Jonathan Koppell named dean of ASU College of Public Programs
Jonathan Koppell, director of Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs and holder of the Lattie and Elva Coor Presidential Chair, has been named dean of ASU’s College of Public Programs, effective October 31.
Koppell, who will continue to direct the School of Public Affairs, came to ASU from the Yale School of Management, where he was director of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance.
He succeeds Debra Friedman, who left the university last summer to become chancellor of the University of Washington, Tacoma.
“This is a very important appointment for ASU because of our commitment to our larger community and to public service,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “The college of Public Programs is a major channel for those efforts in terms education and research, field work and community engagement. In his new position Dr. Koppell will play a major role in helping ASU achieve its aspiration to be the most community embedded and socially responsible university in the country.”
Added Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi, “Jonathan Koppell has shown great leadership ability and vision in his short time here, and has also impressed all of us with his ability to work collaboratively with others. He will broaden greatly the connections of the College to the rest of the university and the resulting impact.”
“I am deeply honored to lead Arizona State University’s College of Public Programs,” said Koppell. “Now more than ever, our communities need the smart, motivated young people who enroll in our programs and are dedicated to the betterment of Arizona. The faculty and staff of the college are dedicated to giving our students the tools to make a difference while pursuing research that will provide the building blocks of change.”
Koppell helped broaden the School of Public Affairs’ concurrent master’s degree programs to link with the other schools in the College of Public Programs and the rest of ASU. At the undergraduate level he has connected the Public Service and Public Policy undergraduate major to units across the University. Through these programs, the School of Public Affairs is now collaborating with the many policy-related parts of ASU including sustainability, law, business, planning, health, education and other schools. He is also pushing for the School to be an active participant in civic affairs and resource for the community in Maricopa and beyond.
Koppell holds a doctorate and a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and an A.B. from Harvard College. His research concerns the design and administration of complex organizations, particularly entities that hover at the intersection of politics and markets. Koppell has Much of this work addresses key contemporary policy issues including:
• Government involvement in for-profit enterprise (including the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their oversight).
• Global regulatory institutions including international financial regulatory bodies.
• Federal insurance, loan and credit guarantee programs.
• Regulation of financial institutions.
• Corporate governance, including issues related to government ownership and shareholder activism.
He is the author of "World Rule: Accountability, Legitimacy and the Design of Global Governance" (University of Chicago Press, 2010), in which he examined global governance organizations that promulgate international rules dealing with everything from accounting to telecommunications to trade in endangered species. "World Rule" has been honored as book of the year by the Academy of Management and the International Political Science Association.
In "The Politics of Quasi-Government: Hybrid Organizations and the Dynamics of Bureaucratic Control" (Cambridge University Press, 2003), Koppell presciently warned of the dangers presented by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other public-private hybrids due to their mixed mission and chronically weak regulatory oversight.
He is regularly cited as an expert on financial regulation, corporate governance, housing policy and related issues.
The College of Public Programs has evolved significantly in the last five years. The College has many more students and faculty, more programs of study, more funded research, and more cohesiveness of purpose. The College, which moved from Tempe to ASU’s new Downtown Phoenix campus, is comprised of four schools (including Public Affairs, Social Work, Criminology and Criminal Justice and Community Resources and Development), 10 centers and six university-wide initiatives.