Department of Public Policy
D P P . U C O N N . E D U
2 0 1 1
N E W S L E T T E R
Curriculum & Internships Prepare Graduates
for Public Financial Management
MPA Graduate Hired at Moody’s AŌer Finance
Internship with the City of New London, CT
Charlie Martin set the bar for
interns in New London, CT.
Martin, who earned his Master of
Public Administration (MPA) degree from UConn in May 2011,
served as an intern with the city’s
finance director during the 20102011 academic year. Word of
Martin’s strong performance
spread quickly.
“We had a department heads’
meeting and one of them said to
me, ‘How can I get a Charlie Martin?’” said James Lathrop, New
London’s finance director.
“Charlie handled himself way
beyond expectations.”
The Department of Public Policy’s
(DPP) Internship and Professional
Practice (IPP) program, designed
to provide MPA candidates the
opportunity to apply coursework
outside the classroom, currently
awards students a stipend and
tuition waiver in return for working 15 hours a week. Host organizations pay a fee to participate.
In New London’s case, Lathrop
needed work on long-term projects that employees did not have
time to undertake. Martin analyzed city energy usage, set up a
departmental charge-back system
for gasoline, and helped solicit and
evaluate energy bids. His work
resulted in a 15 percent annual
energy savings.
In addition, “he helped us structure the long-term debt and analyze how it affects the budget,”
said Lathrop. Martin also assisted
(See Finance on page 11)
Department Head Message
2
Student Achievements
4
Research: Implicit Racial Bias
5
Student Service: New Orleans
6
Survey Research Goes Online
7
Professional Partnerships
8
Careers: Emergency Planning
9
Faculty Highlights
10
The MPA Capstone
11
UConn Public Finance
MPA Concentration or Certificate
Sample Course Offerings:
 Financial Management for Public
& Nonprofit Organizations
 Capital Financing & Budgeting
 Budgeting in Public Service
Organizations
 Investment Analysis
 Labor Relations & Public
To learn about becoming an IPP employer, call the UConn Department of Public Policy at 860‐570‐9343 or visit dpp.uconn.edu. Department of Public Policy 2011 Newsle er Charlie Martin (right), MPA ’11, in class during his final semester.
Financial Management
Internship & Professional
Practice (IPP)
DPP partners with organizations to
offer qualified graduate students
year-long positions that further
organizational goals and develop
student skills. Placements include:
 Boards of Education
 Nonprofit Organizations
 Foundations
 State Agencies
 Town Managers’ Offices
 University Administration Offices
Department Welcomes 3 New Faculty Members
Teaching & Research
Capacity Expands
The Department welcomed three
new faculty members to its ranks
this year, making for a comprehensive roster of 10 full-time and
7 affiliated faculty with a wide
range of expertise (see page 10).
munity Studies program.
Beth Neary arrived in January
2011 while completing her PhD in
policy analysis and public finance
from Indiana University.
Erin Melton also arrived in August
2011 after completing her PhD in
political science at Texas A&M
University.
In August 2011, Edith J. Barrett
joined the Department and now
leads UConn’s Urban and Com-
For more information on the new
faculty members, see pages 3 and
10 or visit dpp.uconn.edu.
PAGE
2
A Message From the Department Head
“In this turbulent but exciting
environment, the Department
is flourishing.”
Associate Professor Amy Donahue, Department Head
Greetings, alumni and friends of the Department of Public
Policy (DPP)!
that follow, but let me briefly highlight major news in our two
graduate programs.
Another year of activity and accomplishment is already behind
us and we look forward to new opportunities ahead. As you all
know, this is an especially challenging year for Connecticut
state agencies, including UConn, which faces a budget cut of
$50 million or more. This cut touches all units and means that
the Department must be especially frugal and make careful
choices about how to use resources that will be lean for some
time to come. It is also a time of change at UConn. Most notably, we welcomed Dr. Susan Herbst as the 15th university
president on June 1, 2011. Also on June 1, Dr. Michael Menard
took over leadership of the Greater Hartford Campus, where
DPP is located, as interim director for the 2011-2012 academic
year. And UConn’s Graduate School has new leadership in the
form of Dr. Charles (Skip) Lowe, formerly head of the Psychology Department.
