External Link: GT-Kingsley Vita 2015
Teaching Accomplishments:
Over the last five years I have taught 12 classes (covering 8 courses) at every degree level and in a variety of class sizes and formats.[1] Teaching evaluation scores range from a 4.4 to 5.0 on the 5-point scale for instructor effectiveness. Four courses were taught exclusively at the undergraduate level. The Senior Seminar (PUBP4600 and PUBP4010) is a required course in the School’s BSPP program.[2] The Government of the United States (POL1101) course satisfies an Institute general education requirement.[3] Seven classes were taught exclusively in the graduate programs. Six of these graduate classes are required courses: Public Management (PUBP6017), Policy Implementation (PUBP6018), and Policy Analysis (PUBP6201) are required courses in the MSPP program and Scope and Theory of Public Policy (PUBP8520) is a required course in the PhD program. I also taught one elective exclusively at the graduate level (Business-Government Relations, PUBP6226) and two electives (STEM Education Policy, PUBP4803+8803) that included an undergraduate section and a graduate section.
In addition to my work in the classroom I have also been deeply involved in the education of students through research and independent learning. During this time period I have chaired one doctoral dissertation to a successful conclusion. I have served on 15 dissertations as a committee member. I am currently serving on 6 dissertations which were initiated during this review period. Of the 22 dissertations that I have worked on 11 were in the joint PhD program, 10 in the Tech program, and one in City and Regional Planning. I chaired one MS thesis committee and supervised five MSPP professional papers. I have also supervised 10 independent studies.
Over the last five years I have devoted a good deal of time towards developing project-based learning classes. I employed this technique in both the Senior Seminar and in the master’s level Policy Analysis class. For the Senior Seminar I recruited project sponsors. Typically these are drawn from our alumni base of the School of Public Policy. Students have the option of pursuing a team-based project with one of the clients or pursuing a project of their own design. In the Policy Analysis class clients included the Georgia Conservancy, the Board of Regents, the American Chemical Society, and the Women’s Resource Center at Georgia Tech.
The focus on project based learning serves as a complement to my use of large-scale simulations in the Government of the United States class and my use of case-based instruction in my Public Management class. My use of simulations is designed to take advantage of the large numbers of students enrolled in Government of the United States as a means of introducing students to the basic skills sets of politics. Most recently we turned the class into a House of Representatives having the students self-organize into political parties, caucuses, and legislative committees. Students were then required to draft legislation and attempt to get their bill passed through a process that simulates the workings of the House. My use of case-based instruction is designed to put students into the shoes of the actors in a case and confront different types of managerial decisions found in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
My overall approach to teaching is to emphasize three objectives: 1) achieve student engagement with the subject matter; 2) be clear about the knowledge and skills that students should master through the class; and 3) provide an environment in which students can demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills. To achieve these objectives I adapt my pedagogic approach to the size and subject matter of the class.
Research Accomplishments:
Over the past five years my research has focused on external pressures for innovative organization designs through collaboration and partnership across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. I have been particularly focused on the following topics: 1) how engineering design organizations are adapting knowledge management processes in the face of intensive pressures to privatize and outsource core public sector capabilities; 2) how higher education institutions are adapting to technological innovations and market pressures for lower-cost education models; and 3) how effective are k-12 STEM education programs at absorbing and using knowledge gained from partnerships with higher education. These questions are linked by my larger research interest in governance networks and the development of management strategies and practices dependent on cross-sector linkages.
This research has drawn external support from several funding sources over the last five years for 9 different projects (see the table below). The total amount associated with these awards is $10,304,709 though this includes projects that began before 2009 and others that will continue beyond the current year. My research in engineering design teams has been supported through four grants from the Georgia Department of Transportation (awards total $1,140,862). My research on higher education innovation has been sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (award totals $860,339). The research on k-12 STEM education has been supported mostly through three large grants from the National Science Foundation (organized through Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC)). The projects in which I have served as the principal or co-principal investigator have totaled to awards of $2,017,605 in competitive grants. I have also served as investigator or evaluator on larger research teams which have to awards of $8,385,902 in competitive grants (approximately $400,000 in support to SPP through my partnership with CEISMC in the form of student GRAs, tuition, travel, and faculty summer support).
Funding Source | # Projects | PI | Co-PI | Investigator | Evaluator | Total |
GDOT | 4 | $ 541,440 | $499,994 | $ 1,041,434 | ||
BMGF | 1 | $ 860,339 | $ 860,339 | |||
NSF | 3 | $2,992,941 | $5,392,961 | $ 8,385,902 | ||
IAC-SG | 1 | $ 16,404 | $ 16,404 | |||
Total | 9 | $1,418,183 | $499,994 | $2,992,941 | $5,392,961 | $10,304,079 |
GDOT = Georgia Department of Transportation
BMGF = Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
NSF = National Science Foundation
IAC-SG = Ivan Allen College Small Grants Program
Over the past five years this research program has supported 32 GRA positions. These positions were used to support 5 PhD students, 12 MSPP students, and 2 BSPP students. My research program also funded 1 postdoc position for two years and summer support for 4 faculty colleagues. My team has completed three large studies during this time period and I have participated in the completion of two additional reports for the National Science Foundation.
