Park University’s 2024 Hauptmann Lecture to Focus on Improving Administrative Burdens in Government

August 14, 2024 — A presentation on “Administrative Burdens: A Framework for Improving Government” will be the focus of Park University’s 32nd annual Dr. Jerzy Hauptmann Distinguished Guest Lecture Series event on Thursday, Sept. 12, starting at noon. The lecture, presented in conjunction with the American Society for Public Administration, will be livestreamed, but registration is required at register.gotowebinar.com/register/3864626580759197792.

The speaker for the 2024 Hauptmann Lecture will be Donald Moynihan, Ph.D. Moynihan will join the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan later this month, and on Jan. 1, 2025, he will become the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy. Previously, Moynihan served as the chair of public policy at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy since 2018.

According to Moynihan, administrative burdens are the everyday frictions that people encounter when they engage with public services. He added that governments are increasingly interested in ways to identify and reduce these burdens. During the talk, Moynihan will discuss how research on burdens can inform and improve policy implementation.

In a book (Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means) Moynihan co-authored in 2018, it was explained that administrative burdens such as bureaucracy, confusing paperwork and complex regulations often introduce delay and frustration into experiences with government agencies. These burdens can also diminish the effectiveness of public programs, as well as can block individuals from fundamental rights, such as voting.

Moynihan is the founding co-director of the Better Government Lab at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, which aims to work with government agencies to improve their effectiveness and make programs and services more accessible to people through the use of data analytics, rigorous evaluations and insights from the social and behavioral sciences. He also serves as the president of the Association of Public Policy and Management, and is a past president of the Public Management Research Association.

In 2014, Moynihan won the Kershaw Award, presented every two years by Mathematica and the APPM to one scholar under the age of 40 for outstanding contributions to the study of public policy and management. That same year, he also had two papers listed among the 75 most influential published in the then-75-year history of Public Administration Review.

A native of Ireland, Moynihan earned a doctorate degree and master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in public administration from the University of Limerick.

The lecture series is named in honor of the late Park University professor emeritus of political science and public administration, Jerzy Hauptmann, Ph.D. Hauptmann taught at Park for more than 50 years, and launched the University’s first graduate degree program in 1982. In 2001, Park’s School for Public Affairs was renamed the Hauptmann School of Public Affairs in honor of this remarkable educator.

The Dr. Jerzy Hauptmann Distinguished Guest Lecture Series was established through the generosity of alumni, colleagues and friends of Hauptmann upon Hauptmann’s 40th anniversary at Park University. The Hauptmann Lecture brings outstanding scholars to the Kansas City area to address topics related to Hauptmann’s three areas of study: international politics, public administration and democracy.