Rosemary O'Leary

Rosemary O'Leary was appointed the Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at the University of Kansas in 2013, following a 24 year career at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University (Phanstiel Distinguished Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership) and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington (Professor). O'Leary is the author or editor of twelve books and more than 125 articles and book chapters on public management. She was the creator and coordinator of the Minnowbrook III conferences (2008) which assessed the future of public administration around the world. She has won twelve national research awards and ten teaching awards. In 2017 she won the Provan Award for “Outstanding Empirical Theory” given by the Academy of Management, the Frederickson Award for “Lifetime Achievement and Continuous Contributions to Public Management Research over an extended career” given by the Public Management Research Association (PMRA) and the Routledge Award for “Outstanding Contributions to Public Management Research” given by the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM). O’Leary was the 2016 recipient of the John Gaus Award (for a “lifetime of exemplary scholarship in the joint tradition of political science and public administration”) given by the American Political Science Association and the 2014 recipient of the Dwight Waldo Award (for “distinguished contributions to the professional literature of public administration and in recognition of a distinguished career as author, educator, and public administrator”), given by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Earlier she won the Charles Levine Award (2007) given by ASPA and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), as well as the ASPA/NASPAA Distinguished Research Award (2004). She is the only person to win three NASPAA awards for Best Dissertation (1989), Excellence in Teaching (1996) and Distinguished Research (2004). An elected member of the National Academy of Public Administration, O’Leary was a senior Fulbright scholar in Malaysia (1998-99) and in the Philippines (2005-06). In 2014 she was an Ian Axford Public Policy Scholar in New Zealand. From 2003 to 2005 O’Leary was a member of the NASA’s Return to Flight Task Group assembled in response to the Columbia space shuttle accident. She also has served as a consultant to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Federal Executive Institute; U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; U.S. Department of Interior; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Geological Survey; U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration; International City/County Management Association; National Academy of Sciences; National Science Foundation; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; Indiana Department of Environmental Management; U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution; and LMI Consulting. O’Leary is President of the Public Management Research Association, taking office in July 2017.