Journal of Public Affairs Education

Join us for "Demystifying Academic Life: What No One Tells You" with K. Juree Capers, Cullen C. Merritt, Ph.D., David M. Van Slyke, and S. Nicole Diggs.

🗓 February 27, 2026
⏰ 12:00 PM EST
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A candid conversation on publishing, service, leadership expectations, balance, and the road to tenure.

Explore the journal’s new home:
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We appreciate your patience during this transition!

🚨 Excited to share an important update with our community.

The Journal of Public Affairs Education has officially transitioned to SAGE Publishing. With the transition comes updated branding and new colors that reflect the next chapter of JPAE.

We appreciate her service to the journal and her contributions to public service education and public-facing leadership.

Her work focuses on civic engagement, women, immigration, Latinos, and political psychology, with a strong emphasis on linking rigorous research to policy realities. An award-winning educator, she is known for curricular innovation and community-based learning.

She previously served as Assistant Dean at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Meet our editorial board member, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, Ph.D.

Victoria DeFrancesco Soto is Dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and a political analyst for NBC News and Telemundo.

She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida and completed graduate study at Florida Atlantic University.

We appreciate her service to the journal and her contributions to public administration scholarship on communication, branding, and digital governance.

She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Administrative Theory & Praxis, and her work appears in outlets including Urban Studies, Public Administration Review, Administration & Society, and Tourism Management.

Her scholarship examines public sector communication, place branding, and government use of social media. She is the author of Cities for Sale and Place Branding Through Phases of the Image, and co-editor of Social Media to Government: Theory and Practice with Thomas Bryer.

Meet our editorial board member, Staci M. Zavattaro, Ph.D.

Staci M. Zavattaro is a Professor of Public Administration and a research associate with the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management.

We appreciate her service to the journal and her sustained contributions to public administration scholarship, digital governance, and leadership development.

She also contributes to the field through editorial board service and international policy engagement, including work with the OECD on measuring trust and a KDI School OECD collaboration on trust in government in Korea.

Her research on digital governance and public management is widely cited, including work on platform government published in Public Administration Review (2022).

Her expertise spans public management, governance, human resource management, and leadership development. Before joining KDI in 2014, she served on the faculty at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School.

Meet our editorial board member, Soonhee Kim, Ph.D.

Soonhee Kim is a Professor of Public Administration at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Sejong, Korea, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration since 2016.

Asian Development Bank and other regional policy institutes.

We appreciate his service to the journal and his contributions to scholarship and practice on sustainable development governance and infrastructure policy.

Dr. Ryu earned his PhD from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, where he received the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for his dissertation, and he has been invited to present his work to organizations including the

He also brings applied experience from the World Bank, contributing to key publications on public private partnerships and sustainable water service delivery, as well as an OECD volume on budgeting for PPPs.

across Asia and the Pacific.

He led WaterAid’s comparative sanitation case studies of Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea, work that has been cited by the Asian Development Bank’s Asian Water Development Outlook 2016 as a pathway toward universal sanitation.

His research focuses on the politics of sustainable development, public sector capacity building in developing country contexts, and infrastructure implementation, with particular emphasis on expanding equitable access to government services and advancing water and sanitation policy

Meet our editorial board member, Shin Kue Ryu, Ph.D.

Shin Kue Ryu is Chair of Political Science and an Associate Professor whose work bridges public administration, public policy, political economy, and comparative politics.

We appreciate his service to the journal and his sustained contributions to social equity scholarship and public administration education.

He also co-edits Routledge’s public administration social justice book series and recently completed his term as co-chair of NASPAA’s Diversity and Social Equity Committee.

Teaching Social Equity: A Cross-Curricular Guide for Faculty and Programs, and The Elgar Handbook of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Public Administration.

He has co-edited multiple special issues and major volumes advancing social equity and DEI in public administration, including Achieving Social Equity: From Problems to Solutions (2nd ed.),

His research spans public sector human resources, organizational dynamics, beliefs and values in policymaking, public affairs pedagogy, and societal discourse, and he regularly publishes for both academic and public audiences.

Meet our editorial board member, Sean McCandless, Ph.D.

Sean McCandless is an Associate Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Her work and engagement are global, with experience across Asia, Oceania, and the United States.

We appreciate her service to the journal and her extraordinary contributions to public administration research, teaching, and the international scholarly community.

five lifetime achievement honors across major associations: PMRA, APSA, IRSPM, AoM, and ASPA. She is also the only person to receive four NASPAA awards spanning dissertation, teaching, research, and doctoral education, and she has won 11 teaching awards, including two national recognitions.