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Two essential questions for those leading the field of public administration are: What do we teach our students, and how do we train them? As scholars, we pay significant attention to our research, often to the detriment of recognizing the potential for merging our research with teaching through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). However, given our students' leadership positions, SoTL-related work is vital to their success. In this article, we have come together to reflect on the state of SoTL's work in public administration. Through this reflection, we explore the windows of opportunity for research that we see emerging. Included among these opportunities is the need for research on how we can best serve students in and out of the classroom, as well as research the most effective way of managing our programs. We also see the need for research into faculty development, instructional design, and the return on investment for a public administration degree. Lastly, we argue for improved recognition of the value and contribution of SoTL-related work in tenure and promotion standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional MPA programs that deliver public affairs education often use gender blind pedagogies. Gender blind pedagogies maintain that organizational practices and decision-making processes are gender neutral and have similar outcomes to both men and women who engage in public service. Gender neutral assumptions in PA education perpetuate gender neutral research and practice. Using critical gender pedagogy, we (1) examine current practices of discussing gender in PA education, (2) review pedagogical suggestions from other fields (particularly English and gender studies) that have adopted critical gender pedagogies, (3) identify elements of gender-sensitive course design, (4) develop a five- part pedagogical framework to showcase major elements needed for public affairs curricula to be more gender-sensitive, and (5) apply this framework to model how six MPA core courses can better address gender. This paper aims to deliver an alternative gender- sensitive pedagogical approach that breaks the cycle of gender-blind practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our goal here across these two pieces has been simple, namely to address what effect, if any, emotional labor plays in the work of an MPA director, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is up to MPA directors to be agents of change in order to address the needs of students, faculty, and staff, because COVID-19 has and continues to change how the academy works. Research is rapidly emerging on how the global COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of modern life, including in public administration (Guy, [8]). [Extracted from the article]

Emotional labor refers to the management and regulation of emotions as part of one's professional role. This research is one of the first to provide insight into the role of emotional labor during a global pandemic for Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program directors. Our paper both replicates and extends previous work in emotional labor through examining survey data from 92 MPA Directors. Using emotional labor as our descriptive framework, the findings suggest gender and academic rank indicate whose workload has been affected during the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, the results indicate the likelihood of greater burdens experienced by women, both white women and women of color. Our findings offer additional understanding about how emotional labor continues to impact certain populations within our public administration and policy discipline, sounding the alarm for MPA programs to address the problems at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the previous introduction to this special issue, we presented the new 4Es, empathy, equity, engagement, and ethics. These 4Es represent an evolution in public administration, replacing economy, efficiency, and effectiveness as central pillars of the field. Through these 4Es, we propose a movement towards a more equitable public administration, which meets the needs of the future of public administration. In this introduction to the second part of this special issue, we explore the research and teaching implications of the 4Es. Through this discussion and along with our articles in this special issue, we provide guidance on the use of the 4Es in public administration teaching, education, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing discussion and action around inequality, climate change, and a global pandemic, do the current pillars of public administration, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, also known as the 3Es, meet the needs of the public administration? We propose that there are new pillars which better respond to 21st century problems in ways not addressed through values of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy. In this article, we will explore these new 4Es (empathy, engagement, equity, and ethics) in more depth, as well as articles in the first half of this double special issues on the topic. Through this article and special issue, we are eager to move the field of public administration forward towards creating more engaged, empathetic, equitable, and ethical public and nonprofit organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of public administration has long resisted admitting an uncomfortable truth. Public administrattion is culpable in creating and maintaining racist, white supremacist policies and institutions through which Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color disproportionately experience prejudice and discrimination and, therefore, inequities and injustices throughout public services and society. However, few have been willing to have this difficult conversation. This Dialogue symposium seeks to contribute to this conversation, and this introduction both previews pieces in the symposium while also adding context to key concepts and discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of gender equity in the public sector is a critical issue, especially for emergency services. We explore the gendered nature of firefighting and policing at both professional and organizational levels. We assess gender equity by asking the following questions: (1) How have understandings of gender in emergency services evolved over time? (2) What are the normative implications of emergency services' lack of gender equity? We draw from feminist literature to critique the lack of progress and examine firefighting and policing histories along with the professional ethics codes of the U.S. Fire