Claire Connolly Knox

Public Administrators’ Use of Social Media Platforms: Overcoming the Legitimacy Dilemma?

Previous research incorporates Habermas’ theory of communicative action with implications of social media for public discourse, yet few studies consider the theory’s relevance and applicability to public administrators. This article addresses this weak link by focusing on the administration legitimacy dilemma. While social media can be useful to public administrators facilitating collaborative interactions with citizens, these platforms are not automatically suited to public participation in governance. Habermas’ theory offers a framework for understanding these possibilities and challenges, as well as adapting social media constructively to administrative practice.

Hurricanes and hegemony: A qualitative analysis of micro-level climate change denial discourses

ABSTRACT The climate change countermovement and its program of climate change denial have been well documented and studied. However, individual rationales for rejecting climate science remain under-studied. Twitter data related to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 are used to understand why individuals reject the orthodox climate consensus, using a summative content analysis of climate change denial discourses. Three major discourses are discovered: rejecting climate science because climate science is a conspiracy favoring growth of government; opposing renewable energy and energy taxation; and expressing fear of governmental abuse of power. Importantly, each discourse expressed certainty that climate science itself was a wholesale fraud; the denial discourses themselves focused far more on climate politics than on science.

Utilization of Service Learning in Emergency Management Programs in the United States

Emergency management academic programs continue to strive toward linking students’ theoretical and practical knowledge before they enter the evolving and challenging field of emergency management. This article recommends including service-learning pedagogy in the development of emergency management programs and curriculum to help meet this educational challenge. Results from a national survey of emergency management and homeland security academic programs indicate that many programs are incorporating service-learning projects in some courses. This article concludes by discussing the benefits and challenges associated with using service learning in emergency management programs and by presenting advice for program directors and faculty considering implementing this pedagogy.

Disaster Events and Policy Change in Florida

After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the Florida Governor’s Disaster Planning and Response Review Committee published the Lewis Report containing recommendations for state agencies, local governments, and nonprofit and private organizations. Practical and policy recommendations from this focusing event included issues with communications, shelter, evacuation, response and recovery operations, medical care, and coordination of volunteers, donations, and supplies. Twelve years later, Central Florida experienced three major hurricanes within 6 weeks: hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne. This chapter compares the Lewis Report recommendations with the results of after action reports from three Central Florida counties. This chapter concludes with a discussion of how focusing events provide the context for policy learning.

Measuring cultural competence in emergency management and homeland security higher education programs

ABSTRACT With the evolving demographics of our communities and recent disasters directly impacting socially vulnerable populations, cultural competency has increased in importance. Emergency management and homeland security scholars have outlined various interpersonal and technical knowledge, skills, and abilities for the discipline; yet lacking in this discussion is cultural competency. By increasing cultural competency knowledge, skills, and abilities in emergency management higher education, we increase our graduates to be more credible, empathetic, relatable, and trustworthy, and less inclined to negatively apply biases, stereotypes, and pre-conceived notions. Using results of a national survey to U.S. Emergency Management and Homeland Security Higher Education programs, we apply Cross’ cultural competence continuum to provide a contextual landscape of the inclusion of these knowledge, skills, and abilities in related courses within the curriculum. We conclude with lessons learned and recommendations for program directors who want to move forward on the continuum.

A Football Field Lost Every 45 Minutes: Evaluating Local Capacity to Implement Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan

ABSTRACT As Louisiana continues to experience substantial coastal wetland loss—at the rate of a football field every 45 min—and multiple disasters, state and federal officials struggle with implementing restoration plans in this highly productive ecosystem. The 2007 Louisiana Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast is the first large-scale restoration plan in the United States to incorporate hazard mitigation. However, there is no mandate for local governments to adhere to this plan. Building upon the planning quality and evaluation literature, this study analyzes comprehensive land use plans in Louisianas coastal zone to systematically assess the quality of the plans within the context of a non-mandated,

Incorporating cultural competency skills in emergency management education

50 billion large-scale state restoration plan. Results indicate a great disparity in plan quality; a majority of the local governments lack the capacity to implement the nonstructural programmatic elements of the states plan.  The study concludes with a discussion and recommendations for practice and future research.

Unveiling cultures in emergency response communication networks on social media: following the 2016 Louisiana floods

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to incorporate a model of prejudice reduction and cultural identity development theory to assess: the implementation of a diversity case study in a disaster management course; and the cultural competency understanding among the students. Design/methodology/approach – A diversity case study was implemented in an undergraduate Disaster Response and Recovery course (Fall 2013 n=17; Spring 2014 n=21; Fall 2014 n=35). The discussion encouraged students to contemplate how their biases, preconceived notions, and stereotypes affect their future role in emergency management. Findings – Results from Likert scale pre/post tests showed a marked increase in knowledge and a positive change in attitudes (p < 0.05). Open-responses denoted linkages to the prejudice reduction model and cultural identity development theory. Research limitations/implications – Bias can be attributed to the instructor and facilitator, and contextual limitations including a lack of: previous conversations...

Teaching Grammar and Editing in Public Administration: Lessons Learned from Early Offerings of an Undergraduate Administrative Writing Course

While culture in emergency management has gained attention from the field of risk communication, few have systemically dealt with the nuances of general culture involved in the formation and differentiation of risk communication. To fill this gap, this research aims to first examine cultural nuances from the 2016 Louisiana flood response by primarily focusing on communications embedded in social media. The results from social network analysis and content analysis highlight that the flood response communication had strong cultural characteristics, highlighting the notion that of the cultures in Louisiana—faith-based, local authority, and nonprofits—were the prominent cultural responders in the flood response communication. In particular, cultural similarity in both intra/inter group response communication was observed, with each communication group comprising actors who shared a common cultural background and spoke similar keywords.

What Have We Learned since September 11, 2001? A Network Study of the Boston Marathon Bombings Response

College graduates need to possess strong writing skills before entering the workforce. Although many public administration undergraduate programs primarily focus on policy, finance, and management, we fall short of a larger goal if students cannot communicate results to a variety of audiences. This article discusses the results of a national survey, which concludes that few undergraduate public affairs programs require an administrative/technical writing course. Based on pedagogical theories, this article describes the design of a newly implemented, undergraduate, administrative writing course. The article concludes with lessons learned, provides recommendations for programs considering requiring an administrative writing course, and discusses future research.