Welcome Back to School: What you missed during the summer

This Week’s Big Issue

With the start of the academic year, I want to welcome everyone back to campus. The faculty in the school of public and environmental affairs have been hard at work on a number of fascinating research projects.

While the size and scope of these efforts are too numerous to capture in this blog entry, here are a few highlights:

Dr. Kristin Seefeldt received a research award from the Russell Sage Foundation. The $72,583 grant will be used toward the project “Recessionary Events and their Relationship to Health: Evidence from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study.” Dr. Seefeldt will be working with the University of Michigan’s Sarah Burgard on the project, which will look at what negative events (e.g., job and housing loss, debt) the study survey respondents experienced and how and how often these events were experienced – as well as whether or not negative events or clusters of events are related to aspects of health and mental health.

Dr. Brad Heim recently published several important public finance articles. Co-authored with Ithai Z. Lurie, “The Effect of Self-employed Health Insurance Subsidies on Self-employment” was published in the Journal of Public Economics, and examines the extent to which making the cost of health insurance more favorable for the self-employed through changes in the tax code increases the level of self-employment in the United States. “How Does Charitable Giving Respond to Incentives and Income? New Estimates from Panel Data,” co-authored with Jon Bakija, was published in National Tax Journal, and offers evidence that taxpayers respond significantly to persistent changes in the after-tax price of giving to charity, with estimates implying that a one percent decrease in the price of giving leads to a greater than one percent increase in charitable donations. In addition, taxpayers change their charitable donations in advance in response to large obvious future changes in federal marginal tax rates, though there is less conclusive evidence of a response to more subtle sources of future price changes.

Dr. William (Bill) Resh will be accepting the 2011 Paul A. Volcker Junior Scholar Research Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA) at its annual meeting being held September 1-4 in Seattle, Washington. The Volcker Award is a competitive research grant that is given annually to a junior scholar whose work shows “potential to shed new light on important public administration questions and promise for advancing practice and theory development.”

Dr. Jennifer Brass had two papers accepted for publication. Based on her ongoing research on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kenya, Dr. Brass examines significant political aspects behind NGO policy and governance. In “Why Do NGOs Go Where They Go? Evidence from Kenya,” forthcoming in World Development, she argues that NGOs chose locations within a country in which to work based on objective need and the ease of accessing needy people, not for political reasons. Contrary to dominant theories of African political economy, political factors like patronage appear to have little or no significant influence. In “Blurring Boundaries: The Integration of NGOs into Governance in Kenya,” forthcoming in Governance, Dr. Brass argues that NGOs are increasingly involved in the public service provision in Kenya, and that because of it, African public management is very slowly becoming more democratic.

Dr. Jeff White is Co-Principal Investigator on a team of IUB scientists who recently received a $2.4 million grant from NASA’s Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program. The project, “Measuring Greenland Emissions of Trace Gases as an Analogue for Methane on Mars,” will include field research in Greenland, which contains environments that mimic, in some ways, the places NASA expects to explore for evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. A key aspect of the ASTEP program is to link astrobiology research to important areas of Earth science. Dr. White will focus on the measurement of greenhouse gases released from rapidly melting permafrost environments along the edge of the receding Greenland ice sheet. You can read more about the project at http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/research/white_nasa_project.shtml. Dr. White isalso serving as a Co-Principal Investigator for the project “Using Metagenomics and Traditional Ecological Approaches to Assess the Effects of Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Dynamics on Plant Productivity in Warming Boreal Peatlands in Alaska,” a $78,314 research grant

Dr. John Mikesell, whose paper, “The Property Tax in the Largest American Cities during the Great Recession: Instability and Collectability Issues for a Normally Reliable Revenue Source,” was recently selected as the 2011 Best Manuscript by the Public Finance and Budgeting (PFB) section of the WesternSocial Science Association (WSSA). Dr. Mikesell presented his paper at WSSA’s 53^rd Annual Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, during the PFB panel on “Tax Policy and its Effects.” In addition to a cash prize from PRAcademics Press, the publisher of the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management (JPBAFM), the winning manuscript will be submitted for possible publication in JPBAFM. In choosing Dr. Mikesell’s piece for the award, the award committee commended it as “timely, informative, and well-written.”

Dr. David Audretsch testified before the Congressional Committee on Small Businesses. His remarks focus on public policy strategies for supporting economic innovation as a means of generating economic growth. His remarks can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THMe_0KO6CU&feature=relmfu

Note: His remarks are in the middle of this youtube video

What’s Happening in SPEA Bloomington?

