Introduction to the issue

On behalf of the editorial team, our editorial board, and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), we would like to thank you for reading the latest issue of the Journal of Public Affairs Education. This issue kicks off another year of us editing JPAE, and we are excited about the research in this issue and the work in the journal’s pipeline. Our field is facing a host of challenges, from helping our public institutions combat the COVID pandemic to remaining relevant in a political world that is currently experiencing an increase in authoritarianism, even in stable democracies. The issue includes a variety of essays, research articles, technology reviews, and book reviews – all with an underlying focus on improving our field’s approach in the classroom to help us deal with the multiple challenges facing public administration and governance throughout the world.

To help our field address these crises, we first need to step back and assess foundational features of what we are doing in our academic programs and classrooms. One of those foundational features is where education is occurring in our field. In an excellent survey of over a hundred years on the topic, Perry and Mee (2022) trace the locus of public service education through examining organization forms from municipal research units to comprehensive departments and schools at colleges and universities. Next, the research in the issue moves from being concerned with locus to focus. Ancira et al. (2022) present research on what practitioners and academics think is the focus of knowledge in public administration education and practice. The authors surveyed both faculty from NASPAA institutions and practitioners affiliated with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). They asked the respondents how they think the division between practitioners and academics can best be addressed. The authors call for NASPAA programs to be “nodes” to help bring the different cultures together (p. 50).

The remaining research articles extend the issue’s concern with crises by addressing two current problems that our field can help address. The third research article of the issue is by Terman (2021) evaluates the efficacy of the Clery Act in helping abate the problem of sexual assaults on the university campus. From her analysis of 20 years of Cleary Act investigation documents, Terman (2021) stresses how the legislation can be used “as a mechanism for sexual assault prevention, reporting and survivor support” (p. 56). Next, Vogel (2021) makes a sound case in how the “purpose-driven and action-orientated” focus in public administrators taking a service vocation is what will lead the field to combat the COVID pandemic (p. 80). Finally, Yaghi (2022) moves the discussion of public administration education during the COVID pandemic toward how academic programs can alleviate anxiety and stress in online learning.

As usual, the issue ends with our book review section, and our book review editors include two excellent reviews in this issue. First, Scutelnic (2022) provides a sound review of Maternity Leave: Policy and Practice by Victoria Gordon and Beth Rauhaus. According to the review, “The reader will get a rich understanding of the role maternity leave programs play in recruiting and retaining women in the workforce” (p. 109). An understanding that is definitely needed by practitioners and academics alike to help solve the problem of gender bias and gender disparities in pay in the public sector. Lastly, Golembeski (2022) reviews The Triumph of Doubt which focuses on the negative effects on dark money in our politics. The review focuses on how knowing about the “deception” involved with dark money is important for public administration to help address the influence of dark money in our nation’s bureaucracies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.