Survey Research Moves Online
In this turbulent but exciting environment, the Department is
flourishing. We spent considerable effort this year on the successful reaccreditation of our Master of Public Administration
(MPA) program. In May 2011, the largest cadre of students
ever made the service trip to New Orleans for what has become an annual post-Katrina rebuilding project. By August
2011, we had three new faculty members join us, a very robust cohort of new MPA students started the program (see
table on page 3), and the Graduate Program in Survey Research (GPSR) launched in its fully online configuration. On top
of this, two members of our faculty were promoted this year:
Dr. Mark Robbins to full professor and Dr. Thomas Craemer
to associate professor with tenure. Congratulations to them
both! We will tell you more about our latest news in the pages
UCONN
DEPARTMENT
OF
PUBLIC
POLICY
Our Graduate Program in Survey Research is going strong
under the very capable leadership of Program Director Dr.
Jennifer Dineen. In January 2010, we announced that the Provost funded our proposal to reconfigure our existing Master of
Arts in Survey Research to offer it entirely online, thereby
reaching an international market of survey research experts
seeking advanced education and graduate credentials. Our
intent is to blaze a new trail in the College of Liberal Arts and
Science (CLAS) with robust, innovative, high-quality online
graduate offerings that have global reach, and which are selfsustaining. We began to pilot test courses in spring 2011 with a
limited set of blended-format courses. Already the program
has generated substantial interest and is admitting students.
We launched a complement of fully online courses in August
2011 to students pursuing individual courses, a graduate certificate, or a master’s degree. The courses are led by four DPP
faculty members with expert support from Dr. Marie-Pierre
Huguet, an experienced instructional designer who joined
CLAS in fall 2010.
MPA Reaccredited
Meanwhile, the MPA program spent the 2010-2011 academic
year undergoing a successful reaccreditation. UConn’s MPA
program was first accredited by the National Association of
Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) in
1983. Accreditation must be renewed every seven years—but
this time there was a twist. As required by the Council for
DPP.UCONN.EDU
Higher Education Accreditation,
NASPAA recently produced a new—
and very different—set of accreditation
standards. Notably, UConn was selected
as one of five programs to pilot test the
new standards and procedures. Professor Bill Simonsen led the Department’s
reaccreditation process and submitted a
self study for NASPAA in fall 2010. A
NASPAA site visit team arrived at
UConn in March 2011 and, after a
strongly positive report, the Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation
reaccredited the program in July 2011.
Our sincere thanks to Bill, as well as to
the many alumni, employers, and students who participated in our reaccreditation.
PAGE
Fall2011MPAClassPro ile
Statistics
29
Incoming ’11 MPA Students
3.55 Average Undergrad GPA
552 Average Verbal GRE
592 Average Quantitative GRE
24
52
72
27
% UConn Bachelor’s
% Women
% Full-Time
Average Age
21
Average Class Size
78
Total Enrolled MPA
Three New Faculty
Finally, an enthusiastic welcome to our
new tenured and tenure-track faculty
members. Dr. Beth Neary is already at
home at UConn, having joined the Department as an instructor in January
2011. She came to us from Indiana University, where she completed her doctoral work in 2011 with concentrations
in policy analysis and public finance,
coupled with a doctoral minor in decision sciences from the business school.
Beth studies the efficacy of anti-poverty
programs directed at families with young
children. Specifically, she uses econometrics and simulation methodologies to
evaluate the ability of social insurance
and employer-provided paid family leave
programs to reach low income families.
We were also lucky to hire Dr. Erin
Melton, who recently finished her doctoral work at Texas A&M University.
Her research concerns race and ethnic
politics in public administration and
public policy. She has published work
that assesses the ways that organizations
contend with contextual differences,
such as diversity among the employees
or the presence of public managers who
are racial or ethnic minorities. Finally,
Professor Edith J. Barrett joins UConn
from the University of Texas at Arlington to direct the Urban and Community
Students include:
AmeriCorps Volunteers
Community Leaders
Consultants
JD & MBA Degree Holders
Members of the Military
Teachers
Example Undergraduate Majors:
Economics
Human Development
International Studies
Political Science
Urban Planning
Social Work
Studies program. Her research is in the
area of forced relocation of low-income
public housing residents and she studies
urban public policy, especially adolescent
issues, education, housing, and social
welfare.
I will leave the balance of the news to
the pages that follow. We hope you
enjoy reading about our recent accomplishments! If you have questions or
ideas, please don’t hesitate to be in
touch with me.
