News
Wilder School faculty shine at 2019 APPAM Fall Conference
By Briana Williams
Five diverse faculty members from the Wilder School’s academic programs and Centers for Public Policy (CPP) traveled to the annual 2019 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Fall Research Conference in Denver, Co. Each faculty member participated in the event as panelists, discussants, presenters, exhibitors and hosts of featured conference events.
This year’s conference theme “Rising to the Challenge: Engaging Diverse Perspectives on Issues and Evidence” discussed the highest quality research on a wide variety of important current and emerging policy and management issues. The conference was held November 7-9 and emphasized the value of bringing together researchers and practitioners with a wide range of perspectives to engage the evidence and discuss how best to improve public policy.
Wilder School faculty in attendance included Susan Gooden, Ph.D., interim dean; Elsie Harper-Anderson, Ph.D., associate professor and PhD program director; Sarah Jane Brubaker, Ph.D., professor; Myung Jin, Ph.D., assistant professor; and Brittany Keegan, Ph.D., CPP research and outreach director.
Jin, co-author of “Anti-Game Addiction Regulatory Policy Design and Social Construction Effect in Korea” participated in a panel to discuss the Theoretical and Practical Lessons from Korean Public Policy Analytics and Management.
Doctoral student Muloongo Simuzingli who authored the paper entitled “Income and Birth Outcomes: Examining the Mechanisms of the Earned Income Tax Credit” was also among those who was selected to be featured at APPAM.
Over the past several years, Wilder School faculty and students have served in key leadership roles within the association. Keegan currently serves as an advisor to APPAM Student Advisory Committee and helped to coordinate several of the student resource sessions throughout the conference.
“I was on the committee last year and now that I am no longer a student, I serve as an advisor to the committee and assist with devising insightful panel questions and recruiting individuals to participate,” shared Keegan.
“I really enjoy the student resource sessions because rather than presenting research in a lecture style, it is much more of a conversation with the audiences. We were able to interact by answering questions and we were all learning together.”
Keegan also helped to conduct the “Live from APPAM” student podcast recording.
Brubaker, along with others panelists, shared personal experiences with how gender and academia intersect and what they have seen in their own observations compared to what is said in various literature. The panel also discussed some of the challenges that not only women would face, but those who may be transgender or nonbinary, and are not the typical sis gender male.
Harper-Anderson’s panel discussion included thoughts on how to make classrooms more inclusive and welcoming to people of all races, identities and abilities.
Gooden also served on student resource panels discussing topics such as Soft Skills for Academic Job Market and Confronting Structural Racism in Quantitative Research.
In addition, the visibility and thought leadership of our exceptional programs and faculty was showcased at the PhD Program Fair exhibit table as well as the annual APPAM Student Mixer, which was co-sponsored by the Wilder School.
“It was great to not only interact with some of the students in attendance, but we were also able to talk to some of the sponsors and APPAM staff at our reception as well,” noted Keegan.