Southeastern Conference on Public Administration

Southeastern Conference on Public Administration
Name	Southeastern Conference on Public Administration
Abbreviation	SECoPA
Formation	1950s
Type	Professional association
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Region served	Southeastern United States
Leader title	President

Southeastern Conference on Public Administration The Southeastern Conference on Public Administration is a regional professional association serving practitioners and scholars from the American South including states such as Georgia (U.S. state), Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia (U.S. state). It convenes civil service officials, academic faculty from institutions like University of Georgia, Florida State University, Louisiana State University, and Vanderbilt University, and representatives from agencies such as United States Office of Personnel Management, Department of Health and Human Services (United States), Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Environmental Protection Agency. The conference network connects members with national organizations including American Society for Public Administration, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, National Academy of Public Administration, and International City/County Management Association.

History

Founded in the mid-20th century, the organization emerged amid postwar administrative reforms influenced by figures and events like Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the reorganization trends following the Presidential Reorganization Act of 1970. Early meetings featured panels with leaders from Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation, University of Chicago, and Harvard Kennedy School. Over decades the association responded to crises and policy shifts linked to Hurricane Katrina, the Affordable Care Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and changing federalism debates involving the Supreme Court of the United States.

Organization and Governance

Governance is typically by an elected board including officers drawn from universities such as Emory University, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and municipal managers from cities like Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Committees often liaise with professional entities including Council of State Governments, National Governors Association, State and Local Government Review (journal), and Government Accountability Office. Legal and financial oversight engages law schools and firms connected to Georgetown University Law Center, University of Virginia School of Law, American Bar Association, and accounting standards influenced by Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

Conferences and Meetings

Annual conferences rotate among host cities such as Nashville, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama, and Raleigh, North Carolina, attracting presenters from Princeton University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and think tanks like Brookings Institution, RAND Corporation, Urban Institute, and Pew Research Center. Programs include panels on public finance with speakers from Office of Management and Budget (United States), emergency management sessions tied to National Hurricane Center, and intergovernmental workshops involving Department of Justice (United States), Department of Education (United States), and Department of Housing and Urban Development. Special sessions have featured awardees from MacArthur Fellows Program, fellows from Fulbright Program, and collaborators with Smithsonian Institution.

Research and Publications

The association publishes proceedings and monographs drawing on research from faculty at University of Alabama, Clemson University, Auburn University, and University of Kentucky and partners with journals such as Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, State and Local Government Review, and Policy Studies Journal. Topics address fiscal policy influenced by Congress of the United States, regulatory review referencing Administrative Procedure Act, performance management modeled on GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, and ethics discussions connected to Office of Government Ethics. Research collaborations have involved grants from National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Kaiser Family Foundation.

Awards and Recognition

SECoPA confers awards named for regional and national figures, honoring distinctions similar to those given by American Society for Public Administration and National Academy of Public Administration, and echoing prizes related to Woodrow Wilson Award (Princeton University), John Gaus Award, and fellowships like the Eisenhower Fellowship. Honors recognize scholarship in areas tied to landmark initiatives such as the New Deal legacies, War on Poverty, and disaster recovery exemplified by Hurricane Sandy responses. Recipients often include academics affiliated with Texas A&M University, University of Florida, Tulane University, and practitioners from state capitols including Montgomery, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi.

Membership and Sections

Membership comprises faculty, students, and practitioners from institutions and agencies such as Georgia State University, University of South Carolina, University of Mississippi, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, State Departments of Transportation, and municipal staffs from Savannah, Georgia and Mobile, Alabama. The organization maintains topical sections and interest groups reflecting collaborations with entities like American Planning Association, National League of Cities, International Association for Public Participation, and area-specific consortia tied to Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center and Appalachian Regional Commission.

Category:Professional associations based in the United States Category:Public administration