Susan Sterett, the new director of the School of Public Policy, comes to UMBC after serving three years as a professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy and director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. Prior to that, Sterett was the program director for law and social sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and an associate dean for the University of Denver’s Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences academic unit. She is also currently co-chair of the Committee on the Status of Women in Political Science of the Western Political Science Association.
Sterett views higher education as having an essential role in American society today, and voices from the School of Public Policy as having great potential to impact national conversations on major issues.
“Universities can broaden our horizons and invite us to bring our inquiry to our communities,” she says, emphasizing, “UMBC’s proud tradition of excellence and public service are evident in the problems faculty and students in the School of Public Policy study, and the connection to communities that they bring.”
Sterett received her Ph.D. in jurisprudence and social policy from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research, teaching and writing focus on what people and institutions do with law and policy, particularly around social welfare issues. Her publications include the books Public Pensions: Gender and Civic Service in the States, 1850-1937(Cornell University Press, 2003) and Creating Constitutionalism?: Professional Politics and Administrative Law in England and Wales (University of Michigan Press, 1997).
As director, Sterett says, “I plan to foster the success of current and incoming faculty, work to partner well across the social sciences, and deepen outreach to potential students, while supporting the School’s continued excellence in the policy areas of public management, health equity, environmental justice, and education equity.”
Excerpt from article originally posted on UMBC News: Susan Sterett and Anne Brodsky begin new social science leadership roles at UMBC
Image: Susan Sterett, the new director of the School of Public Policy. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
