Introduction to the issue

On behalf of the editorial team, our editorial board, and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration, we would like to thank you for reading the latest issue of the Journal of Public Affairs Education. The themes throughout this issue focus on advancing the future of public affairs education as a field and in the classroom.

The issue is packed with two editorials, five research articles, one case study, and four book reviews. In the first editorial, B. McDonald et al. (2023) recount the establishment of the North Carolina Public Administration Alliance (NCPAA). The NCPAA was established to provide state-level support and opportunities for MPA programs and their students. The editorial provides a reflection on why state-level organizations are needed, the process and challenges they experienced in creating the organizations, and the lessons they learned along the way. Our second editorial is by the ASPA President’s Committee on International Scholarly Engagement (2023). This editorial reflects on the work of the committee at establishing recommendations for the field on how to improve the engagement of scholars across the globe in the activities and research of the discipline.

The issues five research articles continue this theme of improving public affairs education. The first research article of the issue is Campbell et al.’s (2023) article on experiential philanthropy. Experiential philanthropy courses have proliferated in recent years in the context of a reinvigorated debate about the nature of elite philanthropy. Campbell et al.’s (2023) article analyzes the content faculty use to teach philanthropy in 33 courses funded by the Learning by Giving Foundation. The findings of the study show that faculty design their courses more to simulate institutional giving that individual giving, leading the authors to consider an alternative perspective which might better situate experiential philanthropy courses as an opportunity to cultivate habits of giving among students.

Next, in line with our aspiration to improve the climate of higher education, and that of public affairs programs in particular (see Terman, 2022; Young & Wiley, 2021), we are excited to present Wareham et al.’s (2023) examination of Title IX training at public universities. Title IX prohibits sex-discrimination in colleges in the United States. While colleges must provide training on Title IX, little is known about its effectiveness. Through their study of 2,393 college students, the authors found that 68% of students report that they understand Title IX, yet only 14% correctly understood Title IX prohibited sex-discrimination and 16% correctly understood reporting procedures. While the results show that significant attention is needed to improve students understanding of their rights, the findings found that positive perceptions of campus climate increased participation in training, efficacy of training, and confidence in helping sexual assault survivors.

One thing we have learned from the pandemic is that the nature of public administration has changed, meaning we need to change how we approach the practice and research of the field (see B. D. McDonald et al., 2022). This also has implications for what and how we teach our students (see B. D. McDonald, 2021, 2023; Farrell et al., 2022). In the third article of this issue, Haruna (2023) takes the need to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the public affairs classroom to heart. In public administration education discourse, developing nations do not receive as much attention in mainstream outlets. The article extends the discourse by exploring and connecting public sector work force policy to public administration education and public service training in Ghana. After reviewing literature and analyzing MPA/MPP curricula there, it discusses learning outcomes and assesses the quality of competence, while extrapolating lessons learned. The article concludes by proposing a critical pedagogy-inspired curriculum that integrates social equity and blends unique domestic need with global concerns.

The fourth research article, “Haunted by Nonprofits: Five Themed Mini-Teaching Cases for Halloween and Día de los Muertos,” is by Wiley et al. (2023). The article presents five themed mini-teaching cases perfect for Halloween that can be taught individually or together: emotional labor in dark tourism; risk management for nefarious volunteers; cemetery management; financial management through zombie philanthropy; and nonprofit demise. The lessons integrate real-world scenarios with public administration concepts in a timely, fun, and evidence-based delivery method.

In the last research article of the issue, Barnes et al. (2023) review the curriculum of undergraduate public affairs programs to evaluate how well the call for more courses on civil discourse has been answered. Their findings indicate that civil discourse-themed courses are essentially absent in the largest undergraduate public affairs programs, leaving the calls woefully unanswered. Their study also explored the pre-post responses from students that were enrolled in a course offering content on the intersection of civil discourse and public policy making. Ultimately, they found that a civil discourse-themed course can simultaneously answer the calls and ensure that students meet the objectives of baccalaureate public affairs education recommended by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.

We are also excited to include a case study in this issue. In the case study, Reed (2023) discusses the use of independent demonstration projects as a strategy to innovate without prior approval of officials. This case illustrates the strategy with a factual example of innovating public access to government records in Virginia. The narrative presents two major decisions: (1) What strategy should the innovator use to get the government to make data available to the public? and (2) Once the innovator created a demonstration version, what else did he need to do so the government would adopt his innovation? We believe that the case is useful for teaching government innovation, civic hacking activism, administrative burden, and open government.

The issue concludes with four book reviews that help us advance our knowledge of teaching and learning in the public affairs classroom. In the first book review, Borry (2023) providings an overview of Susan Blum’s book Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). The second review is Burks’ (2023) exploration of Hamidullah’s book, Undergraduate Public Affairs Education: Building the Next Generation of Public and Nonprofit Administrators. Next, Bennett (2023) provides a fantastic and compelling review of Ringret, Scheberle, and Pautz’s Public Policy: A Concise Introduction. Lastly, Moore (2023) reviews Fleming and Kowalsky’s Survival Skills for Thesis and Dissertation Candidates. These are three great reviews of books relevant to our work in the classroom and our academic programs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).