Renzo de la Riva Agüero

Assistant Professor

School of Public Policy

Education

B.A., Political Science, St. Olaf College, 2005
M.P.P., McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, 2009
Ph.D., Public Policy, Indiana University – Bloomington, 2022

Teaching & Research Interests

Local administrative capacity
Community-based civil society organizations (CSO)
Collaborative governance
Environmental sustainability
Service delivery performance
Public administration in developing countries
Political economy of development
Mixed-methods research
Fieldwork research

Renzo de la Riva Agüero

Renzo is an Assistant Professor of Public Management at the University of Connecticut’s School of Public Policy. He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from Indiana University – Bloomington, through the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Political Science. His research focuses on local administrative capacity, civil society organizations, collaborative governance, and environmental sustainability –– particularly in the Global South. Renzo’s recent work examines whether and how local governance conditions ––such as service-specific administrative capacity, the engagement of community-based CSOs, and the structure of co-governance arrangements–– improve service provision in settings of limited capacity. Drawing on comparative fieldwork and statistical analysis, his studies explore these dynamics in the context of waste management and disaster risk management in Peru. His research has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, State and Local Government Review, and Public Administration and Development. He is the recipient of the 2021 NASPAA Staats Emerging Scholars Award and was recently selected for the 2025–2026 NASPAA NEXT leadership development program. His dissertation has also been recognized by the Public Management Research Association, the Academy of Management, and Indiana University – Bloomington. Prior to academia, Renzo served in the Peruvian public sector, consulted for the World Bank in Washington, DC, and was a public sector manager at Deloitte Peru. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from St. Olaf College and a Master of Public Policy from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.