KATHLEEN BEATTY, PHD

School of Public Affairs

Fulbright Specialist Candidate

2008

ASSISTING SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: IMPLEMENTING QUALITY STANDARDS AND PREPARATION FOR ACCREDITATION

Unlike most Fulbright grants, which focus on teaching and research in countries abroad, the Senior Specialist Award aims to strengthen and develop higher education institutions in more than 100 countries around the world. Candidates selected by the Fulbright organization are matched with requests from higher education institutions to participate in collaborative projects lasting two to six weeks. In December, 2008, Kathleen Beatty was appointed to this prestigious Fulbright prestigious Specialist eligibility list. 

Beatty’s proposal was based on her experience with the composition, approval, and enforcement of quality standards for graduate education in public affairs and public policy. Beatty is the immediate past president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, and, in that role, she pushed NASPAA to increase its international profile and to open membership and accreditation to international higher education institutions. 

She has also been active in site visits and in decision-making for public affairs accreditation. In her role as a member of the Board of Management of the International Association of Schools of Administration (IASIA), the only worldwide association of public affairs schools, she participated in the adoption of international quality standards for public policy and administration programs. This experience, as well as her twelve-year service as Dean of CU Denver’s School of Public Affairs, prepared her well to assist schools in developing programs to implement quality standards or to prepare for accreditation.

Likely other assignments for Beatty include Asia, where excellent public administration programs exist but without any quality control mechanisms; Eastern Europe, where programs are struggling to understand and implement standards; or Africa, where the best programs hope for accreditation opportunities, while others struggle for basic resources.