Texas state university was well represented at the recently concluded American Society for Public Administration’s national conference which was conducted virtually from the 20th of March to the 24th of March. Patricia Shields and Nandhini Rangarajan’s research titled “ Gauging research: uncovering democratic norms as we bridge the worlds of practice and scholarship” was on the program for March 21st. This paper emphasized the ubiquity of gauging as a research purpose and made a case for its inclusion as a fourth research purpose in addition to explanation, description, and exploration. Following this Nandhini Rangarajan presented her research “ Instilling diversity, equity and inclusion values in future public service professionals: insights from a document analysis of DEI plans” which was featured as part of a panel titled “The social equity and inclusion debate: Lessons from India and the United States. Nandhini also convened and moderated a panel titled “ Enhancing Public Service Capabilities through innovative education” which featured an academic, a professor of practice, an executive director of a nonprofit dedicated to public service and a practitioner of public administration.
Howard Balanoff conducted the Section for Public Management Practice and Good Governance Worldwide symposium on the 24th of March. This symposium sponsored by Texas state University’s William P. Hobby Center for Public Service was titled “Meeting the public policy and public administration challenges of the next decade” and featured some prominent academics and practitioners addressing emerging issues in the field. The day long symposium featured the following timely and informative talks: Strategic Planning and Strategic Thinking in the 21st Century, Social-Media Law for Public Managers, Courageous Leadership in an Organizational Turn-Around, Smart Technology for Public Sector Managers, Identifying Successful Strategies for Local Government Managers.
