Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Organic And Sustainable: The Emergence, Formalization And Performance Of A September 11th Disaster Relief Organization, David A. Campbell

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, spawned 252 new nonprofit organizations. We know little about these organizations, including how they emerged, formalized, met constituents' expectations for immediate performance, and ultimately survived. This article explores these issues through a case study of one successful organization, the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund. Using concepts from disaster, organizational ecology, and entrepreneurship research, the analysis identifies six propositions that link these literatures, notably the role of resource acquisition in formalization and the role of legitimacy in both fund development and organizational endurance. The study contributes new knowledge about the role of collaboration …

Mba Student Library Collaboration: Progress And Pitfalls., Colleen Hailey, Jill Dixon

Library Scholarship

In 2008, four accounting students taking a graduate marketing class contacted the business and engineering librarians at the Binghamton University (BU) Libraries about collaborating on a market research project. We wholeheartedly agreed — at once recognizing the unique benefits of gaining patron feedback on library resources and services from the student perspective. The project was also an excellent opportunity to support the School of Management and business students with their graduate course work.

With the Libraries serving as their marketing client, the accounting students created a library survey to provide a “better understanding of the typical user and his/her perceptions …

Preparing For And Responding To Student Incivilities: Starting The Dialogue In Public Affairs Education, Stanley H. Barrett, Nadia Rubaii, John Pelowski

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Almost all faculty, even those in graduate public affairs programs, will at some time encounter incivility in the classroom. How we respond sends an important message about how we as individuals, programs, and a profession value civility. Master’s of Public Administration and Master’s of Public Policy programs have a particular responsibility to graduate individuals who not only have substantive expertise but also meet the highest standards of civility. In this essay, we present a series of recommendations for how individuals, programs, and institutions might respond to incivility. While not all of these recommendations will be appropriate for all programs, and …

Improving Performance Through The Understanding Of Organizational Culture: Binghamton University's Emergency Management Program, David J. Hubeny

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

Emergency situations and unplanned events have the potential to throw an organization into chaos and seriously impact the ability of that organization to fulfill its mission. Critical incidents are unpredictable in nature of emergency incidents will often force and organization to immediately address the event at the expense of providing its essential services. Whether the agency is responsible for maintaining public safety, operating municipal parks, educating the community, or managing youth services facilities, the mission of the organization can be seriously impacted by the occurrence of an unplanned event.

Multi-Generational Community Planning: Linking The Needs Of Children And Older Adults, Mildred Warner, George C. Homsy, Esther Greenhouse

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Do Relationships Matter? Assessing The Association Between Relationship Design And Contractor Performance, Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Hyun Joon Kim, Kristina T. Lambright

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Contracting relationships vary in the extent to which they are complete and involve formal contract specification as well as the extent to which they are based on strong relationships and rely on cooperation and trust. Where a contracting arrangement falls on these two continuums constitutes what this paper refers to as "relationship design" and is likely to impact contractor performance. We use data from a survey of child-care centers and Head Start agencies in Ohio to examine the association between the design of contracting relationships and contractor performance. Contractor performance is assessed in two ways: an objective measure of violations …

Looking Beyond The Undergraduate Classroom: Factors Influencing Service Learning's Effectiveness At Improving Graduate Students' Professional Skills, Yi Lu, Kristina T. Lambright

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

This study provides a greater understanding of which factors influence the effectiveness of service learning projects at improving graduate students’ professional skills. Data for this study was gathered from students in eight Master of Public Administration (MPA) courses taught during two semesters at a large state university. Younger students were more likely than older students to believe that their service learning project was helpful in improving their professional skills. We also find that students who spent more time working on a service learning project outside of class reported their projects were more helpful in improving their professional skills. In addition, …

Coding Into The Great Unknown: Analyzing Instant Messaging Session Transcripts To Identify User Behaviors And Measure Quality Of Service, Sarah Maximiek, Elizabeth Brown, Erin Rushton

Library Scholarship

After one year of providing virtual reference service through an instant messaging (IM) service, Binghamton University (BU) Libraries, under the purview of its Digital Reference Committee (DRC), undertook a study of collected session transcripts. The goals of this work were to determine who was using the IM service and why; if staffing for the service was adequate and met our in-person reference standards; and if improvements to the Libraries' existing reference services were needed. The findings revealed that 31% of identifiable users were students and 5% of users were campus community members. The analyses also revealed that many used the …