Current Research
The many professors and doctoral students affiliated with the Nonprofit and Public Management Center have a diverse set of research interests. This page will serve as a clearinghouse for information, bringing together researchers with similar interests from across various disciplines.
Professors
Jeffrey Alexander (Richard Carl Jelinek Professor of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health) has a number of nonprofit and public management related research interests. One of his current focuses is on the governance of public-private community health partnerships. For more information, click here.
Jane Banaszak-Holl (Associate Professor, School of Public Health) has numerous interests in the fields of public health policy and management. She focuses her research on issues involving the operation and organization of nursing home chains, as well as strategic planning and organizational change in health care providers.
Sandra Kline Danziger (Associate Professor, School of Social Work) focuses her research on barriers to employment among single mothers making the transition from welfare to work. Towards that end, she currently works as a principal investigator on the Women's Employment Study, and on the Implementing Welfare to Work in Michigan study.
Jerry Davis (Sparks Whirlpool Corporation Research Professor, School of Business) examines the relationship of social networks on corporate governance. Recent publications include, "Corporations, Classes, and Social Movements" in Research in Organizational Behavior (22: 195-238), and "Social Change, Social Theory, and the Convergence of Movements and Organizations" (with Mayer N. Zald) in Social Movements and Organization Theory. For more information, click here.
Larry Gant (Associate Professor, School of Social Work) conducts program evaluations of small human service and social action organizations. He also works to bridge the digital divide in underserved Detroit area communities. As part of the Center for Urban Innovation, he serves as the project coordinator for a joint effort with numerous Detroit area faith-based and secular nonprofits to expand internet services to low-income neighborhoods.
Greg Markus (Professor of Political Science, Senior Research Scientist, Institute for Social Research) continues his work on the effects of civic participation. For the past three years, he has led a research team in a 14-city study of the causes and consequences of civic participation (click here for a draft report). He also continues to be involved in MOSES (Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength).
Scott E. Masten (Professor, Stephen M. Ross School of Business) conducts research on the organization and governance of colleges and universities. He published an article in the Fall, 2006 edition of the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy entitled "Authority and Commitment: Why Universities, Like Legislatures, Are Not Organized As Firms".
Michael Reisch (Professor, School of Social Work) focuses his current interests on the impact of welfare reform on nonprofit, community-based organizations. Together with doctoral student David Sommerfeld, he recently published an article on the subject, entitled "Unintended Consequences: The Impact of Welfare Reform in the United States on NGOs," in Voluntas (September 2003 issue).
Diane Kaplan Vinokur (Associate Professor, School of Social Work) continues her research on the "Under One Roof" project--the benefits and challanges of co-locating nonprofit organizations in one building or site. In addition to intensive case studies of four different co-locations, she has assembled a searchable, illustrated database of more than 100 sites (for more information, click here) and applies her research findings in "Collaborating for Success," a new professional network that holds conferences and provides technical support to promote co-locations (click here for more information).
David Tucker (Professor, School of Social Work) and David Sommerfeld, PhD candidate in social work and sociology published an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (fall 2006) and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (June 2006) reporting that the number of private nonprofit and for-profit social service organizations with fewer than 100 employees fell, while the number with 100 employees or more increased from 1987 to 2000. Tucker believes that larger firms may result in less innovation.
Julia Wondolleck (Associate Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences) works on issues of conflict and negotiation in environmental disputes, as well as issues of collaboration in the management of ecosystems. She and Steve Yaffe have written the book, Making Collaboration Work: Lessons from Innovation in Natural Resource Management.
Steven Yaffe (Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Theodore Roosevelt Chair of Ecosystem Management, School of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences) is currently researching issues of cooperation in environmental stewardship (among other things). His interests include ecosystem management and nonprofit environmental organizations, and together with Julia Wondolleck, he has written the book Making Collaboration Work: Lessons from Innovation in Natural Resource Management.
NPM Doctoral Research Award Recipients
2005
Amit Ahuja (Department of Political Science)--"As Subjects Become Citizens: Explaining Ethnic Party Success in India."
Andrew Highsmith (Department of History)--"America Is a Thousand Flints: Race, Class, and the End of the American Dream in Flint, Michigan."
Michael Lovenheim (Department of Economics, and Population Studies)--"The Causes and Consequences of Teacher Unionization: Evidence from Midwestern States."
Rafael Boglio Martinez (Department of Anthropology, and Social Work)--"The Link Between International Aid and Political Change in the Dominican Republic."
