Background
I started my academic career by learning about political processes and why people vote the way they do. I was even an intern with a state senator while in college. It wasn’t until I took a class in graduate school on public policy that I realized that how public policy is made and implemented is so important to our everyday lives. It affects how people relate to and feel about their government. Teaching and studying public administration and public policy allows me to have the privilege of training and inspiring the future leaders of Hawaiʻi.
Education
- PhD, Texas A&M University, 2009
- MA, University of Kansas, 2005
- BA, California Polytechnic State University, 2001
Courses
- PUBA 602: Introduction to Public Administration
- PUBA 630: Nonprofit Management
- PUBA 631: Nonprofit Management Practices and Tools
- PUBA 667: Special Topics
- PUBA 695: Capstone Planning Seminar
- PUBA 696: Capstone Seminar
Specializations
Nonprofit management, and education and health policy.
Research
My research examines how public and nonprofit leaders behave and how their behavior affects the success of their organizations. This behavior includes managing for diversity, using performance information, and the influence of market competition and political pressure on managers in public, nonprofit, and private hospitals. More recently, I have been working on a book project about the fourth pillar of public administration— social equity (also known as fairness). The book explores what social equity looks like in the Asia-Pacific region, including Hawaiʻi, South Korea, New Zealand, and Hong Kong as well as several other Asian countries.