Moynihan recognized for leadership, scholarship

Donald Moynihan, associate director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, has been elected to the Policy Council of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

The council serves as the board of directors for the association, one of the nation’s premier organizations dedicated to improving public policy and management by fostering excellence in research, analysis and education.

Several La Follette School faculty members have served on the council, and David Weimer was president in 2005-06. Carolyn Heinrich, professor and director of the La Follette School, is chair of the Committee of Institutional Representatives, while public affairs professor Maria Cancian is on the council’s strategic planning committee.

Moynihan and co-author Sanjay K. Pandey won the American Society for Public Administration’s 2011 Joseph Wholey Distinguished Scholarship Award for a published article on performance management. Their article, “The Big Question for Performance Management: Why Do Managers Use Performance Information?” appeared in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory in 2010.  Moynihan previously received the award in 2009.

Moynihan’s research examines the application of organization theory to public management issues such as performance, budgeting, homeland security, election administration and employee behavior. Georgetown University Press published his book, “The Dynamics of Performance Management: Constructing Information and Reform,” in 2008. It won the Best Book Award from the Public and Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management.