On October 17 the Regents of the University of Michigan approved the appointment of Donald P. Moynihan as the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy for a five-year renewable term, effective January 1, 2025. Barry Rabe, the inaugural Harris Professor, will retire from the University of Michigan at the end of 2024.
The Harris Professorship was established with a generous gift from J. Ira and Nicki Harris and the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Foundation in May 2003. This endowed professorship aims to support research and teaching in critical areas related to public policy, encompassing a wide range of economic and political issues.
“Don Moynihan is an exceptional thinker and leader. His influential research on performance management and administrative burden sheds light on pressing concerns for improving the function and impact of government services,” said Celeste Watkins-Hayes, dean of the Ford School of Public Policy. “Professor Moynihan also actively engages with policymakers and other stakeholders to apply his research in practice. We are immensely proud that he will be the next J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy.”
Moynihan’s research seeks to enhance governmental functions by examining the administrative burdens people face when interacting with government agencies. He co-directs the Better Government Lab, which looks for technology and other interventions to help governments improve access to the social safety net. He is the current president of the Association of Public Policy and Management (APPAM) and the former President of the Public Management Research Association.
Moynihan has presented his research to policymakers at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, OECD, the Government Accountability Office, as well as governments around the world. His writing and research have been cited in President Obama’s and President Biden's budget proposals, OMB policy guidance under President Biden, and media outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and others.
In 2014, Moynihan won the Kershaw Award, honoring a scholar under the age of 40 for outstanding contributions to the study of public policy and management. That same year, he had two papers listed among the 75 most influential published in the then-75-year history of Public Administration Review. His book on performance management won awards from the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Academy of Management, and his 2018 book on administrative burdens received awards from the National Academy of Public Administration, the American Society of Public Administration, the American Political Science Association, and the Academy of Management.
Moynihan received his BA from the University of Limerick, and his MPA and PhD from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
