Rosemary O'Leary

Rosemary O’Leary is best known for her research exploring underrepresented voices in public organizations and in society. She has won 13 national research awards and 2 international research awards (including 4 best book awards) and 11 teaching awards (2 of them national). She is among a few who have won 5 lifetime achievement awards in the field of public management/public administration from five different associations. She is the only person to win 4 NASPAA awards for Distinguished Research, Excellence Doctoral Education, Best Dissertation, and Excellence in Teaching. In 2021, the Academy of Management chose her book, "The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government" as the winner of the Best Book in Public Management Award. Rosemary has worked in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, India, and Nepal as a Fulbright Scholar, a teacher, a researcher and a Peace Corps volunteer. Rosemary was a member of NASA’s Return to Flight Task Group assembled in response to the Columbia space shuttle accident and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Award for her efforts. She was President of the US-based Public Management Research Association and worked actively with its board of directors for ten years. In 2019, the Europe-based IRSPM established the annual "Rosemary O'Leary Prize for Outstanding Scholarship on Women in Public Administration." Today Rosemary is Vice President for North America at IRSPM.