Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Public Administration and Policy

Taking Sides volumes present current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with Learning Outcomes, an Issue Summary, an Introduction, and an Exploring the Issue section featuring Critical Thinking and Reflection, Is There Common Ground?, and Additional Resources. Taking Sides readers also offer a Topic Guide and an annotated listing of Internet References for further consideration of the issues. An online Instructor’s Resource Guide with testing material is available for each volume. Using Taking Sides in the Classroom is also an excellent instructor resource. Visit www.mhhe.com/takingsides for more details.

Whether analyzing public opinion data from central Asian nations for the U.S.Department of State or assessing the role of the Tea Party in recent U.S.elections, WILLIAM J. MILLER, an unabashed data wonk, indulges his fascination for analytics and political science. As Assistant Vice President, Campus Adoption, he leverages data best practices to help campuses make strategic decisions. As a teacher, he draws on his perspective as a public intellectual to engage students in courses on political science, public policy, program evaluation, and organizational behavior.

Will joined the Campus Labs team in late 2016, after serving for four years as both a faculty member and senior administrator at Flagler College in Florida. There,as Executive Director of Institutional Analytics, Effectiveness, and Planning,he helped transform the campus-wide outcomes assessment process. He also served as the college’s Accreditation Liaison to the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC). Before joining Flagler, he held faculty positions at Southeast Missouri State University, Notre Dame College, and Ohio University.

A prolific author and dynamic speaker, Will regularly presents at professional conferences for both higher education and political science. He has also advised elected officials,agency administrators, and social service agencies. His scholarly pursuits focus on assessment, campaigns and elections, polling, political psychology,and the pedagogy of political science and public administration. He received a Master of Applied Politics from the Ray C. Bliss Institute at The University of Akron, where he also earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies and Public Affairs. He holds both a Master of Arts in Political Science and Bachelor of Arts from Ohio University.