JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

Public Values As a
Core Element of NASPAA
Marvin B. Mandell
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Here, JPAE is pleased to provide the text of the presidential address delivered on
October 17, 2008, at last year’s Annual Conference of the National Association of
Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), in Charleston, South
Carolina. For publication as an article, the text of this speech was edited.
ABSTRACT
The diversity of types of degrees offered by NASPAA member programs creates both
challenges and opportunities. One of the most vexing of these challenges concerns
the identity of our field. In this address, I suggest that bringing public values to bear
upon the analysis and management of organizations, programs, and policies should
be a core element of the identity of NASPAA and its member programs. At the same
time, it appears that to date we have not been entirely successful in helping society
incorporate public values other than economic efficiency into public policy and
management. In addition to sharpening the identity of NASPAA and its members,
doing a better job of helping society incorporate public values other than economic
efficiency into public policy and management can help reverse the erosion of the role
of government that we have witnessed over the past four decades.
PUBLIC VALUES AS A CORE ELEMENT OF NASPAA
The coming year promises to be, for better or worse, an interesting one for
NASPAA and its member programs, as well as our profession. Regardless of the
outcome of the upcoming presidential election, it seems fair to say that both the
confidence in and the expectations of government at all levels will rise — at least in
the short run. Combined with a likely recession, most of us are expecting greater
interest in NASPAA programs, which is generally a good thing, even if we don’t
know where the budgets to maintain and expand our programs will come from.
JPAE 15(3): 261–267 Journal of Public Affairs Education 261