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"Public administrators need to be empowered to make difficult decisions. Acting in the public interest often means doing what is ethical even when it is the unpopular choice. Yet too often, public servants at the local, state, and federal levels internalize the notion that their hands are tied and that they are limited in their ability to effect change. Empowering Public Administrators: Ethics and Public Service Values provides a much-needed antidote to inaction, offering a new lens for viewing administrative decision-making and behavior. This book makes a case for bringing historically significant theories to the forefront of public service ethics by applying them to a series of current ethical challenges in practice. Exploring administrative discretion as modern bureaucrats govern public affairs in a political context, this collection builds on the normative foundations of public administration and provides readers with a scaffold for understanding and practicing public service values. Questions for discussion and applications to practice are included in each chapter making this collection of interest to public affairs masters and doctoral students as well as public service practitioners"--

Access to veterinary care is a complex problem that sits at the intersection of a number of societal factors including income inequality, access to transportation, language and cultural differences as well as the spatial distribution of veterinary care providers. This research aims to create an index evaluating accessibility of veterinary care across the contiguous United States and thus fill an important gap in the literature. The location and number of employees of veterinary clinics were aggregated at the county level. Projected pet population and household counts were used to normalize the number of employees to provide a relative assessment of the distribution of care access. Existing US Census data was used as percentile rankings to identify counties which may experience additional, non-spatial, barriers to care. By combining the percentile rankings of each of the variables, an overall index was created, evaluating the relative accessibility of veterinary care in each of the counties of the contiguous US. This work can be used by organizations looking to improve access to care or by policymakers considering legislation that impacts this issue. It may also be of use to individuals in human health care as they consider the intersection of human wellness and companion animal wellness.

AbstractEquity issues persist in defining public sector women as in need of accommodation, including during times of child‐rearing or caregiving. The authors argue instead that viewing the fullness of a woman's existence should empower others to see broad life experiences as a benefit to be fostered. Public service organizations and the academy should build policies and systems that recognize this value and work to cultivate, rather than accommodate. While women have historically taken the turtle approach—that is, keep your head down—the #MeToo movement has morphed women into strong bison, standing shoulder to shoulder. The authors advocate for more inclusive and supportive mentoring relationships to move into a new era—the pigeon era. In public administration, this manifests as providing holistic support and intentional mentorships throughout the arc of women's careers and institutional policy changes that support the unique value of women in the public sector and the academy.

This research reviews how mentoring has manifested in public service and how it can evolve to be better positioned to address key diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives. This work inventories the current understanding of public sector mentoring, highlighting the contrast between the classical mentoring approach of functionalism with the emerging humanist approach. Barriers to implementing meaningful humanist mentoring are reviewed, and e-mentoring is presented as a modality well situated to overcome these obstacles. The humanist e-mentoring model provides a process and modality to advance social equity by removing existing barriers to opportunities. Finally, best practices and outcomes for successfully implementing e-mentoring humanist and relationships in public service are presented and an updated model of critical outcomes is advanced. A brief agenda for future scholarship on this topic is presented.