Dr. Don Kettl to Deliver the 2019 Deil Wright Lecture

Donald F. Kettl, author, editor, and professor, will deliver the 2019 Deil Wright Lecture at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 4 at the UNC School of Government. An expert in public sector personnel management and intergovernmental relations, Kettl is professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Volcker Alliance and the Brookings Institution.

The title of Kettl’s lecture is “States Divided: How the Invention That United the Nation Is Driving It Apart.” When the founders created the Constitution, Madison came up with two great inventions: the separation of powers and federalism. The truly essential invention was federalism, without which the states would never have been united. But that creation is in deep trouble—it is increasingly the source of profound friction and it is driving ever-greater inequality in the country. If Madison’s instincts helped create the nation, can Hamilton’s instincts now help save it?

In 2002, the MPA Alumni Association honored Professor Deil Wright for his 34 years of teaching MPA students by creating the Deil S. Wright Lecture in Public Administration. Each year, a distinguished professional from the field of public administration enriches the educational experience of students, alumni, faculty, and interested members of the community.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Texas at Austin, Kettl taught at the University of Maryland, where he served as dean of the School of Public Policy. He has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a fellow of Phi Beta Kappa and the National Academy of Public Administration.

Kettl is the author or editor of numerous books, including three that won national best-book awards: The Transformation of Governance (2002), System under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics (2005), and Escaping Jurassic Government: How to Recover America’s Lost Commitment to Competence (2016). Kettl has consulted broadly for government organizations at all levels, he has appeared frequently in national and international media, and he is a regular columnist for Governing magazine.

He has received lifetime achievement awards from the American Political Science Association, the International Public Management Association for Human Resources, and the American Society for Public Administration. Kettl earned a PhD in political science from Yale University.