Michael R. Ford

Associate Professor of Public Administration

• The Problem with Governance by Gesture. PA Times, July 21, 2021.
  
• Pushing Back Against Democratic Decline. PA Times, June 22, 2021.
• Learning From Our Herd Immunity Failure. PA Times, May 24, 2021.
• A Post-COVID Research Agenda. PA Times, April 19, 2021.
• Much Ado About Masks. PA Times, March 22, 2021.
• Is the Council-Manager Form of Government the Right Form of Government? PA Times, February 23, 2021.
• Making Accountability Actionable. PA Times, January 20, 2021.
• Reflecting on 2021 and Looking Ahead to a Challenging 2021. PA Times, December 12, 2020.
  
• Chaos and Confusion: The Erosion of Administrative Capacity in Wisconsin.  PA Times. September, 2019.
• Combatting Conspiratorial Thinking.  PA Times. April, 2019.
• Understanding Public Administration Through the Concept of Failure. PA Times. March, 2019.
• Improving Public Administration Conferences. PA Times. February, 2019.
• Comfort with Ambiguity: Why it Matters and Ways to Teach it. PA Times. December, 2018.
• Facts Matter, and We Can Show our Students Exactly How. PA Times.  November, 2018.
• Understanding Governance Through Perceptions. PA Times.  October, 2018.
• From Trump to Minnowbrook: Navigating Current Issues in PA.  PA Times.  September, 2018.
• Lessons in Performance Management from Wisconsin.  PA Times.  August, 2018.
• Is American Public Administration in Decline?  PA Times.  August, 2018.
• Leveraging Media, Social and Otherwise to Connect Public Administration Research to Practice. PA Times. June, 2018.
• The Value Research of Research in Practitioner-Focused MPA Programs. PA Times. April, 2018.
• Good Practices are Good for Students. Wisconsin School News. March, 2018.
• The Practical Challenge of Doing What Works. PA Times.  March, 2018.
• Lessons from the Government Shutdown.  PA Times.  February, 2018.
• The Big Questions Facing Public Administration in 2018. PA Times. January, 2018.
• ​The Makings of a Good Municipal Budget Document.  PA Times.  December, 2017.
• In Defense of Democratic Governance.  PA Times.  November, 2017.
• Recommitting to Public Service Values in Troubled Times.  PA Times.  October, 2017.
• Making the Most of Undergraduate Public Administration.  PA Times.  September, 2017. 
• The Importance of Studying Small Municipalities.  PA Times.  August, 2017.
• What happened in Milwaukee? The city's school voucher legacy.  Thomas B. Fordham Institute Flypaper Blog.  July 2017.
• Yes, school board members are often ideological, and that’s OK.  Brookings Institution January, 2017.
• What's the Root of School Board Conflict?  School Administrator.  January, 2017.  
• In Milwaukee, school vouchers have helped many private schools to fail.  London School of Economics US Centre Daily Blog on American Politics and Policy.  January, 2017.
• How Do Charter and Traditional School Board Members Define Accountability? Green and Write Blog. November, 2016.
• Governance in Wisconsin’s Smaller Municipalities. The Municipality.  August 2016.  
• Identifying and Addressing Unproductive Conflict on Wisconsin School Boards.  Wisconsin School News.  June-July, 2016.
• The Challenge of Linking Governance to Performance.  PA Times.  May 20, 2016.
• The Importance of Charter School Board Governance. Green and Write Blog.  February, 2016. 
• Governance and Student Achievement.  Wisconsin School News.  December, 2015.  Co-Authored with Douglas Ihrke.
• The Fiscal Calculator.  The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.  September 24, 2015.  Co-Authored with John Merrifield.
• “Understanding School Finance in Wisconsin: A Primer.” Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, May 2013.