Research

Agency Leaders and Policy Priorities
Supported by a continuing grant over two years from The Ford Foundation, Center researchers are conducting two new studies. Judith Saidel and Karyn Loscocco, senior research associate for the Center and associate professor of sociology, are co-principal investigators of a national survey of women and men bureaucratic leaders. The study will examine variation in the impact of appointed department heads on internal and external agency policy change. Through a national survey, the researchers will probe relationships between policy priorities and independent variables related to: individual characteristics of department heads, governors, and agencies; bureaucratic politics; and policy leader networks. An earlier set of exploratory interviews with women and men department heads in eight states, conducted by Saidel and Norma Riccucci, professor of public administration, laid the groundwork for the survey. Catherine White Berheide, who has conducted several important studies at the Center, is analyzing data collected during the 1990s by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She will identify and report changes in the gender and race/ethnicity of different cohorts within state and local government work forces in the United States over the last decade.

Governance Futures: New Perspectives on Nonprofit Governance
Judith Saidel is the principal investigator, Discovery Phase on this multi-year project. Governance Futures seeks to discover, develop, and disseminate innovative governance strategies that vary significantly from conventional practices. The project is under the leadership of the National Center for Nonprofit Boards in association with the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University. It is supported by generous grants from the Packard Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation.

Technology and Work Study
The Center for Women in Government & Civil Society is conducting pioneering research in collaboration with four New York State agencies (Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Transportation, Division of the Budget, and Office of the State Comptroller). As part of the Technology and Work Study, principal investigator Catherine White Berheide, professor of sociology on sabbatical with the Center from Skidmore College, will examine the impact of technology on the redistribution of tasks within work units. Judith Saidel, executive director, and Karyn Loscocco, Center senior research associate and associate professor of sociology, are consultants to the project. Through a comprehensive review of academic and industry studies, on-site focus groups, and individual interviews, Center researchers will analyze the technology-driven migration of different work tasks within government bureaucracies. Research findings will identify human resource issues related to technology and the redistribution of work, as well as strategies for addressing the issues. According to Bonny Cawley, assistant commissioner of human resources, Department of Transportation, one of the study's benefits will be to begin to unravel the impact of technology on government employment issues.

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