Warm Regards,
Amy K. Donahue
Department Head
3
PAGE
4
Student Experiences & Accomplishments
2010-2011 Student Awards
In the 2010-2011 academic year, UConn’s public policy graduate
students continued to build strong skill sets in management, finance, economics, and a host of other areas through the Department’s program offerings.
Notably, 17 MPA students participated in the Internship and Professional Practice (IPP) program for competitive year-long opportunities in a variety of fields. The Department was pleased to partner with the following organizations to enhance student learning
and advance organizational objectives: The Alford Group; Charter
Oak State College; the cities of New Haven, Newington, and New
London (see IPP profile on page 1); Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation;
Hartford Youth Scholars Foundation; Newington Board of Education; Travelers Foundation; Universal Health Care Foundation of
Connecticut; and the University of Connecticut’s Human Resources Department, Office of Service Learning, Greater Hartford
Dean of Students Office, and the Office of the Chief Operating
Officer.
MPA students also participated in the Department’s Capstone
course, completing research projects for a variety of organizations.
(see Capstone profile on page 11)
Thank you to all our valued partners.
Support UConn’s Public Policy Students
Donate Today:
dpp.uconn.edu/giving
UCONN
DEPARTMENT
OF
PUBLIC
POLICY
Albert Ilg Award
Sarah Geary, MPA ’11
Mort Tenzer Fellowship
Joseph Antelmi, MPA ’12; Vijay Chowdhari, MPA ’12;
Simon Gumkowski, MPA ’12; Jessica Legnos, MPA ’12;
Kathryn Rock, MPA ’11
CT American Society for Public Administration
Scholarship Award
Linda Hodge, MPA & MSR ’12; Jessica Legnos, MPA ’12
CT Government Finance Officers Association’s
John T. Walsh Scholarship
Timothy Little, MPA ’12
Dean Ross MacKinnon Fellowship
Jessica Legnos, MPA ’12
Catherine E. Pardee Award
Matthew Cole, MPA ’12
Karl A. Bosworth Award
Kathryn Rock, MPA ’11
David B. Walker Outstanding Service Award
Chelsea Ross, MPA ’11
Survey Research Academic Excellence Award
Jake Soffronoff, MPA & MSR ’11
Survey Research Outstanding Student Award
Beau Anderson, MPA & MSR ’11
Best Capstone Award
Janice Castle, MPA ’11; Amanda Miller, MPA ’11;
Matthew Robinson, MPA ’11
PAGE
DPP.UCONN.EDU
Research Focus: Thomas Craemer
Thomas Craemer, Associate Professor, rebuilds homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward (right).
Measuring Implicit Racial Bias
Have you ever grown tense when
approached by someone of another
race? After a moment of embarrassment, did you wonder, “Am I racist?”
That is the question DPP Associate
Professor Thomas Craemer is investigating using reaction time tasks that
tap racial attitudes at the implicit level,
even when respondents are unwilling
or unable to report them.
“Race clearly matters,” he said.
And it may matter in several ways.
Measured at the implicit level, problack attitudes appear to coexist with
anti-black bias among the same respondents at the same time.
The results are disheartening, Craemer
said. Most respondents recognize a
positive word more quickly when it
follows a white compared to a black
face. And they recognize a negative
word more quickly when it follows a
black compared to a white face.
Not only white respondents, but also
many African Americans and respondents of other backgrounds display this
anti-black reaction-time bias. One
possible interpretation is that “we
have been culturally trained in our
responses,” he said.
To detect anti-black bias, Craemer
displays pictures of black and white
faces on a computer screen immediately followed by a word unrelated to
race, such as “joy” or “funeral.”
Craemer also finds pro-black attitudes
at the implicit level. He uses a measure
of cognitive ‘self-other overlap’ that
indicates how much a respondent
identifies with African Americans.
While African-American respondents
score highest on this implicit measure,
many white respondents and respondents of other backgrounds, also appear
to identify with African Americans.
The respondent’s task is to indicate—
as quickly as possible—whether the
word has a positive or negative meaning. What is more, the faces flash so
briefly that the respondent has no idea
the pictures are even there.
The ability of people to identify across
racial lines gives Craemer reason for
optimism, he said, especially since problack identification appears to be
among the strongest predictors of
policy support.
Thomas Craemer
Associate Professor
PhD in Political Science from Stony
Brook University, 2005
Doctorate in Political Science from the
University of Tuebingen, 2001
Interests: Political Psychology, Race
Relations, Public Opinion, Statistical
Methods
Courses: Principles and Methods of
Survey Research, Attitude Formation,
Advanced Quantitative Methods
Yet his optimism is qualified by evidence of ingrained cultural bias and
remaining structural inequalities.
