Chair of Social Sciences coedits public affairs book

William Hatcher, PhD, chair of the Social Sciences Department in the Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, focuses his research on how the government works and how public managers serve their communities through the work they do in their organizations.

Part of his broader research is how current and future public administrators are taught in programs like the Master of Public Administration degree at AU.

Hatcher’s most recent co-edited book, The Craft of Teaching in Public Affairs Instructors Reflecting on the Tools and Tips of Their Trade Way, was released in late October as part of a series on public administration, public affairs and education. The book is designed for current instructors of public administration, political science and social science.

Hatcher, who has served as an editor for several publications, including Journal of Public Affairs, said the book includes essays from top scholars in the field discussing how they approach their “craft” of teaching along with chapters that focus on the empirical research on teaching in public administration, including topics such as tools used in the classroom, mentorship and online teaching.

“A lot of MPA programs, like ours, have transitioned online over the years, and our book examines how public administration programs move online,” Hatcher said. “We look at issues of using different strategies in the classroom and looking at the literature in the first part of the book, but then in the second half, we asked some of the top scholars and teachers in the field to write essays about how they approach teaching.

“It’s so personal about how you approach the classroom, and, in those essays, you learn a lot about how they came to be academics, how they became teachers in the first place, and what motivated them,” he continued. “In my essay, I talk about how curiosity, and just being curious in general, comes from my background and my life story, which led to me doing what I do.”

Hatcher noted that, in public administration, “it’s vital that we know and teach students based on what actually works, what’s empirical, what’s based on data because it’s a field where we’re just not trying to figure out how nonprofits and the government works, we’re also trying to improve these organizations that are working to improve our communities. To do this, we need to really do a great job of teaching current and future managers who are our students.”

Hatcher collaborated with colleagues in public administration because he knew the importance of mentorship entering the project, but after reading the submitted essays and reviewing the research, most of the contributors talked about mentorship and having the right person, institution or organization close by as they develop their careers.

“My takeaway was to try to be a better mentor myself,” Hatcher said. “Many of the scholars who wrote an essay for this book discussed the importance of mentorship in how they developed their craft of teaching public affairs.”

Kim Davies, PhD, dean of Pamplin College, said Hatcher’s involvement in the project is another example of Augusta University faculty contributing to scholarly knowledge while also focusing on the importance of their role in education for the state of Georgia and beyond.

“In this particular instance, Dr. Hatcher’s work will help contribute to the body of knowledge that helps improve public affairs education,” she said. “People don’t like to admit that bureaucracies are important, but the truth is that a well-run bureaucracy at the city or state level is valuable for any community. The fact that one of Pamplin’s administrative leaders is helping to educate others about well-run administration is very appropriate in my mind.”