The Schar School of Policy and Government was front and center at this year’s annual American Society for Public Administration meeting, held in Denver, Colorado, March 9-13. More than a dozen faculty members and students presented in panels and workshops on several well-received topics, including education policy, third party governance, and integrated emergency operation, among others.
As a sponsor of the conference, the Schar School hosted several key events. During the President’s Reception, held at the Hyatt Regency’s Peaks Lounge, faculty member Tonya Neaves was awarded the Chester Newland Presidential Citation of Merit for her efforts in fundraising and serving as this year’s Program Co-Chair, which is responsible for reviewing all proposal submissions and organizing accepted proposals into a series of nearly 150 panels.
Neaves also organized a high level Presidential Panel entitled “He Gave Us So Much: Reflections on Paul L. Posner” to celebrate the life and many accomplishments of a recently departed fellow Schar School faculty member. Paul Posner was a past President of ASPA, whose career touched countless individuals—he was a mentor, a statesman, and a pracademic, the latter a term which he coined nearly two decades ago. During the panel, Posner’s legacy was honored by receiving the prestigious Elmer Staats Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Public Service. The award was presented by fellow panelist and Schar School faculty member Timothy Conlan. During the panel, #ASPAlovesPaul was circulated to express overwhelming sentiment of Posner’s influence among his many friends and colleagues.
These were not the only faculty member and student accolades at this year’s year’s annual ASPA meeting. Conlan, along with Posner and another Schar School faculty member, Priscilla Regan, won the best book award for Governing Under Stress: The Implementation of Obama's Economic Stimulus Program from the Section on Public Administration Research. Additionally, recent MPA graduate Blanca Rand was selected as a Founders Fellow, a program aimed at supporting the next generation of public service leaders through a series of professional development opportunities.
Other participants from the Schar School included: Terry Clower, Ashley Raphael, Nicole Decker, Caroline Egli, Matthew Sardone, Michael Sweigart, Fleciah Mburu, Wendy Chen, and Caroline Powers.