MPA Director
Professor of Public Administration and Policy

Curriculum Vitae

Professional Website

Eric Zeemering is Professor and MPA Director in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia. His research investigates local governance and intergovernmental relations, including interlocal contracting for municipal service delivery and the design and performance of networks for environmental governance. He is co-editor of “Cooperation and Conflict Between State and Local Government,” a book presenting research on state-local intergovernmental relations. He serves as co-editor of State and Local Government Review, an academic journal publishing leading research on subnational governance and intergovernmental relations. He has received funding from the Canadian government to analyze intergovernmental coordination on sustainability efforts by local governments across the border between the U.S. and Canada. During the winter semester of 2014, he was Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Governance and Public Administration at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Zeemering’s interest in local government led to his elected service on the city council in Rockford, Michigan (1999-2001), and appointed service on the Kent County Housing Commission (2003-2006) and the Daly City Parks and Recreation Commission (2009-2011). He received his Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University in 2007 and his B.A. in political science from Aquinas College in 2001.

Education
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  • PhD, Indiana University, Political Science, 2007
  • BA, Aquinas College, Political Science, 2001
Areas of Expertise
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  • Local governance
  • Intergovernmental relations
  • Environmental policy
Honors, Awards, and Achievements
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  • Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award, 2025
  • SPIA Excellence in Teaching Award, 2022
  • Recognized by MPA students as Professor of the Year at Northern Illinois University in 2017 and 2018
  • Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Governance and Public Administration, 2014
Research Interests
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  • Local governance and city management
  • Advice networks and institutional design for metropolitan governance
  • Interlocal contracting for municipal service delivery
  • US/Canada cross-border environmental governance
  • Intergovernmental program design for Great Lakes governance
  • Urban sustainability
Selected Publications
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Moloney, Kim, Gloria Billingsley, Bok Gyo Jeong, Pablo Sanabria-Pulido, Tonya Thornton, and Eric Zeemering, eds. 2025. Routledge handbook on crisis, polycrisis and public administration. New York: Routledge.

Zeemering, Eric S. 2024. State municipal associations as intermediaries in service learning. PS: Political Science and Politics 57 (4): 571-577.DOI:10.1017/S1049096524000209

Hanson, Russell L. and Eric S. Zeemering, eds. 2021. Cooperation and conflict between state and local government. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

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