The Public Administrator's Companion: A Practical Guide

Help your students make the leap from theory to practice. This handy guide emphasizes application with straightforward instruction and abundant case material. It provides brief, tested steps for addressing management, resource, and operational needs, encouraging students to develop and hone crucial skills. Each chapter includes "Practicing Public Administration" exercises that range from preparing a sample budget to designing a flowchart to doing a SWOT analysis. With a particular focus on ethics, students are not only prepared to address daily tasks, but also to think through sticky moral dilemmas.

Sandra Emerson is Director of the masters in public administration program for California State Polytechnic University of Pomona’s political science department. She has been a program administrator for Medicare Part B, a consultant with Southern California Edison, and a budget and program analyst with Norfolk, Virginia.

Royce Menkus, now retired, served as Assistant City Administrative Officer for Employee Relations for the City of Los Angeles. During her 35-year career she was a Personnel Analyst with the Transportation Department, Budget Analyst for the City Administrative Officer, Assistant General Manager of Los Angeles’s City Fire and Police Pension system, and Assistant General Manager for Human Resources and Labor Relations Department of Water and Power.

Kathy Van Ness is the Manager for the Financial Management System Division with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). Her experience spans nearly 30 years working for consulting firms, the Brookings Institution, and the City of Long Beach.