INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

PERRY TO LEAD SPEA PROGRAMS AT IUPUI; PLANS TO KICK IT UP A NOTCH

Like Food Network star chef Emeril Lagasse, James L. Perry plans to kick it up a notch when he arrives to lead the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) programs at IUPUI.

After all, Perry says, he is inheriting a faculty and staff that are ready to move to the next level.

"Faculty in SPEA at IUPUI are at the cutting edge of policy debates, whether the debate is about welfare reform, legalized gambling, treatment approaches for youth offenders, faith-based social service, or administration of the health care system," Perry said.

"SPEA at IUPUI is about some of the most enduring values in our society, about realizing values such as community, service, compassion, and democratic accountability," he said.

SPEA Dean Astrid E. Merget announced the appointment of Perry, Chancellor's Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington, as Associate Dean of Indianapolis Programs for the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, effective June 1, 2001.

IUPUI Chancellor Gerald L. Bepko said: "Jim Perry reflects the broad interdisciplinary scholarly interests; the in-depth experience in the public, private, and philanthropic sector; as well as the visionary administrative leadership that have made the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs what it is today: a place that offers excellent academic preparation for students to work in government, the environment, health, criminal justice, industry, and nonprofit organizations."

Perry is co-director of Indiana University's Institute for the Study of Government and the Nonprofit Sector, a university-wide institute jointly sponsored by SPEA, the Center on Philanthropy, and the Center on Urban Policy and the Environment. He is a leading authority on pay-for-performance and public service motivation. He has authored over 125 articles, appearing in such journals as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, American Political Science Review, and Public Administration Review.

In 1992 he served as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and in 1999-2000 he was senior evaluator in the Corporation for National Service. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

"SPEA at IUPUI has a huge number of assets, from top to bottom, including having a dynamic campus administration headed by Chancellor Gerald Bepko and William Plater, Executive Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Faculties," Perry said. "Beyond that, there is an extraordinary faculty within the SPEA Indianapolis programs. During last 10 years, the faculty has grown not only in numbers, but in quality.

The indicators of excellence speak for themselves, he said. With his arrival, there will be three members of the National Academy for Public Administration, a Congressionally chartered organization whose role is to provide advice to Congress and the public administration community about the administration of public enterprises. Perry joins fellow academy members John Kirlin, Director of the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, and Dr. Philip Rutledge, Interim Associate Dean and Professor Emeritus.

Another indicator is that the school's Masters of Public Affairs program is in the top 25 percent of more than 250 programs nationally. The MPA nonprofit management concentration ranks 11th nationally.

Lilly Endowment has provided the school with substantial resources in recent years and individual faculty members are attracting significant grants, he said, citing the $1 million Sheila Suess Kennedy received from the Ford Foundation to study charitable choice.

"These are symbolic of the depth and quality of talent at IUPUI," Perry said.

Perry also pointed to the area of health administration, noting the Master of Health Administration program, led by Stephen Walston. "They are bringing the most modern techniques of health administration not only to central Indiana but to a constituency that is conceivably national in scope."

That, Perry says, is the business of SPEA at IUPUI: "working with the most socially significant institutions in our society, to make a difference in the lives of people in our community and state, as well as nationally and internationally."

###

Return to IUPUI Home