Author Bios
Paper Presentations | Symposium Papers and Panels (pdf) | Author Bios (pdf)
Muhittin Acar is an associate professor of public administration in Department of Politics and Public Administration at Hacettepe University, Turkey. His research centers on collaborative forms of governance; integrity, transparency, and accountability in governance; and local and regional development and governance.
Angela Bies is an assistant professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A & M University, where she plays an integral role in the nonprofit program. She also serves as a visiting faculty member at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, and her dissertation was awarded ARNOVA's Gabriel Rudney Dissertation Award in 2004. Her research interests center on the intersection of organizational capacity and accountability/ performance practices in nonprofit contexts. A comparative researcher, she is particularly interested in issues of conceptualization, measurement, and theory development across varied national nonprofit contexts, and issues pertaining to ethical and effective fieldwork practices. Bies has published in outlets such as Public Administration Review, New Directions in Philanthropy, and the Journal of Public Affairs Education, as well in applied outlets such as the Nonprofit Quarterly, the BoardSource newsletter, and the Forbes Funds' Tropman Report. Bies has also held executive, consulting, and volunteer advisory positions for a variety of nonprofit and public sector organizations including the Charities Review Council of Minnesota, the Aga Khan Foundation, the Humanitarian Affairs Division of the Department of Defense, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, U.S. Peace Corps, the United Way of the Greater Minneapolis Area, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Council on Standards for International Education and Travel, and the National Charities Information Bureau/Rockefeller Brothers Fund national panel on nonprofit accountability. Dr. Bies is a member of the executive committee of the Public and Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management, and provided leadership on the Junior Faculty and Nonprofit Consortia. For ARNOVA, Bies has been active in the Teaching Division, co-chairing the pre-conference workshop for two years.
Ralph Brower: Ralph Brower is an associate professor at the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. He is also the Director of the Center for Civic and Nonprofit Leadership. His research and teaching interests include organization behavior and theory, qualitative research methods, organizational change and development, nonprofit management, and capacity building in the independent sector. Preferred email: rbrower@fsu.edu
Dr. Anne L. Drabczyk is a Research Specialist with The Ohio State University Center for Preparedness and Workforce Development, and earned Certification in the Appreciative Inquiry method from the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Drabczyk has conducted extensive research and published on organizational values and development. She may be reached at: adrabczyk@cph.osu.edu
Mr. Michael Farley is Director of Government and External Relations for the American Red Cross of Ohio, and was instrumental in securing the Ohio Disaster Readiness Project grant funding for the Leadership Academy through the Ohio General Assembly. He may be reached at: farleym@usa.redcross.org
Nancy J. Field has served with the New Jersey Division of Aging and Community Services (DACS) for the past 10 years and is currently Project Director of the statewide initiative, Aging and Disability Resource Connection. She pursued a geriatric career after graduating from the College of Holy Cross. She has been honored by the NJ Asian American Association for Human Services and was recently acknowledged by the National Council of Negro Women as "Professional Business Woman of the Year".
Robert L. Fischer is a Research Associate Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western Reserve University, and Co-Director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development. He currently serves as board president of the Ohio Program Evaluators' Group, a regional affiliate of the American Evaluation Association. He is the 2006 recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award from the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations and recipient of the Emerging Scholar Award from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration. Dr. Fischer received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in policy development and program evaluation.
Beth Gazley is Assistant Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she teaches public and nonprofit management. Her research interests include volunteerism, inter-sectoral collaboration, and management capacity. Email: bgazley@indiana.edu
Chao Guo is an assistant professor of nonprofit management at the Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Georgia. His research interests include representation and responsiveness in nonprofit organizations, board governance, collaboration within and across sectors, and volunteerism.
Anne M. Hewitt, PHD is an Associate Professor in the Center for Public Service at Seton Hall University and has been involved in graduate education for over 20 years. She is also the Director of the Seton Center for Community Health which provides technical assistance to non-profit agencies within New Jersey. Recent publications include a monograph, book chapters, articles, national reports and reviews. Her specific research interests include public health policy, senior programs, and nonprofit agency strategic planning and evaluation. hewittan@shu.edu
Dr. David Hoover is Director of Readiness Ohio for the American Red Cross, and together with Dr. Drabczyk has co-constructed the Leadership Academy for the American Red Cross of Ohio. Prior to coming to the American Red Cross, Dr. Hoover was a professor at Akron University, has published, and had a distinguished career in the Fire Service. He may be reached at: HooverD@usa.redcross.org
Sungsoo Hwang is a post-doctoral fellow at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy and adjunct faculty at the school of Public and Nonprofit Administration. He received his Ph.D. in public affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and worked as a project team member for the Pittsburgh Neighborhood and Community Information System. He conducts research in the areas of public nonprofit partnerships and local governance with an emphasis on utilizing information technology such as Geographical Information Systems.
Wenjue Knutsen: Wenjue Knutsen has earned her PhD in Public Administration from Florida State University in 2008. She is currently teaching as an adjunct professor at the School of Business at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her research interests are nonprofit and voluntary organizations, organizational theory and organizational behavior, and public policy. Preferred email: wenjuelu@hotmail.com
Kelly LeRouxis an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on government-nonprofit relations, municipal service delivery, and regional governance. She has published articles in several journals examining the effects of government funding on social service organizations, and an edited book titled "Service Contracting: A Local Government Guide", ICMA Press 2007. E-mail: kleroux@ku.edu.
William Lester is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Jacksonville State University. His research interests include organizational theory, intergovernmental relationships, leadership studies, and disaster response. He has published in PAR, The Public Manager, PS: Political Science, and has a forthcoming book in the ASPA series dealing with disaster response.
Ashima Saigal is the Director of Technology at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy. She received her M.S in computer information systems from Grand Valley State University and her B.S. in computer science from Michigan State University. She has worked for NPower Michigan as the Director of West Michigan Services and helped launch the local GrandNet housed at the Community Media Center. She has a strong interest in continuing her research on the impact of information technology on nonprofit organizations.
Robert O. Staib is Acting Director and Evaluation Manager of Invest in Children, Cuyahoga County's Office of Early Childhood. He previously held posts at Cuyahoga Employment and Family Services and Cleveland Department of Public Health. Mr. Staib holds a Masters of Science in Social Administration (MSSA) from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.
Christopher Stream (chris.stream@unlv.edu) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). His research has appeared in a variety of journals, including Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Political Research Quarterly, and State and Local Government Review. His latest textbook, "State and Local Government" (Wadsworth/Thomson Learning) is now available.
Jessica Word (jessica.word@unlv.edu) is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. She currently serves as the director of the Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management at UNLV. She has published in both Public Administration Review (PAR) and Public Integrity.
Nathaniel S. Wright is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Kansas. His research interests are government-nonprofit relations, performance measurement, nonprofit collaborations, and diversity in Public Administration. E-mail: nwright@ku.edu
Kaifeng Yang is an associate professor of public administration at the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Florida State University. His research interests include public management, citizen involvement, and institutions and organizations.
