Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Two new books examining key aspects of public policy planning are the works of current and recently retired members of Mississippi State's political science and public administration department.
The first is "Practical Program Evaluations: Getting from Ideas to Outcomes" by associate professor Gerald A. Emison. A release by CQ Press, a division of the Washington, D.C.-based Congressional Quarterly Inc., the 121-page, soft-bound edition focuses on methods for improving the performance of public organizations.
Emison, a public administration specialist and retired U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official, is a doctoral graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The second is "Budgeting in the States: Institutions, Processes and Politics." The collection of in-depth state government studies is co-edited by professor emeritus Edward J. Clynch, who also contributed the chapter on Mississippi.
"Budgeting" is a 324-page release of Praeger, a unit of the Connecticut-based Greenwood Publishing Group. Thomas P. Lauth, dean of the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs, is the other editor, and author of the book's chapter on the Peach State.
In the introduction to "Practical Program Evaluations," Emison said he wrote the book to provide examples of "practices that heighten the likelihood that a program evaluation will lead to implemented recommendations and subsequent improvement."
Clynch, who retired from full-time MSU duties earlier this year, also is a public administration specialist. A Purdue University doctoral graduate, he has concentrated on budgeting and financial management and the executive branch of government, among other areas.
After briefly describing the Mississippi budget process, Clynch devoted his chapter to outlining and analyzing gubernatorial and legislative impacts on taxation and spending policies of the Kirk Fordice, Ronnie Musgrove and Haley Barbour administrations.
Fordice, the state's first two-term governor, took office in 1992. Musgrove's term was 2000-04 and Barbour succeeded him.
"Formal gubernatorial powers did not change since 1992, but the influence of these governors over budget decisions varied due to revenue accessibility, the successful use of the bully pulpit and party discipline," Clynch observes.
In addition to Mississippi and Georgia, other states examined in the Clynch/Lauth-edited survey include California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Utah.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information on their new publications, contact Dr. Emison at 662-325-2711 or emison@ps.msstate.edu; Dr. Clynch, at the same telephone number and ejc1@ps.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.