Moynihan
Public affairs Professor Donald Moynihan has been recognized with a prestigious award for his research. Moynihan will receive the David N. Kershaw Award from the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management at its annual research conference Nov. 6-8 in Albuquerque, N.M.
The $10,000 Kershaw award honors a scholar younger than 40 who has made a distinguished contribution to public policy analysis and management. The award is made once every two years and is determined by the president of Mathematica Policy Research, the president of APPAM, and the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
"The La Follette School is extremely fortunate to have world-class faculty who care about providing excellent classroom teaching, as well as path-breaking research," says school Director Susan Yackee. "Don Moynihan exemplifies this tradition."
Past winners of the award include UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and former La Follette School faculty member Carolyn Heinrich.
"We are proud to present this year's Kershaw Award to Don in recognition of his contributions to public policy," says Paul Decker, Mathematica CEO. "Don is an outstanding young scholar whose research is influencing the rapidly evolving field of public management."
Moynihan's research examines the application of organization theory to public management issues such as performance, budgeting, homeland security, election administration and employee behavior. Currently, Moynihan is exploring administrative burden, the barriers between people and the government services they seek to access. He and La Follette School sociologist Pamela Herd are studying the administrative burdens of social programs.
Moynihan, 38, has won many national awards for his research, including the American Society for Public Administration Wholey Award on three occasions for outstanding scholarship on performance in public and nonprofit organizations. He won the 2011 National Academy of Public Administration/Wilder School award for scholarship in social equity. Moynihan received the 2012 Distinguished Research Award from ASPA and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. His book, The Dynamics of Performance Management: Constructing Information and Reform, was named best book by the Academy of Management's Public and Nonprofit Division and received the Herbert Simon award from the American Political Science Association. He was elected to the National Academy of Public Administration in 2011.
Since joining the La Follette School in 2005, Moynihan has won several campus awards, including the Vilas award from the university's Graduate School, the university's H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship and the La Follette School's Jerry and Mary Cotter Faculty Fellowship.