These remaining structural inequalities
can be seen in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina. Every year since
2007, Craemer has led students to the
city’s Lower Ninth Ward to volunteer
and study government responses to
the crisis.
(See Craemer on page 11)
5
PAGE
6
Graduate Association of Public Policy Students
New Orleans Relief
and Reconstruction
26
volunteers
donated more than
900 labor hours
worth an estimated
$24,000
180 generous donors
contributed over
$15,000 to help
cover volunteer housing
and transportation costs
The Graduate Association of Public
Policy Students (GAPPS) provides
enriching activities for the Department’s students each year. Led by an
elected executive student board,
GAPPS focuses on providing academic, professional development, and
social opportunities outside the classroom.
Among many other activities in the
2010-2011 year, GAPPS helped send
student volunteers to assist in rebuilding New Orleans’ Lower Ninth
Ward, an area still devastated by
Hurricane Katrina. The annual trip,
begun by DPP Associate Professor
Thomas Craemer in 2007, promotes
public service and policy lessons for
future leaders.
Twenty-six volunteers participated
including eighteen graduate students,
two DPP faculty, and—thanks to a
new partnership—three volunteers
from the local public service organization Hands on Hartford. It was the
largest effort led by UConn’s public
policy graduate students to date.
GAPPS Executive Board
2011
John Orofino, president
Linda Hodge, vice president
Kelley Jacobson, vice president
Chris Willis, vice president
Jessalyn Michaels, secretary
Jessica Legnos, treasurer
2010
Beau Anderson, president
Sarah Miner, vice president
Sarah Geary, secretary
Matthew Robinson, treasurer
Chelsea Ross, service chair
Gregg Gorneault, social chair
UCONN
DEPARTMENT
Working with LowerNine.org, a Louisiana-based non-profit organization,
volunteers assembled daily in small
teams to tackle a variety of projects.
The groups replaced decaying roofs
and porches, painted exterior and
interior portions of several homes,
and performed mold remediation on
a new supply warehouse for LowerNine.org.
Beyond reconstruction, volunteers
worked to revitalize the community
by promoting access to fresh produce. At Lamanche Community Farm,
an area in development by LowerNine.org, volunteers planted vegeta-
MPA students Jamie Finley and Matt Cole repair a roof in the Lower
Ninth Ward (top). Volunteers assemble before work (bottom).
bles, installed irrigation systems,
and cleared surrounding lots. The
garden’s produce is offered free
or at low-cost to residents on
site and at area farmers’ markets.
tard in Manchester, CT and a
New Britain Rock Cats baseball
game. Students also sold t-shirts,
holiday items, and original photography to support the trip.
This service trip was made possible by the generosity of 180 donors including alumni, faculty,
local businesses, friends, and family who provided over $15,000 to
support the effort. The year-long
GAPPS fundraising drive, included
events at Corey’s Catsup & Mus-
For a full list of donors or to
donate to the 2012 service trip,
visit gappsservice.com. For information on the May 2012 trip,
c o n t a ct L i n d a H od g e a t
Linda.Hodge@UConn.edu.
gappsservice.com
OF
PUBLIC
POLICY
PAGE
DPP.UCONN.EDU
Survey Research Program Now Online
Online Program Among
First in Nation
More than thirty years ago, UConn
became one of the first universities
in the nation to offer coursework in
survey research. In fall 2011, it
became one of the first to offer a
survey research program entirely
online.
The Department is proud to spearhead this effort, which is also one
of the first online programs offered
within UConn’s College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences.
“This new program will
benefit professionals from
around the world.”
Jennifer Dineen
Program Director
Courses are designed for students
and professionals interested in advancing their knowledge and expanding their skill sets as they pursue careers in the fields of survey
research, market research, or public policy.
Jennifer Dineen
Program Director
Marie-Pierre Huguet
Instructional Designer
Diane Clokey
Program Assistant
UConn Graduate Program in Survey Research Staff
Four courses are being offered in
fall 2011: Applied Statistics, Principles & Methods of Survey Research,
Attitude Formation, and Qualitative
Methods for Survey Research.
Instructional Designer Dr. MariePierre Huguet will be working with
faculty throughout the 2011-2012
year to turn additional courses into
dynamic multimedia experiences.
Courses will be added each successive semester until all 24 credits for
the master’s degree are available.
