Teaching Diversity in Public Administration: A Missing Component?

Abstract

Since its inception, the discipline of public administration has been challenged by its dual mission of educating both practitioner and academician (Golembiewski, 1977; Denhardt, 2001). Normative issues such as ethical behavior, social equity, and the impact of diversity on public institutions and policies are matters that conjoin public administration scholarship and practice. However, these subjects are not standard in the public administration education curriculum. Ethics and social equity have received intermittent attention in the professional journals and in the curriculum offerings of schools associated with the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA; Bowman, 1990; Lee and Paddock, 1992; Gooden and Myers, 2004). This study explores the question of whether the issue of diversity has received similar attention in public administration education. After reviewing the curricula at 50 NASPAA accredited-schools, this study concludes that teaching diversity in the public administration/public affairs curriculum is not, in fact, overlooked. However, our finding that the topic of diversity is relatively neglected in the published scholarship indicates a need for public affairs education programs to support such scholarship.