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Academy Insights

What's currently happening in government, and at the National Academy of Public Administration.

Academy President and CEO on GovMatters

Type: General News

Dec 23, 2018

The partial government shutdown continued Sunday. Congress and the President could not agree on a funding deal to re-open nine...

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Advice to Political Appointees

Type: Standing Panel News

Dec 19, 2018

Introduction This section includes a compilation of advice for political appointees that have been prepared in recent years for new...

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Reforming the Appointment Process

Type: Standing Panel News

Dec 19, 2018

Introduction Over the last thirty years, there have been numerous studies calling for major reform of the political appointment process...

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Managing in a Political Environment

Type: Standing Panel News

Dec 19, 2018

Here you will find advice from former political appointees on navigating the political aspect of government agencies. Seven Rules for...

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Your Agency Operations

Type: Standing Panel News

Dec 19, 2018

Learn how to enhance your agency operations through both innovative and classic techniques and approaches. Managing the Risks in the...

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Help Tackle the Grand Challenges of Our Time

Type: General News

Nov 27, 2018

The last two decades have marked a period of near-constant change for the United States. As new challenges have arisen...

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Panel Meeting: Insights from the 2012 Obama Business and Trade Reorganization Initiative

Type: Standing Panel News

Oct 09, 2018

President Obama announced in his 2011 State of the Union that he would pursue reorganizing federal agencies to improve government...

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Standing Panel on the Public Service Session with Key PMA Leaders

Type: Standing Panel News

Oct 09, 2018

In the third session of the Academy's series focusing on the PMA and key leaders within the Trump Administration, Suzette...

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National Trade Policies and International Competitiveness - Public Administration Challenges

Type: Standing Panel News

Sep 07, 2018

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION CHALLENGES IN FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING TRADE POLICIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS View the presentation here.

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Being Inspired by Others

Type: Standing Panel News

Aug 30, 2018

By Jonathan D. Breul, NAPA Fellow I’m always intrigued by how other countries have tackled a management challenge that we’ve...

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Upcoming Meeting

Type: Standing Panel News

Aug 03, 2018

Save-the-Date! The next meeting of the Standing Panel on International Affairs will be Friday, August 24th. Speaker details to follow...

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Joint Session of the Standing Panels on the Public Service and Technology Leadership: Roundtable with Suzette Kent

Type: Standing Panel News

Jul 18, 2018

In the third session of the Academy's series focusing on the PMA and key leaders within the Trump Administration, Suzette...

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Call for Abstracts: Bridging the Gap Between Gender Responsive Budgeting and Participatory Budgeting

Type: Standing Panel News

Jun 29, 2018

Introduction Two government budget initiatives that have been implemented in countries around the world since the 1980s are participatory budgeting...

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Organizational Meeting

Type: Standing Panel News

Jun 18, 2018

On July 13, an organizational meeting to begin to chart out the path for the Social Equity Panel over the...

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Meet and Greet with IREX’s Mandela Fellows

Type: Standing Panel News

Jun 15, 2018

The Africa Working Group of NAPA's International Standing Panel will host the Public Management Track participants of the 2018 Mandela...

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The Federal System – A Look Back in Time

Type: Standing Panel News

May 30, 2018

In June of 1968 the Policy Committee of the Republican Governors Association accepted a staff report titled “Handbook of Suggested...

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Building a Shared Map of the Nation’s Infrastructure to Enable Smart Investments

Type: General News

May 29, 2018

Funding the nation's surface transportation system has been on the Government Accountability Office’s biannual high risk list since 2007. The...

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RECENT EVENT: STANDING PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Type: Standing Panel News

May 23, 2018

The Standing Panel on International Affairs recently met on May 21, 2018 to discuss public administration in environments external to...

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Standing Panel Information

Type: Standing Panel News

May 23, 2018

To learn more about the Academy's Standing Panels and how to get involved, contact Kaitlyn Hudgins, Director of Fellow Engagement...

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Exploring the reconstitution of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations

Type: Standing Panel News

May 21, 2018

Academy Fellows Gov. Parris Glendening, Dr. John Kincaid & Dr. Carl Stenberg testifed last week before the bipartisan Speaker's Task...

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Promoting Equality in an Age of Austerity: The Role for State and Local Governments

Type: Standing Panel News

May 21, 2018

The annual conference sponsored by NAPA’s Standing Panel on Social Equity will be hosted this year by the Marxe School...

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Public Service Recognition Week 2018

Type: General News

May 11, 2018

Kicking off Public Service Recognition Week - Govmatters.tv Terry Gerton, president & CEO of NAPA and Bill Valdez, president of...

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Research on Artificial Intelligence

Type: Standing Panel News

May 04, 2018

The future and with it, Artificial Intelligence, is almost here. You can follow some of the recent research done by...

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Helping Managers Understand Attrition and Retention Issues Using Federal Employee Survey Data

Type: Standing Panel News

May 04, 2018

At the core of the recent National Academy of Public Administration report titled Strengthening Organizational Health and Performance in Government...