To learn more, call 860-570-9343
or visit dpp.uconn.edu/gpsr.
UConn’s Online Graduate Program
in Survey Research (GPSR)
 Master of Arts in Survey Research
 Certificate in Survey Research
 Stand Alone Graduate Courses
Skills include:
 Questionnaire Design
 Sampling
 Statistical Analysis & Data Presentation
 Project Management
dpp.uconn.edu/gpsr
2010-2011 Speaker Series
The Department hosted six events
during the 2010-2011 academic year
to present leading public policy research and perspectives while encouraging engagement with policy leaders.
The series attracts a diverse audience
of students, faculty, and community
members to UConn’s Greater Hartford Campus and features
public policy experts, academics, and
practitioners from both the public and
private sectors.
For information on the 2011-2012
Speaker Series, please visit
dpp.uconn.edu.
2010-2011 Guest Speakers
“State Borrowing, Disguised Borrowing,
& Budget Gimmicks”
Dr. Robert Bifulco, Syracuse University
“How Individual Prejudice and Legitimizing
Myths Contribute to Policy Preferences”
Dr. Felicia Pratto, UConn
“How National Health Care Reform
Might Affect State & Local Government”
Mr. Alan Desmarais, Milliman Inc.
“Mobile Trust, Enacted Relationships:
Social Capital in a State-Level Policy Network”
Dr. Deneen Hatmaker, UConn
“Implicit Closeness to Blacks, Support for
Affirmative Action, Slavery Reparations, and
Vote Intentions for Obama in the ‘08 Elections”
Dr. Thomas Craemer, UConn
“IPO Research in Accounting with an
Application to the Internet Bubble”
Dr. Michael Willenborg, UConn
7
PAGE
8
Professional Partnerships
Pi Alpha Alpha
2011 Inductees
Beau Anderson
Laura DeMaio
Sarah Geary
Charlie Martin
Sarah Miner
Shawn Morris
Kathryn Rock
Chelsea Ross
Jake Soffronoff
Christopher Willis
The national honor society that recognizes and promotes excellence in
the study and practice of public affairs and administration.
The 2010-2011 year continued
our traditional Pi Alpha Alpha
(PAA) chapter activities. Our last
event, held at the Town and
County Club in Hartford, inducted ten new Class of 2011 members (listed at left). We also inducted two MPA alumni, Lauren
Miller (MPA ’06) and Emily Shepard Perillo (MPA ’05). They both
are outstanding professional ambassadors of DPP and the MPA
program. Congratulations to all!
A few years ago we established
the DPP “Meet and Greet.” It
provides a good opportunity each
fall for students, faculty, and alumni to socialize, far away from the
classroom! The event was held at
Grant’s in West Hartford.
We also held our second “Mock
Interview Night” to prepare students for internships and postgraduation employment. All participants agreed it was invaluable
to improving their interview skills.
Thank you to all DPP PAA alumni
who send an annual contribution—it makes a huge difference
in our ability to sponsor student
enrichment activities.
Finally, it has been my great honor to serve as president since
2006. I hope that you will continue to support our new Board:
Sarah Bourne Perillo (President),
Jeff Hallin (Vice President), Sarah
Arlinghaus (Secretary), and Binu
Chandy (Treasurer).
Pi Alpha Alpha CT President,
Candace Fitzpatrick
MPA Alumni Council
2011 Distinguished
Alumni Awards
Brad Fay
COO, Keller Fay Group
MSR ’88
Christopher Johnson
CFO, West Hartford, CT
MPA ’82
Julie Savin
Real Estate Development
Director, NeighborWorks
New Horizons
MPA ’04
The alumni body that supports UConn’s MPA program and
students, as well as encourages alumni engagement and success.
In the 2010-2011 year, the Alumni Council played an active role in
supporting DPP students, faculty,
and staff.
In summer 2011, the Alumni
Council developed long-term
goals and an action plan for the
next several years, focusing on
generating additional support for
DPP while offering programs to
assist current students.
In the 2011-2012 year, students
can expect opportunities to connect with alumni through career
development events.
UCONN
DEPARTMENT
OF
PUBLIC
The Alumni Council welcomes
feedback on ways we can better
assist students. We have a great
affinity for what the program has
done for each of us and want to
provide this same experience for
students well into the future.
The Council and I will be working
hard on these and several new
initiatives in the coming years.
