Dr. Casey Fleming’s current research project investigates the emotional labor and coping mechanisms of public servants working in the helping or caring professions. Specifically, Dr. Fleming, with MPA student and graduate assistant Jahzmine Ranglin, are exploring the prevalence of burnout, dissent, and prosocial rule breaking (i.e. breaking rules to benefit the organization, client, or other stakeholder) potentially triggered or shaped by stringent, inflexible performance management systems and highly emotive work among public school teachers and welfare social workers.

This project draws from survey and interview data, and looks to provide practical takeaways for effectively and responsibly managing for performance and results in these difficult settings, and for understanding the potentially heavy costs of failing to provide appropriate workplace supports and acknowledgement of emotional labor. This project builds on Fleming’s previous work recently published in Public Management Review. Preliminary findings will be presented at the 2021 joint conference of the North Carolina Public Administration Alliance and North Carolina Political Science Association.

The fall 2020 semester(s) are finally over! As we all get ready for the holiday, we thought we might provide some information about what the spring calendars might look like, as well as the one for the newly created “Winter Intersession.”

See: https://facultysenate.ecu.edu/spring-2021-academic-calendars-2/

Winter Intersession Schedule: https://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/customcf/calendar/WINTER2020-21.pdf

Spring Schedules: https://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/customcf/calendar/SPRING2021_15wk.pdf

Ms. Chastidy Ridley Clarke, the Administrative Associate (lead admin) for the the department of political science for the past several years, recennly accepted a position with the N.C. Agromedicine Institute and will be leaving the department.

We are all very thankful for the time she has spent in her excellent service to the department. Chastidy not only did her job extremely well, but did so with an unfailing cheerful disposition. She was, in other words, a joy to work with!

Chastidy had completed her Master’s of Public Administration degree this spring, and this is a terrific opportunity to advance her career. 

We are all happy for her, and, sad to see her go!

Congratulation to our 2020 Fall Grads! Great Job – and Good Luck!

B.A. in POLITICAL SCIENCE: Christian Alexander Green, Curtis Martin Hooks Jr, Tashauna Tiera Justice, Ashleigh Meredith Watson

B.S. in POLITICAL SCIENCE: Emmaline Joyce Arndt, Anthony Joseph Comella, Kamerelle Joel in Nelle Gibbs, Dion Justin Hodge, Christopher Wayne Kelly, Morgan Lea Nobles, Jeffrey Harrison Pence, Jack Carter Pendergraph, Deyanira Sanchez, Jalen Z Spruill, Chloe Lynn Styles, Brandon Jethro West, Hunter Glen Whittington

B.A. in MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES: Claire Siobhan Goldstone, Noah Jacob Gould, Belle Lynn Williams

B.S. in MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES: Payton Rae Drummonds, Hannah Diane Henderson, Brandon Lanier Higson, Jayson David Matkins, Ashleigh Meredith Watson

CERTIFICATE in ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Justin Craig Oakes

CERTIFICATE in PUBLIC MGT AND LEADERSHIP: Kasey J Countee

CERTIFICATE in SECURITY STUDIES: Timothy Blake Belch, Aaron M Carmichael, Taylor Nicole Derespinis, John L. Trueblood, Dustin Clay Younts

M.P.A. in PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Menna Tarek Abdel Salam, Timothy Blake Belch, Regina Margareta Gustavsson, Renita Kim Harley, Eleanor Anne Jones, Justin Craig Oakes

M.S. in SECURITY STUDIES: Kevin A. Julich, Jacob Taylor Kriminger, Matthew Schultz, Ryan Michael Smith, Jay Villarreal

Dr. Daniel Xu recently published a chapter titled “Health Challenges for Rural Families: Issues, Policies, and Solutions,” in H. Carol Greene, Bryan S. Zugelder & Jane C. Manner eds., Handbook of Research on Leadership and Advocacy for Children and Families in Rural Poverty. Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA, IGI Global.

Abstract: This chapter discusses the key health challenges faced by rural families, the major national policies and programs for rural health, and the process and political context of policymaking for rural health. It first provides an overview of the health condition in rural areas and health disparities as well as their linkage to poverty in rural communities, followed by an overview of the existing government health policies and programs for rural areas and a critical analysis of the federalist system in health policymaking. Then it offers a brief overview of the American federalism and major decision-making models for health policy and discusses their application to health policy decision-making in the United States. The last part concludes by providing policy recommendations for addressing health challenges for rural families and children. It is hoped that this chapter will help professionals in social, health, and human services understand the complexity of addressing health challenges faced by many rural families and children through policy and program interventions.

See: https://www.igi-global.com/book/handbook-research-leadership-advocacy-children/237846

The Center for Survey Research released a new report on November 2 that examines the impacts of Covid-19 on ECU staff.

The report is available to download from the CSR’s website at: https://surveyresearch.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/315/2018/06/Covid_Staff_Report.pdf

Dr. Daniel Hu recently published an article titled “How the United States Flunked the COVID-19 Test: Some Observations and Several Lessons” in the American Review of Public Administration (50(6-7) 568–576).

Abstract: The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has already caused enormous economic and human life losses in the United States and it is still ravaging the country. In this article, the authors argue that the pandemic has exposed key issues of concern in several areas of the American government system ranging from federalist intergovernmental relations to public health system and to health care policy. These issues of concern include the strained federal-state relations in emergency management, inadequate data collection and data reporting for disease surveillance and control, politicization and diminished role of science and evidence in administrative decision making, and underinvestment in public health programs especially in minority health. Based on their analysis, the authors admonish that it is critically important for the U.S. government to learn from the failed response to the pandemic and offer several recommendations for improving its response to future public health emergencies and research in public administration.

See: https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941701

Prof. Hugh Lee is currently working as a co-principal investigator on a CARES ACT funded grant to develop ethical guidelines for vaccine distribution in North Carolina.

Dr Francia, Dr. Morris and Dr. Dave Morris authored an article, “A Fake News Inoculation? Fact Checkers, Partisan Identification, and the Power of Misinformation.” The article was recently published in Parties, Groups, and Identities.

Abstract: Previous research finds that misinformation is often difficult to correct once a person accepts it as truth. Nonetheless, a few studies have shown evidence that fact-checkers can help lower an individual’s susceptibility to believing false news and rumors. Our study builds on this research by examining the fact-checking inoculation effect on political misinformation (also known as “fake news”) that circulated on the Internet in the months following the election of President Donald Trump. Using an experimental design, we find only selected instances of inoculation effects. Instead, our results are consistent with previous studies that show individuals are more likely to accept or reject misinformation based on whether it is consistent with their pre-existing partisan and ideological beliefs. However, partisanship and ideology played a much stronger role in predicting believability for fake news stories critical of Democrats than stories critical of Republicans.

See: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21565503.2020.1803935?journalCode=rpgi20

Dr. Sharon Paynter is actively working on securing external funding for several projects. One of these, for $75,000, is focused on the bio-based economy. See below for the project description:

“The Biobased economy has often been cited as a growing source of economic activity, job creation and environmental benefit through sustainable renewable energy production and use and biobased product manufacturing and consumption. Surprisingly there is relatively little data and indicators available to validate the assertions. There is a need for metrics to be collected and evaluated in order to make informed investment, purchasing and policy decisions.

“This project will continue to advance the nation’s understanding of the benefits and possible impacts of the biobased economy. The public will benefit from this work through an increased understanding that certain bioeconomy sectors lead to environmental benefits in air quality, water quantity and quality, climate change and waste minimization. The result of the project will be report titled “The 2021 Report on Indicators of the U.S. Biobased Economy”. Prior year reports are available from the USDA.”