Riccucci-O’Leary Award

Best article on diversity in JPART or PPMG, carrying the names of two scholars who never let the field look away from hard questions.

Norma Riccucci built her career on the mechanics of equity: affirmative action, workforce diversity, street-level bureaucracy, the places where policy meets people. Rosemary O’Leary made her name asking what happens when public servants think their organization is wrong, coining the term “guerrilla government” for principled resistance from inside, and later convening Minnowbrook III, the 2008 gathering that reset the field’s agenda for the twenty-first century. Together, their namesake award goes to the article that pushes the field’s thinking on diversity furthest.

2026 Winners

“Gendered Administrative Burden: Regulating Gendered Bodies, Labor, and Identity” (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 35, No. 1, January 2025, pp. 45–57).

Pamela Herd

University of Michigan

Donald Moynihan

University of Michigan

Herd and Moynihan extend administrative burden theory in a powerful direction, demonstrating that burdens are not neutral but are systematically structured along gendered lines — shaping whose bodies, whose labor, and whose identities are subject to government regulation and compliance demands. The committee recognized this as a landmark contribution bridging public administration with broader conversations about gender, equity, and state power.

Professor Moynihan is also this year’s recipient of the H. George Frederickson Award for Career Contributions — a reflection of the remarkable breadth and impact of his scholarly work.

Eligible articles must have been published in JPART or PPMG during the applicable award year.

Eligible articles are identified and reviewed by the award committee.

Articles are evaluated based on their contribution to understanding diversity in public management, theoretical significance, and methodological rigor.

The award is presented at the 2026 Public Management Research Conference, June 4–6, 2026, at American University in Washington, D.C.

The award includes a $500 USD cash award.

Sebawit Bishu, University of Washington

2025 | Ryan Lofaro and Alka Sapat

“Deservingness, Humanness, and Representation Through Lived Experience: Analyzing First Responders’ Attitudes” (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 34(4), 2024, pp. 563–581).

2023 | Kim Moloney and Rupert Lewis

Moloney, K., & Lewis, R. (2023). The flawed foundations of social equity in public administration: A racial contract theory critique. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 6(4), 131-136.

2023 | Shilpa Viswanath

2022 | Rachel Augustine Potter and Craig Volden

Potter, R. A., & Volden, C. (2021). A female policy premium? Agency context and women’s leadership in the US Federal Bureaucracy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 31(1), 91-107.

2021 | Katie Vinopal

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