We also welcome all alumni participation, so if you can help or
have ideas, contact me at anytime: JasonGiulietti@gmail.com
or (860) 244-1946.
POLICY
MPA Alumni Council President,
Jason Giulietti
PAGE
DPP.UCONN.EDU
Career Spotlight: Emergency Planning
Three Perspectives
MPA Student Updates Preparedness Plans
As part of his internship, Turek works on
the federally funded Public Health Emergency Preparedness, which aims to bolster emergency preparedness at local
health departments.
“One of the grant’s goals is preparing
mass dispensing medication plans for
anthrax and small pox,” said Turek, “We
have to ask—How do we get medication
to the public if there is a health disaster?”
Turek at New Britain EMS’ mobile
command center.
Patrick Turek Furthers EMT
Experience with Internship
Patrick Turek, MPA ’12, is participating in
the Department’s 2011-2012 Internship &
Professional Practice program with New
Britain Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
and the New Britain Health Department.
Turek has already assisted in updating
mass dispensing medication plans, participated in emergency drills and exercises,
and created security plans for New Britain High School and The Hospital at Central Connecticut’s New Britain General
campus. These activities, he said, tie directly to his MPA coursework at UConn.
“From stakeholder participation and
agency interaction to the economics of
why people act the way they do, everything we talk about in class relates to
the programs I deal with in New Britain,” said Turek.
Alumnus Oversees
911 Call Center in
Cincinnati
Joel Estes Utilizes
MPA Management
Skill Set to Advance 911
Consolidation Efforts
Joel Estes, MPA ’10, knew he could
not be a police officer forever. So a
few years before he retired, he
began working on his MPA degree
with a goal of building on his experience with 911 communications as a
police lieutenant in Bristol, CT.
“I knew that I had a specialized skill
set and that there were opportunities out there,” he said. “I had gut
instincts, but not a scientific approach. I knew that I needed to get
a better understanding of the management side, especially financial
management.”
Estes weighed getting a degree in
business against earning an MPA.
“All my experience was in the public
sector, so the MPA was more appropriate. And UConn’s MPA program is exceptional.”
Department Head Shares Expertise in
Emergency Preparedness
Amy K. Donahue Answers Questions
on Safety Investment & Planning
DPP Department Head Amy K. Donahue
is an expert in disaster policy and emergency management who routinely contributes to the intellectual debate on these issues.
Read about Donahue’s insights on emergency planning in a question and answer
piece at dpp.uconn.edu under “News.”
Donahue is principal investigator on federally funded research focused on improving emergency preparedness. She had
Q&A at:
Read Donahue’s
dpp.uconn.edu in “News”
For other recent work by
Donahue, see page 10.
a central role in directing the recovery
operation following the Columbia space
shuttle crash and was an adviser to the
Chancellor of Louisiana State University
immediately following Hurricane Katrina.
Estes said the program provided
what he needed. “All the professors
were great but Amy Donahue, in
particular, was a very valuable resource. She had also managed a 911
center.”
In Bristol, Estes had helped the city
convert to consolidated police and
fire 911 systems. Now he is working
to accomplish the same task in Cincinnati—a city six times larger.
Story by CLAS Today (clas.uconn.edu).
9
PAGE
10
Faculty Research & Publications
Edith J. Barrett
Thomas Craemer
Deneen Hatmaker
Faculty Expertise
Altruism
Attitude Formation
Capital Financing
Citizen Participation
Civic Engagement
Civic Literacy
Collective Bargaining
Debt Management
Emergency Management
Ethnic Politics
Financial Management
Focus Group Methods
Gender & Diversity
Homeland Security
Human Resources
Identity Construction
Labor Economics
Nonprofit Management
Policy Analysis
Program Evaluation
Public Finance
Public Opinion
Race & Policy
Social Insurance
Social Networks
Survey Research Methods
Urban Public Policy
Voting Behavior
UCONN
Erin Melton
Ken Dautrich
Jennifer Dineen
Amy K. Donahue
Beth Neary
Mark Robbins
Bill Simonsen
The Department’s 10 full-time (pictured above) and 7
affiliated faculty contributed significantly to scholarship in
a number of public policy areas in the 2010-2011 academic year. Faculty produced journal articles, working
papers, and conference papers, and also gave presentations, lectures, and addresses.
They contributed to the intellectual conversation about
serious domestic and international policy issues. For
example, Mark Robbins spoke on a panel for state legislators on the fiscal challenges for the state’s municipalities, Amy K. Donahue continued to spearhead two federally funded projects for the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, and Thomas Craemer traveled to
Haiti to assist in post-earthquake reconstruction.