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Transforming Federal Grants Management: Evolving from Oversight to Insight Generation and Performance Improvement

Type: Standing Panel News

Apr 10, 2018

Introduction Grants are among the most important tools the federal government uses to advance its vast array of objectives in...

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Federal Advocacy Priorities of Associations Representing State and Local Government Officials in Washington, DC

Type: Standing Panel News

Apr 10, 2018

Introduction This article demonstrates the federal policy priorities of the National Governors Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, National League...

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A Reconceptualization of Government | Jos C.N. Raadschelders

Type: General News

Apr 10, 2018

Jos Raadschelders has been teaching and writing about public administration for 35 years, lately at the John Glenn College of...

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From Oversight to Insight: Federal Agencies as Learning Leaders in the Information Age

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 30, 2018

NAPA Fellow and IGS Panel member, Shelley Metzenbaum authored "From Oversight to Insight: Federal Agencies as Learning Leaders in the...

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Public Service Recognition Week Charity Walk/Run

Type: General News

Mar 30, 2018

The Public Service Recognition Week (#PSRW) Charity Walk/Run will be on May 6 at National Harbor, MD and for virtual...

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Improving Employee Engagement: A Virtuous Cycle

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 21, 2018

I think I’ve heard just about every government joke there is. Most are mean-spirited and just plain wrong. But here’s...

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Tackling AI and Robotics at NAPA

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 15, 2018

By Dr. Alan R. Shark, Chair, NAPA Standing Panel on Technology Leadership There can be no doubt Artificial Intelligence (AI)...

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Improving Employee Engagement: Reflections of a Former HUD Deputy Secretary

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 14, 2018

What happens when you tie your Employee Engagement effort to shared mission and goals? Lots. In 2014, the Department of...

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Managing the Risks in the Retained Organization: A Priority for New Leaders

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Introduction The movement to shared services should continue to be a priority for the new leaders of our government. Shared...

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Advice to Appointees: Resolving the Operating/Investment Dilemma

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Introduction During my 12 years of service as a Senate-confirmed political appointee in the Department of Defense (DoD), I regularly...

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Implementing Innovation in Government

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Indtroduction In our recent Commentary, Implementing Performance Management in Government, we discussed that effective political appointees need to develop ways...

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Implementing Enterprise Risk Management in Government

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Introduction A recent Commentary in this series, Implementing Performance Management in Government, recommended that political appointees develop ways to track...

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Implementing Performance Management in Government

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Introduction Based on our interviews with 42 Obama Administration appointees over the past four years, we developed many insights into...

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Scaling a Fiscal Cliff and Other Contortions

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Introduction There is little new under the sun. We can find close presidential races from the time of Thomas Jefferson...

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Five Recommendations to Improve Veterans Healthcare During the Second Term of the Obama Administration

Type: Standing Panel News

Mar 08, 2018

Introduction The looming epidemic in chronic diseases, accelerated by aging populations and increasing prosperity, is threatening to overwhelm healthcare budgets...

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ELR Prize Award Video

Type: General News

Mar 02, 2018

On February 13th, 2018, the National Academy of Public Administration awarded the Elliot L. Richardson Prize for Excellence in Public...

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Australia-US Lessons on Public Sector Stewardship and Capability

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 27, 2018

The NAPA White Paper, Strengthening Organisational Health and Performance in Government, draws on international as well as US experience and...

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Building an Intergovernmental System for the Future

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 26, 2018

In the United States, most domestic policies and programs are implemented through the intergovernmental system, integrating federal, state, and local...

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Employee Engagement Surveys Are Only Part of the Answer

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 22, 2018

Merely measuring employee engagement isn’t enough, concludes a NAPA white paper on Strengthening Organizational Health and Performance in Government. While...

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Where Do We Find Performance? Balancing Organizational Health and Outcomes

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 20, 2018

Reforms that promise better government performance are like a mirage – always just over the horizon, and rarely living up...

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FNR: How to improve organizational performance in your agency’s unit

Type: General News

Feb 20, 2018

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) has released a paper offering a new data-driven management improvement approach that could...

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Learning Agendas Can Produce Performance and Evaluation Evidence

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 15, 2018

The Evidence-based Policymaking Commission strongly recommends that agencies use learning agendas for evaluation plans to build the base of evidence...

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A New Strategy to Improve Government Performance

Type: General News

Feb 13, 2018

A recent National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) report Improving Organizational Health and Performance in Government by a special panel...

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The Five Rs and Employee Engagement

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 12, 2018

Companies need engaged employees. They are motivated to innovate, increase productivity, and satisfy customers. The sad truth, however, is that...

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No Time to Wait Report mentioned in President's FY 19 Budget

Type: General News

Feb 12, 2018

Our #NoTimeToWait report was cited in the President's budget proposal today, and called a "clarion call to civil service reform."...

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The Big Deal About Big Data

Type: Standing Panel News

Feb 08, 2018

This blog post first appeared in Government Executive Behind the roller-coaster politics rocking Washington, a much quieter but just as...

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