- Phone:
- (812) 856-0828
- Email:
- aruther@iu.edu
- Research areas:
- Governance and Public Law
- Public Management
- Areas of Interest:
- Personnel management
- Decision making
- Education policy
- U.S. bureaucratic politics
SPEA 425
Education
- Ph.D., Texas A&M University
- MPA, University of Oklahoma
- B.A. and B.B.A., University of Oklahoma
Courses
- Management of Public Problems and Solutions
- Managing and Leading in Public Affairs
- Research Design and Methods in Public Affairs
Biography
Amanda Rutherford is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Governance and Management faculty in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington. She is an expert on issues of personnel management, decision making, and representation in educational institutions and the U.S. federal government.
Rutherford is a Public Management Research Association board member and past Midwest Public Administration Caucus President. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and Research in Higher Education. Her teaching and research have been recognized through the IU Inclusive Excellence Award, IU Trustees Teaching Award, O’Neill Graduate Teaching Award, and O’Neill Leader for the Greater Good Award.
Her research includes publications in Public Administration Review, the International Public Management Journal, Public Administration, Stata Journal, the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Research in Higher Education, and Educational Researcher. Her research has been covered by Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Indianapolis Star , and the American Society for Public Administration.
Rutherford earned a Ph.D. in political science from Texas A&M University. She also holds a Masters in Public Administration as well as bachelor’s degrees in both marketing and supply chain management and journalism from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining the O’Neill School, she served as the Coordinator of Research and Strategic Development for Recruitment Services for the University of Oklahoma.
Highlights
- Trustees Teaching Award, 2022
- Graduate Teaching Award, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 2019 and 2021
- Emerging Education Policy Scholars, Thomas B. Fordham Institute and American Enterprise Institute, 2020
- Prominent Public Affairs Scholar Award, Ph.D. Student Assocation, School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado-Denver, 2019
- Leader for the Greater Good Award, Graduate Student Choice Awards, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 2018
- Donald A. Gatzke Dissertation Award for "Politics, Perceptions, and Performance in Higher Education, 2017
- George W. Kunze Endowed Graduate Fellowship for Outstanding Graduating Ph.D. Student, Texas A&M University, 2015
- Scholar Award Dissertation Fellowship, P.E.O. International, 2014-15
- Paul A. Volcker Endowment for Public Service Research and Education, Junior Scholar Research Grant, 2014
In the News
- “Erasing Equity Gaps with State Funding” – Inside Higher Ed, July 7, 2020
- “New Study Examines City-County Council” – WFYI Indianapolis, March 11, 2020
Selected Works
- “Compared to Whom? Social and Historical Reference Points and Performance Appraisals by Managers, Students, and the General Public,” (with T. Rabovsky and M. Darnley), Journal of Behavioral Public Administration (2021)
- Race and Public Administration, (Ed. with K. J. Meier), Routledge (2020)
- “Will the Tide Lift All Boats? Examining the Equity Effects of Performance Funding Policies in US Higher Education,” (with N. Favero), Research in Higher Education (2020)
- “Understanding Vacancy Time: A Theoretical Framework Informed by Cross-sector Comparison,” (with J.L. Mumpower, R.A. Bello Gomez, and M. Griffin), Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, (2018)
- Comparative Public Management: Why National, Environmental, and Organizational Context Matters, (Ed. with K. J. Meier, C.N. Avellaneda), Georgetown University Press (2017)
- The Politics of African American Education: Representation, Partisanship and Educational Equity, (with K. J. Meier), Cambridge University Press (2017)
- “Voting Rights for Whom?: Examining the Effects of the Voting Rights Acts on Latino Political Incorporation,” (with M. Marschall), American Journal of Political Science (2016)
- “Dynamic Pie: A Strategy for Modeling Trade-offs in Compositional Variables over Time,” (with A. Philips and G. D. Whitten), American Journal of Political Science (2016)
- “Management Goals in a Performance Driven System: Theory and Empirical Tests in Higher Education,” (with K. J. Meier), Public Administration (2015)
- “Evaluating Impacts of Performance Funding Policies on Student Outcomes,” (with T. Rabovsky), The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2014)