (institutional responses) with college Title IX-related officer interviews to contextualize responses. The study emphasizes that responses are bureaucratic and institution-focused, which leads to institutional betrayal. This study makes a contribution of importing the theory of institutional betrayal into the public administration literature, which can help pursue issues of societal justice and institutional fairness.

Purpose This study aims to examine whether Masters in Public Administration (MPA) programs adequately prepare public administrators for careers in public procurement in the same manner that they prepare students for professional roles in human resources or financial management. It argues that the growing importance of organizational capacity in public procurement across the three sectors necessitates an expansion of MPA curricula. Specifically, the study contends that technical skills training, case-based instruction and engagement with theoretical and empirical literature are essential components in the preparation of public procurement professionals. The study analyzes these issues through the lens of signaling theory. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on course catalog, syllabus and survey data to examine the extent to which these key components are incorporated into stand-alone public procurement courses within MPA curricula. Findings The results show that public procurement courses are not widely offered in MPA programs. This indicates that, while some scholars argue that public procurement is indeed a subfield of public administration, the degree often does not prepare students for the field. However, where public procurement courses are offered, the degree can credibly signal that students are prepared for careers in the field. Social implications Learning about public procurement in MPA programs will help inculcate ethical values into the field. This is why it is important to investigate why MPA programs should have stand-alone procurement courses. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first that could be identified to assess the offerings and substance of public procurement courses in MPA programs. This is important because we want to know whether the MPA degree can be taken as a credible signal that graduates are trained in public procurement.

Local governments consistently face challenges of economic depression and the unexpected events that precipitate them, such as COVID-19. The depressions leave governments taxed for resources, infrastructure, and time. These depressions are often helped by large infusions of federal grant dollars, otherwise known as stimulus-oriented granting. Key variables in determining success in spending these stimulus dollars include government structure and different forms of capacity. These are traditionally tested characteristics that governments already possess. What we know less about is how governments take advantage of these spending opportunities without regard to the resources that are under their control. This is referred to as entrepreneurial orientation. Using the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), this study tests the effect of entrepreneurial orientation, form of government, and capacity on local government spending of federal grant dollars, specifically in stimulus-oriented granting. This study has implications for other stimulus-oriented granting, such as the COVID-19-motivated, Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES).

Every year thousands of college students apply for and receive federally guaranteed loans to fund their educations in the United States. The loans are managed by nongovernmental entities – Sallie Mae, College Ave Student Loans – that indirectly implement the public goal of affordable higher education. Put another way, the US Department of Education relies on these nongovernmental entities for implementation of public policy via third parties. Where this kind of indirect implementation occurs, and how it differs from direct implementation, is the focus of this book, introducing readers to the theory and practice of third-party governance. It helps students understand market-oriented tools such as contracting, networks, public-private partnerships and other collaborative governance mechanisms that make up the repertoire of third-party governance. This background is, in turn, key to understanding modern governance arrangements all over the world. Author Jessica N. Terman explores the 'whys' behind government and the market, alongside the theories behind when one or both should be used. The book is filled with case studies exploring the issues at play in third-party governance, including transaction costs and the practices that mitigate transaction costs, as well as the advent of networks and how they have changed the governance structure of public policy implementation. Taking a jargon-free approach, the book is written as a primer on third-party governance, introducing readers to the ways that government is structured and the factors that influence contemporary policy implementation. Third-Party Governance will be required reading on courses related to public administration, public policy, and governance and collaboration.

The #metoo movement has drawn attention to the significant issue of sexual assault. The concern has been so considerable that the US Department of Education (DoE) mandated adherence to various crime prevention, reporting and support practices through the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). As public affairs scholars and university professors, we are concerned with the well-being of our students and the effectiveness of programs within our universities and societies. And, more importantly, our students will be administrators in public organizations who are affected by the same oversight and efficacy issues that influence program implementation of federal policy such as the Clery Act. Using a content analysis of more than 20 years of Clery Act investigation documents (1996-2017) and interviews with Clery and Title IX coordinators, this study examines the Act as a mechanism for sexual assault prevention, reporting and survivor support.

The last two decades have seen significant growth in the use of stimulus granting (Cogan and Taylor, 2011; citation omitted). A key motivator is to combat economic decline and distress. But, more recently, these efforts have been to both mitigate economic downturn in addition to curtailing the more significant issue of COVID-19 sickness and death. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) passed truly out of an emergency in terms of both human and economic life. The question becomes whether current research on stimulus-oriented granting holds or does prompt grant spending amid the COVID-19 crisis play by different rules? Does partisan congruence between a state governor and president matter? Does having experience with intergovernmental grants and other measures of capacity make a difference? This study tests the factors that influence stimulus-oriented granting, what I also refer to as prompt spending, in the context of the CARES Act.

Article Unpacking the Relationships Between Public Value, Performance and Nonprofits in the Context of the Hollow State was published on March 3, 2022 in the journal Nonprofit Policy Forum (volume 0, issue 0).