While my productivity in developing grants and contracts has been strong and my support of research teams important to our School, my publication rate has not been at an acceptable level with 3 peer reviewed articles and 3 book chapters (I have also published 1 book review during this time period). Each of the peer review articles is written with graduate students from our school. The peer review articles and the two most recent book chapters all spring from the sponsored research projects.
The strongest of the peer review journal articles appeared in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management examines the networks of sub-contractors and whether these networks reflect competition or embedded and relational contracting patterns. My contribution to this paper is 40%. The paper in the Journal of Public Procurement examines cases of public managers growing reliance upon contractors and subcontractors and whether these follow predicted behavior patterns associated with relational contracting. My contribution to this paper was 50%. The book chapter in Public Administration Reformation develops a diagnostic procedure for distinguishing between functioning communities of practice and other forms of informal knowledge exchange. My contribution to this chapter was 40%. The book chapter with Barry Bozeman reviews the application and use of “research value mapping” an approach to evaluating public research programs which was first presented in my doctoral dissertation in 1994. My contribution to this chapter was 30%. The chapter in the NRC volume was authored primarily by me with contributions from two other committee members (contribution 90%). With the exception of the NRC volume all of this research grows out of projects that developed through competitive grant awards as the principal investigator on the project.
Service Accomplishments:
Over the past five years I have continued to provide extensive service to government agencies, the professional community, and to the Institute, College and School. The highlights of this activity are provided in the next two sections addressing my professional and on-campus service.
Professional and National Service. My research in math-science education partnerships has led to several service opportunities and invitations for speaking engagements and keynote addresses over the past five years. The most recent example was the opportunity to serve as a keynote speaker at a workshop organized by the National Academy of Sciences for the NASA mission laboratory directors and their education program officers. I was asked to speak on the trends we see in the management of partnerships in STEM education.
During this time period I completed my service on a National Academy of Science panel reviewing the math-science education programs sponsored by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. This resulted in a book published by the National Research Council in 2010 entitled NOAA’s Education Program: Review and Critique. This volume includes a chapter that I wrote providing an assessment of the state of evaluation of NOAA’s STEM education projects and portfolio.
I also continued service on the National Advisory Committee for the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) a program of NSF’s Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education. NSF has funded roughly 20 COSEE centers over a 10 year period. During my service on the advisory committee I contributed to efforts by the COSEE leadership to plan for graduation from NSF support and studies of the feasibility of continuing the centers as on-going enterprises. During this time period I was appointed the Chair of the advisory committee for 2010 and continued serving as a committee member until 2013.
Over the past 5 years GDOT has continued to call upon my advice and assistance as they have implemented many of our research team’s recommendations for building the capacity to manage consultant relationships. My work has supported efforts by GDOT to streamline the contracting process, monitor qualification-based contracts, and develop strategies for knowledge management in the face of privatization and waves of retirements.
On-Campus Service. A large amount of time was spent serving as the School’s Director of Graduate Studies for three and ½ years during this time period. My duties in that capacity included the following for the MSPP, Dual MSPP/MCRP, PhD and Joint PhD degree programs:
Recruitment:
- Develop and manage tracking system for inquiries to graduate programs
- Recruitment meetings with prospective applicants
- Draft text for promotional materials for the SPP Graduate Programs
- Develop and execute recruitment strategies at graduate school fairs and open houses.
Admissions:
- Review admission applications for each of the degree programs
- Chair the Graduate Committee which manages the admission processes
- Manage interactions with the Institute administration of graduate programs
- Manage preparation of letters of acceptance and decline
- Select applicants for assistantship and fellowship support
- Achieved increases in enrollment in MSPP degree program and reduced reliance on grant funding for MSPP enrollments
- Managed the adoption of CollegeNet Admit system for graduate admission decisions. SPP was an early adopter of this system within the Institute.
Advisement:
- Manage the orientation process and lead the orientation events. Update the School handbook for graduate students annually.
- Developed math refresher course offered during summer to incoming students
- Advisement of graduate students on administrative and academic matters
- Monitor academic progress through the MS and PhD programs.
Administration:
- Troubleshooting on Joint Degree program administration on enrollment status and graduation status of students
- Prepared Summary Profile of the SPP Graduate Programs for the 5-year School Review
- Developed and prepared assessment forms and assessment reports for the SPP graduate programs for the Institute’s OATS system.
During this time period I also continued to serve as a member of the comprehensive examination committees for the core exams and some of the specialty examinations. I also served on peer teaching review committees and faculty search committees.
[1] During this time period I served as the Director of Graduate Studies from summer 2010 through fall 2013. This service has a two course release.
[2] During this time period the Senior Seminar evolved from a one semester class worth 3 credit hours to the current Policy Task Force format which covers two semester length classes worth 6 credit hours. This evolution can be seen in the changing course number from PUBP 4600 in the spring of 2010 to PUBP 4010 in the fall of 2010.
[3] Because of the large enrollment the American Government class counts as two course offerings. By this count I have taught the equivalent of 15 classes over the last 5 years.