Faculty members serve on editorial boards including
Public Budgeting & Finance, Municipal Finance Journal, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Journal of
Emergency Management, and Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, among others. They
also serve as members of the National Association of
Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, the Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and the American
Association for Public Opinion Research, among others.
DEPARTMENT
OF
PUBLIC
POLICY
Examples of Recent & Forthcoming
Faculty Research
“Possible Implicit Mechanisms of Minority
Representation.”
Political Psychology. December 2010.
Thomas Craemer
“Do Debt Levels Influence State Borrowing Costs?”
Public Administration Review
Mark Robbins & Bill Simonsen (forthcoming)
“Do Shocks Change Organization Culture? The Case
of NASA.”
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
Amy K. Donahue & Rosemary O’Leary
“Implementation of Homeland Security Technologies:
Differences in Willingness to Pay Across
Jurisdictions.”
Public Performance and Management Review
Amy K. Donahue, Mark Robbins, & Bill Simonsen
dpp.uconn.edu/faculty
PAGE
DPP.UCONN.EDU
MPA Capstone Course Applies Learning
Client-Based Learning Promotes
Student Development
UConn MPA students complete their graduate studies
with the Department of Public Policy’s Capstone experience, a unique opportunity for students to put theory into
practice. Students work in teams to assist a local public or
nonprofit organization in addressing an organizational or
managerial challenge, perform a program or process evaluation, or conduct a financial or budget analysis. Their
work culminates in a formal, professional report and
presentation of findings and recommendations.
During the 2010-2011 year, student teams worked with
the Colchester Fire Department, Horizons, Manchester
Community College, the Mansfield Housing Authority, the
Suffield Fire Department, the Towns of Mansfield and
Windham, and the West Hartford Public Library.
Deneen Hatmaker (above), the student-elected 2011 DPP Distinguished
Professor, guides students during a spring 2011 MPA Capstone session.
To learn about becoming a Capstone organiza on, contact Deneen Hatmaker at Deneen.Hatmaker@UConn.edu. (Finance from page 1)
with a bond issue.
Lathrop said he took advantage of Martin’s
interest in finance. Martin has a bachelor’s
degree in business from Arizona State University and worked for three years as a
marketing analyst in California for a company that made Geographic Information Systems mapping software.
Raised in Ellington, CT, Martin says he
chose the UConn MPA program because it
is ranked 7th nationally for public finance
and budgeting by U.S. News & World Report.
“I wanted a program that was finance focused. I have always been drawn toward
numbers and knew UConn was strong in
government finance,” he said.
Martin now works in Manhattan at Moody’s
Investors Service as part of a surveillance
team looking at state and local government
bond ratings.
“I definitely learned a lot in the program
and at the internship,” he said. As for New
London, Lathrop has hired another MPA
student to intern for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Story by CLAS Today (clas.uconn.edu).
(Craemer from page 5)
What he and his students have found is curious—significantly fewer Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers in predominantly black areas
versus white areas with the same level of devastation.
Distribution of FEMA trailers was, at least in part, influenced by local decisions about water and electricity restoration. These decisions were made by
a majority African-American city government.
“It was well within the jurisdiction of local government to return services to
the Lower Ninth Ward earlier,” Craemer said. Yet the city government restored services to this severely affected neighborhood—home to mostly
African Americans—last.
Read more in the May/June 2010 Public Administration Review:
“Evaluating Racial Disparities in Hurricane Katrina Relief
Using Direct Trailer Counts in New Orleans and FEMA
Records,” by Thomas Craemer.
“Structural factors dating back to the eras of slavery and Jim Crow can explain why poor African Americans were concentrated in low lying areas with
higher risk of flooding,” he said. “But what explains racial disparities in government response to a natural disaster? One possibility is that culturally
shared racial biases may interact with other structural and political factors to
create the observed discrepancies.”
While structural legacies of slavery and segregation are still with us, and racial
stereotypes still influence our thinking, there are also signs of progress, Craemer said. “In my lifetime, I never expected to see a president elected who
identifies as African American.”
Story by CLAS Today (clas.uconn.edu).
11
Department of Public Policy
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PERMIT NO.3
Mailing address:
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Master’s Degrees:
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Master of Arts in Survey Research
Graduate Certificates:
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Public Financial Management
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