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 Each month we profile a national organization with which ARS has partnered to reach a broader audience capable of initiating action across sectors and jurisdictions. The National Academy of Public Administration is an independent, non-partisan organization chartered by Congress to assist federal, state and local governments in improving their effectiveness, efficiency and accountability. For more than 35 years, the Academy has met the challenge of cultivating excellence in the management and administration of government agencies.
Federal agencies, Congress, state and local governments, academia, and foundations frequently seek the Academy's assistance in addressing such short- and long-term challenges as budgeting and finance, alternative agency structures, performance monitoring, human resources management, information technology, devolution of federal programs, strategic planning, and managing for results.
The Academy boasts a distinguished membership of 550 Fellows, including current and former presidential cabinet officers, members of Congress, governors, mayors, state legislators, diplomats, business executives, local public managers, foundation executives, and scholars. They guide the Academy's work - from conception through completion - serving on project panels and advising other major activities. Fellows elect new members of the Academy each year. The principal criterion for selection is a sustained contribution to the field of public administration through public service or scholarship.
Virtually all Academy activities are conducted through panels composed of Academy Fellows and others with expertise in the specific study topics. Executive, administrative and research support is supplied by members of the Academy's staff. In addition, the Academy has five Standing Panels that provide input to the Academy's agenda of studies and serve as collegial forums for exchange of ideas and interaction with outside experts, including senior government officials.
Academy Centers. The Academy's project and standing panels are supplemented and complemented by an experienced staff organized into eight areas of emphasis, or Centers, such as Human Resources Management, Management Studies, Economy and the Environment, and International Studies. Through these and other Centers, Academy staff and consultants engage in substantive research and develop durable relationships with governmental, professional and scholarly organizations.
Special Initiatives. In recent years, the Academy has focused its resources and attention on specific concepts, including Homeland Security and the Future of the Public Service, as well as a prospective, ten-point agenda dubbed Big Ideas. A few of the topics being studied under this latter category are intergovernmental relations, bio-terrorism, health care, social equity and justice, and prisons.
Publications. The work of the Academy's project and standing panels typically is documented in formal publications. Three recent titles available through the Academy's website include Managing Intergovernmental Relations for Homeland Security, Addressing Community Concerns: How Environmental Justice Relates to Land Use Planning and Zoning, and Understanding what States Need to Protect Water Quality.
Morgan C. Kinghorn is President of the National Academy of Public Administration. For more information on the Academy or to obtain publications, visit the website www.napawash.org.
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