As we move from summer to fall and begin a new academic year, it seems like a good time to reflect. This year, like the last few, has been challenging to say the least. In the School of Public Service we are certainly not immune from the stressors that seemingly everyone is struggling with these days.
But rather than reflecting solely on the problems of our day, I would like to share some of the ways we are working to solve them. In this issue of Public Interest, we’ll introduce you to a faculty member who has been recognized for his prolific and rigorous research. We’ll share some of the national and university-wide awards School of Public Service faculty and staff have won, and we’ll introduce you to some of our outstanding, award-winning students and recent graduates.
We have accomplished a lot this past year. Our teaching and research continue full speed ahead with a focus on public service and solving real-world problems. Working, as always, in the public interest.
Friends, beginning with our next issue of Public Interest, our new School of Public Service Dean, Dr. Angie Bos will be coordinating new editions of Public Interest. You’ll have a chance to get to know her better when you read our next installment. In the meantime, it’s been a pleasure serving as interim dean over the last three years, and I look forward to returning to my previous role as associate dean.
Thanks for reading,
Andrew Giacomazzi
Associate Dean, School of Public Service
Boise State University
In an exciting new edition of Academics Talking Academics in Elevators, Associate Dean Andy Giacomazzi and Dr. Saleh Ahmed discuss:
Sanghee Park, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration in the School of Public Service, has won this year’s Rosemary O’Leary award for the best article on the topic of women in public administration. The award is judged on significance of the contribution to scholarship, excellence in writing and communication, scholarly innovation and rigor.
Co-authored with School of Public Service Ph.D student Yesse Charles Mwihambi, Park’s paper Intergovernmental Representation at Different Levels of Government: The Effect of Gender Representation examined whether and where bureaucratic representation occurs within the bureaucratic hierarchy and how intergovernmental representation contributes to government efforts to reduce social disparities and improve gender-related outcomes. It was published in the October 6 edition of Public Administration Review.
Park and Mwihambi presented their article at the April 20 conference of the International Research Society in Public Management.
Ana-Maria Dimand of our Public Policy and Administration program has been awarded a Boise State Golden Apple Award. The Golden Apple Awards are a student-led award program that recognizes faculty for excellent teaching and efforts to better include students in their classrooms. Over 170 nominations were received, coming from all nine colleges and schools across the university, including the graduate and the honors colleges. The 12 student members of the award committee selected nine recipients they felt best exemplified the spirit of the award.
The Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management recently hosted their annual Campus Awards ceremony to recognize students, faculty, staff, and student organizations for outstanding achievement, service, and campus engagement.
School of Public Service honorees include:
Claire Vaage, a 2022 graduate of the Environmental Studies program in the School of Public Service, was named a Boise State Top 10 Scholar for 2022. Vaage, a Boise native, was also awarded an Andrus Scholarship by the School of Public Service’s Andrus Center in her third year at Boise State.
Many students depend on the generosity of donors who support their studies through scholarship awards. We appreciate your contributions to our academic scholarships as well as the Andrus and the Frank Church Scholars programs. If you’d like to make a contribution, please click on this link, or contact Development Director Jennifer Neil at jenniferneil1@boisestate.edu or (208) 426-2927.
Dalten Fox is the first ever graduate student from Boise State, or any university in Idaho, to be selected for the American Society for Public Administration Founders’ Fellowship. He recently traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to represent Boise State, The School of Public Service and the state of Idaho at the American Society for Public Administration Annual Conference.
SPS Ph.D. student Jasmine Platt is a recipient of a $5,000 scholarship award from the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association. Jasmine will be able to use these funds for education-related expenses to support her interest in transportation research.
Platt was also awarded a Ritchie-Jennings Memorial Scholarship from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the Susan C. Eaton Scholar-Practitioner Research Grant Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association.
As part of the 2022 University Foundations Teaching Awards, School of Public Service Business Operations Manager Wendy Wong was selected as the inaugural University Foundations 100 Discussion Group Leader Teaching Award winner. Wendy has received a large number of nominations from University Foundations students over the past couple of years, with students praising her for always being accessible to her students while motivating them to think critically and produce excellent work.
Sophia Borgias, assistant professor of interdisciplinary programs in the School of Public Service, recently won the dissertation award in the water policy and economics category from the Universities Council on Water Resources.
Her dissertation offers a critical reassessment of the emblematic water conflict over the Los Angeles Aqueduct, one of the first large rural-to-urban inter-basin water transfers in the American West. Drawing on three years of in-depth archival, ethnographic, and collaborative research, it examines how public, private, and tribal interests have been weighed in decision-making about land and water allocation over time.
Christopher Courtheyn, assistant professor of Global, Urban, and Environmental Studies in the School of Public Service, launched the Spanish translation of his recently published book on peacebuilding in Colombia on May 18 in Bogotá.
He presented his research at the Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies at the Universidad del Rosario.
The SPS Annual “Commitment” Awards honorees announced at a reception in May. The following SPS faculty and staff were this year’s awardees:
