State and Local Government Review welcomes the following new members of the editorial board, serving for the term 2024–2026. The editorial board supports the journal’s mission to be the premier outlet for research on state, local, and intergovernmental affairs.
Whitney Afonso is a Professor at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Afonso’s research focuses on state and local public finance with an emphasis on local sales taxes. Her work has been published in journals such as Public Administration Review, National Tax Journal, Public Budgeting & Finance, American Review of Public Administration, and State and Local Government Review. She serves on the executive committee of the ABFM and on the editorial boards of Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and Public Budgeting & Finance. She also advises and teaches practitioners and elected officials in the state.
Ann O’M. Bowman is Regents Professor and holder of the Hazel Davis and Robert Kennedy Endowed Chair in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Throughout her academic career, the focus of her research and teaching has been state and local government institutions and policy, and federalism and intergovernmental relations. In 2020 her book, Reinventing the Austin City Council, was published by Temple University Press. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and is a Past President of the Southern Political Science Association. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florida.
Joseph Drew is Professor of Local Government Economics at the Institute for Regional Futures located within the University of Newcastle. He is also adjunct Professor at the Department of Business Administration, Tokyo Metropolitan University as well as visiting professor at Seoul National University, Korea. Joseph’s research interests focus on public finance, performance measurement, local government structural reform, natural law philosophy, and corporate governance. Previously he worked in executive positions in the retail banking sector. His work has been recognized in the 2004 Australian College of Educators awards and he is the recipient of the University Medal (Griffith University, 2003) and the D H Drummond award for economics. He has consulted with numerous Victorian, Tasmanian, South Australian, and New South Wales councils on accounting, finance, and economic matters. Joseph has also been called as an expert witness for multiple Australian State and Federal Government Upper House inquiries into local public finance, as well as working on a number of projects of national significance abroad. His fifth book titled Selling Public Policy was published in February 2023.
Nicole Humphrey is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. Her work utilizes organizational behavior concepts grounded in public management scholarship to gain insight on questions related to emotional labor, as well as diversity and equity in public sector organizations.
Craig Maher co-authored the book, Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health: A Model for Local Governments in the USA. He is a Distinguished Professor and currently serves as Director of the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in budgeting, finance, data analysis, and cross-sector collaboration. He has numerous academic publications that tend to focus on state and local budgeting and financial management. He is co-editor of the Public Finance journal. Dr. Maher has also completed projects for organizations such as Pew Charitable Trusts and Government Accounting Standards Board. In 2021, he won NASPAA’s Voinovich Innovation Challenge and in 2017 and 2013, Dr. Maher was recipient of article of the awards from the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs and Association of Government Accountants, respectively. In 2011, Dr. Maher received the Alberta S. Kimball Endowed Professor award from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for his research on municipal finance. He has previously served as Director of a nonprofit “thinktank” and he was elected, and reelected to the Wauwatosa, WI City Council.
Peggy Merriss has a passion for furthering local government excellence and innovation through service, teaching, and serving as a mentor and advisor. For 35 years she served the City of Decatur, GA including over 25 years as the City Manager. Currently she serves as the Executive Director for the Georgia City-County Management Association. Her education includes a MPA degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was recognized with the “Distinguished Service Award” in January 2019. And a BA in Politics from Converse College, Spartanburg, SC, where she was recognized with the “Career Achievement Award” in April 2012. She was inducted into the Georgia Municipal Association Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2022, Peggy was elected as a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow in 2022. Peggy previously served as the President of ICMA, the first woman, and youngest person, to ever hold the office. She served on the ICMA-RC Board of Directors for 10-years, serving as the first woman chair. Awards include the GCCMA Pillar of Professional Excellence Award, and the “Georgia Excellence in Public Service Award” for a city appointed official.
Ashley E. Nickels is an award-winning, interdisciplinary public affairs scholar. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kent State University, the Co-Founder and Co-Organizer of the Growing Democracy Project, and former Democracy Visiting Fellow at the Ash Center for Democracy at Harvard University (21–22). She works at the intersections of community development, urban governance, and civil society, centering her research on issues of power, civic/political engagement, and local democracy. She is the author/co-editor of five books, including the award-winning book, Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan (TUP, 2019) and the author of numerous peer-reviewed chapters and journal articles. She received her Ph.D. in Public Affairs, with a specialization in Community Development, from Rutgers University—Camden (RU-C).
Angela Y.S. Park is an Assistant Professor at KDI School of Public Policy and Management in South Korea. Angela’s research focuses on unraveling implementation challenges and governance issues, particularly within the realm of urban sustainability. Her recent research works appear in journals, such as the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, and Policy Studies Journal. Angela has also won several awards, including the Leonard D. White Award for the best dissertation in public administration by the American Political Science Association. She received her Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Kansas in 2019.
Laura A. Reese is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University. She is the former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Urban Affairs and is an editor of the journal Animals. Her research focuses on urban politics and policy, economic development, animal welfare policy, and local governance and planning in Canada and the US. She has written/edited 17 books and over 100 articles and book chapters. Dr. Reese has worked with various public and nonprofit entities including the International City/County Management Association, The Pedigree Foundation, and a number of animal shelters and rescues.
Jessica E. Sowa is a Professor in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on organizational effectiveness, leadership, and human resource management in public and nonprofit organizations. Her recent works include Portraits of Public Service: Untold Stories from the Front Lines (SUNY Press, 2023), Human Resource Essentials for Public Service: People, Process, and Performance (Melvin & Leigh, 2022), and Organizational Behavior and Management: Real Research for Public and Nonprofit Managers, 2nd edition (Melvin & Leigh, 2024). She is the co-editor-in-chief of Perspectives on Public Management and Governance.
James Svara received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University, has taught and conducted local government research on form of government, mayoral leadership, management, structure, ethics, and innovation. He taught political science and public administration at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, N.C. State University, and Arizona State University for 40 years, and he is a senior fellow in the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill. He contributed to the Eighth and Ninth Editions of the Model City Charter published by the National Civic League in 2002 and 2021. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and an honorary member of the International City/County Management Association.
Clayton Wukich is an associate professor and interim director at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, where he also serves as MPA director. Clayton studies various forms of participation and collaboration in the context of local government and emergency management.