SPEA-Bloomington faculty recently launched a new research working paper series. To learn more about this new initiative and research being conducted by many SPEA faculty, please visit: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/JELJOUR_Results.cfm?form_name=journalbrowse&journal_id=1754224

SPEA’s Big Number

The percentage of SPEA net revenue for fiscal year 2010-11 that comes from student tuition: 83 percent.

Shout-Out to SPEA Bloomington

Please join me in congratulating SPEA MPA students, Katherine LeBeau, Chloie Favinger, Sharayah Gilbert, and Miranda Hutten on being named a 2011 Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Finalist. PMF is considered to be one of the most prestigious and selective programs offered by the federal government for graduate students who have an interest in public service. This rigorous leadership program recruits outstanding graduate students for a two-year developmental fellowship with various federal agencies. These students truly represent the best and the brightest in being extended the distinction of PMF Finalists.

Faculty Assessment

This Week’s Big Issue

How are SPEA Bloomington full-time faculty members assessed and held accountable for their annual job performance? These are questions I frequently receive from students and staff (as well as some relatively new faculty members). These questions sometimes accompany misconceptions that faculty members do not face rigorous annual reviews and assessments.

The process for reviewing full-time SPEA Bloomington faculty starts with the annual faculty review. Each faculty member is required to submit a detailed annual report on their activities and performance in three areas: Research, teaching and service. These reports are reviewed by a Personnel Committee (a group of full-time faculty appointed by the Dean) and are supplemented by reports from SPEA’s four program directors on the performance of each faculty member. Program directors use student course evaluations, among sources of information on classroom performance, to shape their input on individual faculty performance. The Personnel Committee reviews these documents and uses them to write a report on the performance of the faculty member in the prior year. A faculty member is scored in each of the three areas on the following scale: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory, and Unsatisfactory. The Personnel Committee approves these reports and submits them to the Dean’s Office. The Personnel Committee reports are passed back to individual faculty members and each faculty member has an opportunity to seek corrections. If a factual error has been made in the final draft report, then a correction is made. Otherwise, the reports are finalized and become a part of the faculty member’s personnel file. All untenured faculty are required to meet face-to-face with the Dean’s Office to discuss their annual performance. Tenured faculty are given the opportunity to meet with the Dean’s Office to discuss their assessment. This assessment process of faculty performance drives decisions on compensation.

The annual review process is an essential part of faculty development and is linked to our faculty mentoring program. Junior faculty members are matched with senior faculty mentors. Faculty mentors work with their colleagues to address areas that have been identified as weaknesses in their annual faculty reviews, while providing support and guidance on ways to strengthen scholarly activity, improve pedagogical methods, and identify high-impact service activities.

The annual review process in SPEA is rigorous and comprehensive. The School spends considerable time and effort to make sure we are rewarding those colleagues with outstanding accomplishments in research, teaching and service, while holding faculty members accountable for not performing as expected.

What’s Happening in SPEA Bloomington?

The School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) will be celebrating National Peace Corps Week from February 28th to March 4th, with a special emphasis on Peace Corps’ 50th Anniversary. In collaboration with the Chicago Regional Office for Peace Corps, SPEA will be hosting a week-long series of information sessions, class talks, and networking possibilities. The week will culminate with a great event - International Night - which features displays, food, performances and national costumes from representatives from around the world in SPEA’s master’s student community. International Night was attended by approximately 200 people including students, faculty, staff and community members last year. This year, for the 50 Year Anniversary, a special two-hour long event will be held at the Indiana Memorial Union-University Club on Thursday, March 3rd with the intent of attracting a University-wide audience and showcasing SPEA's large and valued international community. SPEA’s Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) serve as a major organizer in cooperation with SPEA’s diverse international student population to make the initiative one of SPEA’s largest student-driven events.

In addition, SPEA's International Public Affairs Association will hold its 4th Annual Spring Conference on March 25, 2011, at IU Bloomington. This is a student-organized conference held each spring that allows students to share and discuss individual research with colleagues not only from SPEA, but from graduate programs across IU and the state of Indiana. This year's theme is "Global Problems, Sustainable Solutions: Creating Policy for a Rapidly Changing World." Panelists will explore areas including environmental sustainability, foreign aid and economic development, international law, marginalized communities, and public administration. Faculty and students are encouraged to attend and may register for free by emailing ipaa@indiana.edu. More information about the conference will be available soon at http://ipaa.tumblr.com//.