Administration and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. This analysis demonstrates the potential to foster greater gender equity in emergency services and other public organizations by suggesting means of improving ethics codes that serve as foundations for organizational cultures, policies, and practices [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the discipline of public administration, popular culture remains under-examined in scholarship and under-utilized in pedagogy. However, the field would benefit from greater integration of popular culture to expand understandings of governance, especially in that it provides important representations of and messaging about some of today's most pressing social equity issues. To contextualize popular culture in public administration, we use critical discourse analysis as a frame to demonstrate how popular culture can inform public administration, especially regarding social equity. We argue that popular culture should be more extensively covered in public administration, because it offers a lens for better understanding intersections of power, equity, and ethics in government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County is a landmark piece of case law that offers fundamental rights to LGBT persons. This essay reflects on how this case arrived at the Supreme Court and its implications for theory and praxis. The overall conclusion is that cautious optimism is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programs interested in developing a social equity and social justice curriculum for public affairs education must face the hard-core truth: A commitment to diversity, social equity, and social justice matters. A social equity and social justice curriculum The effects of racism, discrimination, disparities, inequities, and injustices have been well-documented in scholarly journals, by government reports, activists, and in social outcomes. Assign a service-learning project to conduct an organizational assessment that distinguishes culturally and linguistically appropriate programs and services. ht The above examples describe several ways to incorporate social equity and social justice across the public administration curriculum. [Extracted from the article]

Police–community relations in the United States are seeing a crisis of trust and legitimacy. Minorities disproportionally experience police contact, and recent shootings of unarmed persons raise concerns about whether minority communities have equal protection of the law. This paper uses Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative rationality to examine this distrust. The argument is that Habermas's theory positively informs understanding of police–community relations in that distrust is caused by lack of communicative acts in favor of strategic acts emphasizing crime control that maintains unjust systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Administrative Theory & Praxis's Dialogues series on COVID-19 continues, we reflect on where we have come and where we are going while previewing new pieces in the series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social equity is a principle of public administration ethics and is reflected in numerous professional organizations' codes of ethics. This piece examines social equity as an ethical imperative of public administration by examining the purposes of codes, surveying the meanings of social equity, and exploring how social equity is present in 10 codes, with particular focus on the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Reflections are offered on social equity as an ethical principle of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgender persons disproportionately face inequities, especially in prisons. Despite these inequities, the academic literature on this topic is limited. Even more limited is the literature on transgender issues in Latin America. This exploratory study addresses these issues. First, it examines literature on transgender prisoners, emphasizing how they, already victimized by society at large, are revictimized in prisons. Second, it investigates the experiences of transgender prisoners in Latin America, specifically El Salvador and Nicaragua. These countries serve as potent test cases to examine how societal, legal, and systemic prejudices intersect to revictimize a vulnerable population. Third, this article analyzes interviews with five formerly imprisoned transgender women in these countries. The women detail reasons for their imprisonment and experiences therein. Fourth, policy recommendations are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Editor's Introduction, we write during the COVID-19 pandemic response this manifesto for public service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confederate monuments conjure competing public sector values. Like many cities in the USA, Baltimore, Maryland had monuments honoring the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy". Such monuments, usually constructed during periods of racial strife, typically feature prominent figures of the Confederacy, such as generals. Proponents of such monuments argue these monuments honor historical figures that shaped US history. Opponents assert monuments symbolize racist ideals and reinforce inequality, particularly for African Americans. Baltimore had four monuments until 2017. In the aftermath of two racially charged incidents following decades of social injustices, the Mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh, ordered the monuments' removal in August 2017. This case examines the details and rationale surrounding Pugh's decision in the context of competing public sector values. The knowledge and skills gained from this case study can be applied to a range of public administration and policy issues involving social justice, administrative competencies, and leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical activity reduces the risk for comorbidities, but little is known about barriers to exercise among older adults living with HIV. Three focus groups were conducted among 19 adults living with HIV, aged ≥ 50 years, who were enrolled in or recently completed a supervised exercise intervention. Sessions were recorded, transcribed, and coded first using inductive methods. All participants were male, and the majority were white, non-Hispanic; 53% were receiving disability benefits. All had suppressed HIV infection on antiretroviral therapy, with almost 20 years since HIV diagnosis. Participants noted a lack of self-efficacy, motivation, and physical limitations that contributed to a sense of "disability" as barriers to exercise prior to the intervention. Through social support and improvements in self-efficacy, participants were motivated to start and continue exercising. Perceived sense of disability may impede (or interfere with) exercise initiation and maintenance; self-efficacy and social support may facilitate exercise maintenance in older adults living with HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pieces in this special issue demonstrate that pop culture can be a useful tool to inform our understandings of public administration theory and practice, especially on social equity topics. First, McCandless and Elias ([6]) contextualize pop culture in public administration by offering a foundational definition and providing examples of pop culture's utility for public administration research and teaching. This special issue explores pop culture's social equity messaging in the context of public administration. [Extracted from the article]

