SPP Announces Dr. Angela Eikenberry As Next School Director

A headshot of Angela Eikenberry
Angela Eikenberry has their photo taken at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

The University of Connecticut’s (UConn) School of Public Policy (SPP) is proud to announce Dr. Angela M. Eikenberry, Ph.D. as our next School Director! Angie will join our network on July 22nd.

Her journey to SPP began at the University of Nebraska where she received a BA in International Studies, an MPA with a focus in Nonprofit Management and a Ph.D. in Public Administration. Prior to joining SPP she served as the Director of UNO’s School of Public Administration (SPA).

She is the Past-President of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and a member of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration’s (NASPAA) Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation (COPRA). Angie has been a member of various editorial boards including the Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration and the Journal of Civil Society, and Administrative Theory and Praxis. A member of Creating the Future’s board, she also serves on the Development Committee for the National Academy of Public Administration. At SPA she sat on multiple committees and was also a part of the UNO’s American Association of University Professors (AAUP) executive committee. Her teaching interests include:

  • Nonprofit management
  • Fundraising
  • Philanthropy
  • Public administration and democracy
  • Philanthropy and democracy
  • Qualitative research methods
  • Critical theory and pedagogy

In 2023 she was awarded the Outstanding Article in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ) for Toward a Typology of Critical Nonprofit Studies: A Literature Review, and received UNO’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in the area of Teaching. Her research was recognized by UNO in 2020 when she was awarded the D.B. and Paula Varner Professorship in Scholarship/Research, and the Award for Distinguished Research or Creative Activity in 2016. She was awarded the US-UK Fulbright Scholar Award in 2015.

Recently she co-edited a textbook on nonprofit management: Reframing Nonprofit Management: Democracy, Inclusion, and Social Change, 2nd edition (Melvin & Leigh, In press). Angie has also been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and The Takeaway and in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Her research interests include:

  • The social, economic and political roles philanthropy, voluntary associations, and nonprofit organizations play in democratic governance.
  • Empirical and theoretical areas of focus include: Giving circles and collaborative giving, marketization of nonprofit organizations and philanthropy, and critical approaches to public and nonprofit administration.

Angie notes,

I am excited to be joining such a well-regarded School and University and honored to be following in Mohamad’s momentous footsteps. I am so impressed by the range and diversity of programs at the SPP, support it provides to students and the community, and opportunities for continued dynamic growth.

Interim College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Ofer Harel, “…look(s) forward to working with Angie on expanding SPP research and other UConn, CLAS and SPP initiatives.” He thanks current School Director Mohamad Alkadry for his time and commitment towards elevating our programs.

Mohamad joined SPP at a time transition almost seven years ago as we moved from our West Hartford location to Downtown Hartford. Under his leadership we have expanded our course offerings and faculty lines, created professional development opportunities to train the State’s workforce, expanded internship service across the region and grown from a department to a school. This fall Mohamad will return to faculty. He says this about Angie’s arrival:

Professor Eikenberry is an exceptional scholar, professor and teacher, and an outstanding citizen in the fields of public administration, public policy and nonprofit management. I am certain that she will guide the School of Public Policy to new heights in teaching, service and research. As I focus on teaching, research and global service in the near future, I am confident that the School’s past, present and future are in good hands.

We once again welcome Angie to our network and look forward to her tenure with SPP!