SPEA’s Big Number

This week’s big (or low) number for SPEA Bloomington is the percentage of net operating income from Indiana state appropriations: 20.6%. This is the third lowest percentage of any unit at IU. The business school receives 12.9% of their net income from state appropriations and the medical sciences program receives 17.9% of their net income from state appropriations. The school of informatics is the most dependent on state appropriations, receiving 61.1% of their net income from state appropriations.

Shout-Out to SPEA Bloomington

Please join me in congratulating IUB SPEA Assistant Professor Joe Shaw on his recent co-authored article in Science. You can learn more about this research project at http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/research/shaw_crustacean.shtml. Additional information on the Daphnia Genomics Consortium projects can be found at http://daphnia.cgb.indiana.edu/. According to the IU media office, “no IU science news item in the last 10 years has received more international coverage than did [this] Science paper.”

Innovation in Environmental Education

This Week’s Big Issue

Last semester the SPEA Bloomington faculty approved a new dual degree program between the MSES (in SPEA) and the MBA (in Kelley). The goal was to create a structured educational program that would prepare graduate students for careers in business where a technical background in the environment is necessary. This marked the first formal effort in SPEA’s history to partner with Kelley on a dual (or joint) educational program.

Unfortunately, the proposal has been put on hold for the time being. While there is support for this proposal within Kelley, a number of business school faculty are concerned that this effort comes at the wrong time. The business school is under great pressure to maintain their national ranking for their MBA, and there is some concern that these types of dual degrees may not work to achieve this goal.

On a more positive note, the dual MSES-Physics degree and dual MSES-Chemistry degree have received final approval on campus and are now in the implementation stage. Active recruitment for these programs will start this fall, but we are able to admit any interested students immediately.

We will continue to work on ways to innovate our environmental educational programs, building off of the recent growth in demand for the dual MPA-MSES, and plan to revisit the MSES-MGA proposal with our colleagues in the business school in the future.

What’s Happening in SPEA Bloomington?

I want to give you an update on our efforts to renovate some of our public spaces in the SPEA building. The library, new classrooms, and café/eating space are complete. We are planning an opening event celebration with our partners (library and business school) for February 7 from 3 to 4:30 in the new information commons. We hope to see you there.

The renovation work in the interior sections of the SPEA building (atrium and other public spaces) is almost done. We are still working to complete some of the window repair work on the side stairs. This work is being done to eliminate many of the water leaks that have plagued the building for decades. As soon as this is done, the painters will finish these areas and soft seating will be moved into these nooks so students can continue to use this space for educational purposes.

Faculty and student response to the two new classrooms has been very positive. Instructors are getting acclimated to the technologies built into the rooms. Also, the flexibility of the rooms to be adapted for a variety of different classroom activities gives instructors a number of unique opportunities to experiment with different educational techniques. If you want to explore these classrooms for future purposes, then please stop in during Fridays when they are mostly free to experiment.

If you have not walked around these renovated spaces, please take a few minutes to explore these upgrades to the building.

We are getting very close to the finish line!

SPEA’s Big Number

This week’s big number for SPEA Bloomington is the percentage of undergraduate SPEA majors in Fall 2010 that are on the Dean’s list: 31%

To qualify for the Dean’s list a student must earn a 3.5 semester GPA with a minimum of 12 credit hours.

Shout-Out to SPEA Bloomington

Please join me in congratulating our most recent recipients of the SPEA Academic Admission Awards in our undergraduate programs: Ms. Danielle J. Vetter, Ms. Kathryn (Kami) M. Spicklemire, and Mr. Daniel (Dan) Bader. These awards are designed to recognize IU Bloomington undergraduate students entering SPEA having already distinguished themselves academically and having enrolled in at least five credit hours of SPEA course work. Each has a 4.0 cumulative GPA. Recipients of this award are honored with a $2,000 scholarship.

Ms. Danielle J. Vetter is a Public and Nonprofit Management-Nonprofit major, BS in Public Affairs. This is her second semester at IU Bloomington. She attended Schaumburg High School in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Ms. Kathryn (Kami) M. Spicklemire is a Public and Nonprofit Management-Nonprofit major, BS in Public Affairs. This is her second semester at IU Bloomington. She is a transfer student from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended Warren Central High School in Indianapolis.

Mr. Daniel (Dan) Bader is a Legal Studies major, BS in Public Affairs. This is his second semester at IU Bloomington. He is a transfer student from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont and Ivy Tech in Bloomington, Indiana. He attended West Morris Mendham High School in Mendham, New Jersey.