"The rule of law" is a much lauded concept in that as "political morality [...] it refers to the ascendancy of law [...] and of the institutions of the legal system in a system of governance." These points raise two further questions: What happens when the rule of law is not enough, or even when the rule of law is the problem? A problem with saying the examples above are "not the rule of law" or "the rule of law is not being adhered to in those examples" or that "you may not like it, but it is still the rule of law" is that it misses a key point: If the rule of law can be violated so easily, if it does not provide equitable and just protections, and if it actually maintains unjust systems, then we may need to rethink just how lauded this concept is. [Extracted from the article]

LGBT homeless youth are a particularly vulnerable population, accounting for 20-40% of all homeless youth. Literature demonstrates that these youth are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system. Involvement in the justice system frequently begins with a police contact, about which relatively little is understood. Fear of the police among LGBT homeless youth is likely common, and police may be ill-equipped to interact with and assist these youth, even when programs specific to improving police-LGBT relations are present. The present exploratory study examines how LGBT homeless youth and police interact by presenting findings from 18 interviews with formerly homeless LGBT youths (now adults), LGBT advocates, and police officers. Findings reveal that fear of the police and reports of discriminatory actions by police are common, LGBT youth have difficulty accessing services, and police often report being limited in how they can help this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social equity research increasingly focuses on how accountability for social equity is achieved, or how public administrators improve the access, outcomes, processes, and quality of public services. This is particularly important to examine in police departments, which are more frequently using strategies such as community policing programs (CPPs), social equity performance measurement (SEPM), and ethics training to yield better community relations. This article explores how these strategies affect citizen perceptions through testing three propositions related to CPPs, SEPM, and ethics training. Findings are reported from interviews with 72 citizens, local-level elected leaders, and police officers from 12 purposively selected locales in the United States. Findings reveal that when CPPs foster more citizen involvement as decision-makers, SEPM is used to shape practice, and more ethics training is required, citizen perceptions of how socially equitable departments are increase. Further, as political leaders and departments more actively incorporate community groups, perceptions of social equity are more positive. These findings are discussed in terms of what they reveal about accountability for social equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy programs are training grounds for current and future public service leaders. However, many programs may underemphasize the importance of social equity, a pillar of public administration. Without this training, administrators may be poorly placed to understand the causes of inequities and to develop solutions. This article examines these issues in several ways. First, it argues for greater coverage of social equity in graduate programs. Second, it reviews the literature on calls for how to improve teaching social equity. Third, it presents a content analysis detailing the extent to which social equity is integrated into core courses currently offered across 120 MPA programs in the United States. Finally, a case study discusses the authors’ development and teaching of a stand-alone special topics social equity course in a large Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration-accredited program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of this study is to examine whether educational interest groups' roles explain local charter school service delivery in Colorado. Many scholars have found that interest groups affect educational policy outcomes and performance at national, state, and local levels. However, it is not clear whether interest groups' roles are still important in local charter school service delivery. This article seeks to address this lack of knowledge by analyzing the variation of charter school service delivery in Colorado school districts. The present study tests seven hypotheses, using multiple ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis. The final statistical results demonstrate that a school district with more pro-school choice movement interest groups, minority students, and residents who earn a bachelor's degree or above is more likely to deliver charter school services to its residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics/administration dichotomy-a heuristic used to define the field's parameters-is a durable cornerstone of American public administration. Its starting point is in Woodrow Wilson's often-cited 1887 essay. Wilson used a definitional technique for analytic and persuasive purposes in which he distinguished administrative province and process from political province and process. Exegesis on that and the rest of Wilson's formal work reveals that he delimited the subject of administration to contrast it with the province and process of the legislative function. Like a fulcrum, he modified the leverage point of politics-and-administration as he viewed the field from different vantages, first as scholar and later as politician. Although ragged around the edges, the debate endures about the relationship of politics and administration. This assessment offers one more perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]