APSA Dissertation Workshop: Public Administration and Public Policy — structure, participants, and early findings

Workshops have run since 2016 to give advanced graduate students extended, structured feedback on dissertation chapters. The Public Administration and Policy workshop moved fully toward an iterative model that mixes group and individual meetings rather than concentrating feedback into a single conference day. The aim is concrete revision: present early drafts, get detailed critique, revise, and present improved versions.

Session 1: Introductions and grouping by methodological approach. Participants presented dissertation goals and were paired with faculty co-leads.

Session 2: Small-group collaborative writing focused on revision, structure, and application of feedback to chapters.

The workshop was co-led by Elizabeth Dorssom (Assistant Professor, Lincoln University) and Sungjin Lee (Assistant Professor, San Diego State University, Imperial Valley). Faculty co-leads paired with student groups to provide iterative guidance across sessions.

Sewon Kim — Indiana University Bloomington

• Research question: How do state-level approaches affect local government financial management? The comparison is between accountability-based fiscal monitoring and capacity-building interventions such as training and certification mandates.

• Findings presented: Fiscal monitoring produces modest gains in compliance with financial regulations but does not substantially strengthen underlying financial management capacity. Training and certification mandates reduce weaknesses in internal controls and improve subsequent financial performance.
• Takeaway: Administrative capacity-building through training and certification appears more effective than increased external oversight for producing sustained improvements in local financial management.

Songeun (Emily) Lee — University of Houston

• Research question: Why do women of color in the U.S. House exhibit longer tenures than White women, and what does tenure indicate about inequality?
• Concept introduced: "Selective durability" — the idea that longer careers for women of color reflect strong selection at entry rather than equal or improved conditions after election.

Workshop aims and scholarly community

The workshop structure supports repeated, actionable feedback and builds a peer network for continued conversation beyond the sessions. Grouping by method allowed faculty and peers to target methodological and substantive challenges, and the multi-session timeline created space for revision and re-presentation.

Practical implications for dissertation writers

• Group by method: peer critique is more effective when participants share methodological approaches.
• Pair with faculty co-leads: sustained mentorship across sessions improves clarity of argument and research design.

Workshop program that has offered both in-person and virtual, multi-session formats since 2016, adapting toward extended engagement after 2020.