Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis, Political Science

Andy Whitford is Alexander M. Crenshaw Professor of Public Policy in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia. His research centers on strategy and innovation in public policy and organization studies, often centering on knowledge organizations. He is currently Field Editor of the Journal of Public Policy. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He was recently named to receive the 2017 Herbert A. Simon Award for “significant contribution to the scientific study of bureaucracy.”

He is also Visiting Honorary Senior Research Associate in the School of Public Policy at University College London and Research Fellow in Arizona State University’s Center for Organization Research and Design. In 2009, he served as Hallsworth Visiting Professor in Political Economy at the University of Manchester. Earlier, he was a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar at the National University of Singapore, and a Fulbright German Studies Seminar Scholar. In 1999, he also served as a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (Cohort VI). Previously he taught at Rice University and the University of Kansas.

Having published over 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals, law reviews, and edited books, Professor Whitford writes broadly on topics in public management and policy design.  His papers have been published in journals such as the Administrative Science Quarterly, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the American Journal of Public Health, and the American Journal of Political Science.

Above Politics: Bureaucratic Discretion and Credible Commitment, written with Gary J. Miller of Washington University in St. Louis, was published in 2016 in the Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions series of Cambridge University Press. His first book, Presidential Rhetoric and the Public Agenda: Constructing the War on Drugs, written with Jeff Yates of Binghamton University, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2009.

In 2013, he received the School of Public and International Affairs Award for Excellence in Research at the University of Georgia. He has been named “Professor of the Year” by the MPA students at the University of Georgia twice. Also, he has served as Graduate Coordinator and MPA Director in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. His Erdős number is 3.

Previous service to government includes work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.

He has served as Co-Editor for the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. He also serves on the board of editors for the Policy Studies Journal, the International Public Management Journal, the Review of Public Personnel Administration, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and Policy & Society. His research has been supported by grants from Social Science Korea, the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the IBM Endowment for the Business of Government, among others.

His working papers are available on the Social Science Research Network and the arXiv.

Professor Whitford received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 1997. His site is andrewwhitford.com.

• Political Economy and Policy Processes
• Organization Theory and Public Management
• Data Analytics

National Academy of Public Administration – Elected Fellow

• PADP 7120 – Data Applications
• PADP 8650 – Regulation

• Selected recent publications:
• ABOVE POLITICS: BUREAUCRATIC DISCRETION AND CREDIBLE COMMITMENT, with Gary J. Miller. Cambridge University Press. Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions Series. 2016.
• “Effects of Participation and Collaboration on Perceived Effectiveness of Core Public Health Functions,” with Amber H. Sinclair. American Journal of Public Health. 2015.
• “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty with Multiple Exit Strategies: Evidence from the Federal Workforce,” with Soo-Young Lee. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 2015.
• “Information and Uncertainty in Regulatory Processes: Evidence from the Implementation of EPA Waivers.”Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 24(2):267-288. (2014). (lead article)
• “Does More Federal Environmental Funding Increase or Decrease States’ Efforts?: Evidence on Flypaper Effects from American Federalism,” with Benjamin Y. Clark. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 30(1):136-152. (2011)
• “Perceiving Credible Commitments: How Independent Regulators Shape Elite Perceptions of Regulatory Quality,” with Anthony M. Bertelli. British Journal of Political Science. 39(3):517-537. (2009)
• “The Principal’s Moral Hazard: Constraints on the Use of Incentives in Hierarchy,” with Gary J. Miller. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 17(2):213-233. (2007)
• “Building a Pathway to Cooperation: Negotiation and Social Exchange between Principal and Agent,” with William P. Bottom, James Holloway, Gary J. Miller, and Alexandra Mislin. Administrative Science Quarterly. 51(1):29-58. (2006)