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IU professor emeritus honored for career contributions to public management

• June 11, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Distinguished Professor Emeritus James Perry will receive the H. George Frederickson Award for his contributions to the field of public management during a career that has spanned more than 40 years.

Perry retired from the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Bloomington in 2013 but remains active lecturing, researching and writing about how governments function and can operate more efficiently.

The biennial award will be presented this week at the Public Management Research Association conference in Minneapolis. It is named for George Frederickson, a former SPEA professor and administrator, who is now on the faculty of the University of Kansas.

“There is no higher award for public management scholarship, and we are immensely proud that Jim’s remarkable impact on the field is being recognized in this way,” said SPEA Executive Associate Dean Michael McGuire.

Perry joined the SPEA faculty in 1985. He is editor-in-chief of Public Administration Review and serves on the editorial board for Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly and International Review of Public Administration. Perry has authored or edited 10 books and more than 150 articles and book chapters. He has conducted pioneering research on performance pay for government employees and the motivations for public service.

“This is an especially gratifying honor because I consider George a friend and mentor and because of what it says about the quality and breadth of the research and scholarship here at SPEA,” Perry said. “My colleagues at SPEA are a constant source of inspiration and guidance, and their contributions have made PAR, headquartered at SPEA, the pre-eminent journal in the field.”

In a letter to Perry announcing the award, the Public Management Research Association wrote: “Your widely cited and influential work on public service motivation has shaped a thriving and internationally significant area of research in public management. In addition to your own seminal work in this and other areas, you have also helped to build the field institutionally. This includes: your participation as an editor or board member of 15 journals, particularly your current leadership of Public Administration Review; your participation in PMRA and other associations; your influence on practice, including as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration; and your many international collaborations.”

Perry was a founding associate editor of the association’s journal, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, in 1990. His article “Measuring Public Service Motivation: An Assessment of Construct Reliability and Validity” is the most cited in the history of the journal.

Perry, McGuire and several other SPEA faculty members will attend the Public Management Research Association conference for the award ceremony.

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