Like many other national governments, the United States federal government has a history of using local level implementation structures to stimulate the economy. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is one case in point. The federal government funneled upwards of $800 billion dollars to states and local governments through what were mostly preexisting programs and institutions in the hopes that shovel-ready projects would be promptly funded and successfully implemented. A key feature of this strategic spending and the research conducted around it is that recipient governments spend down this money as soon as possible. This delay made many question the efficacy of the ARRA. Yet, there is more to program performance than the lack of economic stimulation caused by implementation delay. This study asks the following question: When the media attention and politicization of the spending has died down, what factors influence whether the program meets its performance goals (even though it might have experienced considerable implementation delay)? This question is investigated using the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) – as funded by the ARRA.

Political Institutions and the State: Pathways to Providing Local Public Goods Charles R. Hankla, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, and Raúl A. Ponce Rodriguez. ( 2019). Local Accountability and National Coordination in Fiscal Federalism: A Fine Balance. North Hampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. 217 pp. Jessica N Terman Jessica N Terman George Mason University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 30, Issue 3, July 2020, Pages 526–528, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaa023 Published: 19 May 2020

In the last two decades, local governments have increasingly engaged in energy conservation and sustainability programs and policy. However, the benefits of these policies (i.e., cleaner air, less congestion, etc.) are often perceived as dispersed and costly. As such, localities consider collaborating with one another. However, decisions to collaborate pose considerable risks that can be magnified or mitigated by the mechanisms through which collaboration occurs. We investigate decisions to engage in formal and informal collaboration in the area of energy efficiency and conservation as a response to collaboration risks.

Governance structures such as the American system of federalism create the incentive structure and framework for collaboration between local governments. This interlocal collaboration is crucial to helping governments deal with contemporary issues such as energy efficiency and climate policy where collective action can solve problems more successfully. The goal of this study is to examine how external rules such as federal grant regulations and the current scope of interlocal collaboration affect the choice of interlocal collaboration over time. We do this in the context of energy efficiency and climate policy using the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program.

Purpose There is a robust and growing literature on the adoption of sustainability policies in US local governments. Scholars have examined locality involvement in climate protection networks, sustainability policy adoption and the allocation of resources for sustainability-oriented responsibilities. While a significant body of literature, the substantive meaningfulness of the sustainability policies being investigated has varied greatly. Design/methodology/approach The authors assert that governments that engage in green procurement activities are truly putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to sustainability policy. They ask the question of whether the traditional determinants of sustainability policy adoption influence the adoption of permissive and mandated green procurement policies in local governments. Findings In particular, scholars have not examined one of the most significant ways that local governments have of promoting environmentally responsible behaviors and mitigating climate change: public procurement.

Research suggests that competitive markets and contract design and management influence contractor performance. However, there is less systematic knowledge about how a government's policy-specific capacity and programmatic support to contractors influences performance. This study asks the question of what states can do to maximize the performance of contractors in the context of fiscal federalism. This question is tested in the context of the Weatherization Assistance Program, a federal program where states are specifically instructed to use third-party implementers (i.e. contractors). Specifically, I examine (1) whether state policy-specific capacity enhances program implementation support to help contractors meet their performance goals and (2) how state-provided technical assistance to government contractors can help these contractors achieve performance goals.

This article examines the role of gender as it relates to director positions in Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs. It specifically investigates whether women are more likely than men to serve as MPA and MPP program directors and whether men and women report different experiences in the role, such as length of service, rewards and burdens, and possible constraints on research and teaching and thus promotion potential. We surveyed schools offering MPA and MPP degrees and found that women served as program directors proportional to their representation among the faculty, at about 35%. Interview findings suggest that while some gendered characterizations of women's leadership persist, men and women program directors and faculty experience similar struggles in balancing their administrative roles with the demands of teaching and research, both of which are likely to suffer during their service.

This study examines goal setting in the federally funded, state-implemented Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Specifically, using federally determined criteria that states are supposed to use to set expected performance targets, I model the predicted performance targets and compare them against the observed performance targets. The purpose is to examine the determinants of performance target overestimation and underestimation in the WAP. The findings suggest that, where credible commitment to achieving performance targets is important (i.e., when grantees want to show top performance to attract grant money and federal partners), grantee governments are more likely to underestimate goals. However, where the aspirational nature of performance targets is more important than the credible commitment of achieving them (i.e., in an election year or partisan congruence with federal government), grantee governments are more likely to overestimate goals.

Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) suggests that the policy process is characterized by long periods of incremental change and short periods of punctuated change. The impetus for the latter is usually a focusing event that breaks open policy monopolies, allowing for major changes in legislative decision making. While a burgeoning body of literature, a shortcoming in the PET literature is that it has yet to explain why focusing events and subsequent breakdowns in policy monopolies sometimes fail to result in punctuated policy. We integrate theories on cultural change with punctuated equilibrium to explain why focusing events do not always result in the dramatic policy changes that we might expect. Specifically, we use the context of national energy policy and the lexical database, Google Ngram Viewer, to trace punctuating energy-related events and the occurrence or lack thereof subsequent policy change from 1952 to 2000.

Scholars and practitioners have come to understand the important role of local governments in the causes and effects of climate change. The literature has examined both the substantive and symbolic determinants of urban sustainability policies in addition to the implementation issues associated with those policies. At the heart of these policies is the idea that local governments have the desire and ability to engage in socially and environmentally responsible practices to mitigate climate change. While important, these studies are missing a key component in the investigation of local government involvement in sustainability policies: government purchasing power. This study examines the effect of administrative professionalism and interest group presence on the determinants of green procurement in the understudied context of counties in the United States.