Patricia Moonsammy (Department of Anthropology)--"Employing Music for Nation Building in Trinidad and Tobago."
Manuel Teodoro (Public Policy and the Department of Political Science)--"Bureaucratic Ambition and City Policy Agendas."
Nick White (School of Natural Resources and Environment)--"Formation, Structure, and Evolution of State Level Dispute Resolution Programs That Offer Services Specifically for Environmental and Natural Resource Disputes."
LaDale Winling (Architecture and Urban Planning)--"Study of Cooperative Ownership Organizations That Partnered with Frank Lloyd Wright in Michigan in the 1940s."
2004
Lindsay Benstead (Department of Political Science and Public Policy)--"Women and Democratization in the E-Age: How Internet Technologies Are Being Used by Governments in North Africa and the Middle East to Improve Contact Between Constituents and Government Representatives."
Tamar Carroll (Department of History)--"Women's Activism, Identity Politics, and Social Change in New York City from 1955-1995: Exploring the Ways in Which Identity Shapes Political Participation and How the Liberal Sate Responds to Social Movements."
Anthony Mallon (Department of Sociology and Social Work)--"Identifying the Conditions Under Which Private Employers Who Hire Former Welfare Recipients Will Implement Worksite Retention-Promoting Practices."
Lara Rusch (Department of Political Science)--"Faith-based Grassroots Organizing Nonprofits in the Metropolitan Detroit Area and Understanding Variation in Mobilizing Effects in Several of Their Member Congregations While Considering Ecumenical and Racial Diversity."
2003
Eric Groenendyk (Department of Political Science)--"The Appeals Advocacy Groups Make to the Electorate."
Peter Katuscak (Department of Economics)--"Determinates of Managerial Pay in Nonprofit Organizations."
Darcy K. Leach (Department of Sociology)--"The Way Is the Goal: Collectivist Democracy in German New Social Movement Organizations."
Bridget Love (Department of Anthropology)--"Rural Revitalization and the Emerging Nonprofit Sector in Japan."
Melanie Overby (Department of Psychology)--"Investigation of Ethnic Socialization Processes Using Conversations of African-American Familes in a Cultural Museum."
Monica Patterson (Departments of Anthropology and History)--"Memories of Childhood Experiences of Violence in Cape Town During Apartheid's Last Decade."
David Sommerfeld (School of Social Work and Department of Sociology--"Nonprofit Versus For-Profit Care: Accounting for Organizational Mix in Social Services"; David recently published an article with Professor Michael Reisch entitled, "Unintended Consequences: The Impact of Welfare Reform in the United States on NGOs," in Voluntas (September 2003 issue). He also recently received a Doctoral Dissertation Research Award from the Aspen Institute for his proposal, "Nonprofit Versus For-Profit Care: Accounting for Organizational Mix in Social Services."
Christopher Thoms (School of Natural Resources and Environment)--"The Impacts of the Forest Department and International Assistance on Community Forestry Outcomes in Nepal."
2002
Charlene Allen (Department of Political Science)--"Jumpstarting the Motor City: Community-based Organizations and Agenda-Setting in Urban Development."
Cedric De Leon (Department of Sociology)--"The Radical Roots of the American Two-Party System."
Michael A. Dover (Department of Sociology and Social Work)--"The Real Property of Public, Nonprofit and Religious Institutions in Ohio's Urban Areas, 1995-2000: Comparing the Fiscal Impact of Property Tax Exemptions and Corporate Tax Abatements on City and Suburban Government and Schools."
Laura Evans (Department of Political Science)--"The Influence of Racial Divisions, Economic Disparity, and Institutions on Relations Between Native American Tribal Governments and Neighboring Local Governments."
Brendan Goff (Department of History)--"The Heartland Abroad: U.S. Middle-Class Professionalism as a Transnational Imagined Community."
Elizabeth McCance (School of Natural Resources and Environment)--"The Process of Learning Within Ecosystem Management."
Edward Miller (Department of Political Science and Health Management and Policy)--"Explaining State Policy Adoption: The Case of State Medicaid Nursing Facility Reimbursement."
Susan Moffitt (Department of Political Science)--"Inviting Outsiders In: Learning and Legitimation in Agency Policymaking."
Jennifer Tilton (Department of Anthropology and American Culture)--"Dangerous and Endangered Youth: Political Struggles Over the Meaning of Youth, Community and the Role of the State."
Kate Williams (School of Information)--"Public Computing and the Adoption and Use of Technology in Law-income Communities."
