Paul Light
Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Governance Studies at Brookings Institution
Schools
- Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
- Brookings Institution
Links
Biography
Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
Dr. Paul C. Light is NYU Wagner''s Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service and founding principal investigator of the Global Center for Public Service, Before joining NYU, Dr. Light served as the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, founding director of its Center for Public Service, and vice president and director of the Governmental Studies Program. He has served previously as director of the Public Policy Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts and associate dean and professor of public affairs at the University of Minnesota''s Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Light is the author of 25 books, including works on social entrepreneurship, the nonprofit sector, federal government reform, public service, and the baby boom. His most recent book is Government by Investigation: Presidents, Congress, and the Search for Answers, 1945-2012 (2014). His award winning books include The President''s Agenda: Domestic Policy Choice from Kennedy to Clinton (1998), Thickening Government: Federal Hierarchy and the Diffusion of Accountability (1995), The Tides of Reform: Making Government Work, 1945-1995 (1997), and A Government Ill Executed: The Decline of the Federal Service and How to Reverse It 2008). A Government Ill Executed received the American Political Science Association''s Herbert Simon Award for the most important book on public administration in the preceding three-to-five years upon publication. Light is also a co-author of a best-selling American government textbook, Government by the People. His research interests include: bureaucracy, civil service, Congress, entitlement programs, executive branch, government reform, nonprofit effectiveness, organizational change, and the political appointment process.
Areas of Expertise
Politics
Social Innovation
Brookings Institution
Paul C. Light is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. Before joining NYU, he was vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow, and founding director of its Center for Public Service. He has held teaching posts at the University of Virginia, University of Minnesota, and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was also senior adviser to Sen. John Glenn and the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee from 1987-1989, and director of the public policy program at the Pew Charitable Trusts from 1995-1998. Light has written 25 books, and is an expert on government reform, public service, veterans policy, social security, and social innovation.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., Political Science, University of Michigan
- M.A., Political Science, University of Michigan
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