Charles E. Menifield Selected as a 2021 Recipient of the Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Award

Dr. Charles E. Menifield, dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University–Newark, has been selected as a 2021 recipient of the Donald C. Stone Service to ASPA Award from the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA). The award pays tribute to ASPA members who have contributed outstanding services to the society such as providing excellence in leadership or major contributions to the success of national committees, chapters, or sections; sustained efforts to enhance the image of the profession; and other distinguished service to the organization. A dedicated public servant, Donald C. Stone was the founder of the American Public Works Association (APWA), served as the first director of the Public Administration Service (PAS), and helped establish the Executive Office of the President (EOP).

“One of the core tenets of public affairs and administration is service, not just to those whom we serve, but also to those whom we work with professionally,” said Dr. Menifield. “I have served in a variety of capacities in ASPA over the years and each of them has their good points. However, the role that I have enjoyed the most is serving as an ASPA Founders’ Fellow Mentor. In this role, I had the opportunity to shape the life of a burgeoning scholar. This role is important to me because I had some great mentors throughout my career who gave me a lot of their time to no physical benefit to themselves.”

Dr. Menifield’s current research interests lie primarily in the areas of budgeting and financial management, public health and welfare, and policing. He has two books on minority politics and two books on public budgeting and financial management – his fourth edition of The Basics of Public Budgeting and Financial Management: A Handbook for Academics and Practitioners (Hamilton Books) was published in Fall 2020. His 2005 book, Politics in the New South: Representation of African Americans in Southern State Legislatures, edited with Stephen D. Shaffer, won the V.O. Key Award from the Southern Political Science Association for best book written on southern politics that year. His article, “Do White Law Enforcement Officers Target Minority Suspects?” (co-authored with Geiguen Shin and Logan Strother), appearing in Public Administration Review, won the Best Paper Award from the Conference of Minority Public Administrators (COMPA) in 2019.

He is a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and serves as a board member on the New Jersey Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission. He has served on the Executive Council of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), as president of the International Conference on Local Government, and on editorial boards including Public Administration Review; Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management; Journal of Health and Human Services Administration; and the Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Management & Social Policy.

In 2019, he was awarded the Chester A. Newland Presidential Citation of Merit from ASPA and the Jewel Prestage Award from the Conference of Minority Public Administrators (COMPA). He has twice been a visiting scholar at the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C., where he did extensive research on state implementation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Dr. Menifield has served as dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration since September 2017. He earned his PhD in political science (in the fields of American politics and public administration) at the University of Missouri – Columbia, and both his master’s in public policy and administration and his bachelor’s degree at Mississippi State University. He came to Rutgers SPAA from the University of Missouri – Columbia where he was associate dean for academic programs and a professor at the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs. Prior to that, he was a professor and associate professor at the University of Memphis where he also served as director of the public and nonprofit administration program.