Kris Hartley, a Fulbright US. Scholar serving at the Chiang Mai University School of Public Policy in Thailand during spring term 2020, delivered a guest lecture at the Australian National University Crawford School of Public Policy in March 2020. The visit was made possible by a grant from the Fulbright East Asia Pacific Regional Travel Program. Entitled “Traditions in Public Management: An Overview of Key Debates,” the lecture was delivered to over 50 postgraduate students and staff. The presentation addressed the evolution of reform paradigms in the field of public administration and management from the early 20th century to the early 21st century, focusing on applicability for the role of public servants, public managers, and elected leaders. The presentation’s focus on state-society relations and issues of public trust and political legitimacy were connected to current debates about the governance of complex problems like climate change, inequality, and public health, holding particular relevance to current policy challenges.

While at Australian National University, Hartley visited with colleagues and established plans for research projects that advance scholarly understandings about policy implementation for complex problems. He also toured the old and new Australian Parliament Houses. On his visit to Australia, Hartley also met with colleagues at the University of Melbourne Connected Cities Lab, to discuss research plans concerning city networks as vehicles for achieving performance targets on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Led by Professor Michele Acuto, the Lab researches mechanisms by which urban networks, international policy processes, and analysis and dissemination of information influence the practice of urban governance.

Hartley will return to his home university, the Education University of Hong Kong Department of Asian and Policy Studies, in August 2020, where he will resume teaching environmental policy, economics for public policy, and public management.

Hartley holds a PhD in public policy from the National University of Singapore, where he was awarded the President’s Graduate Fellowship and the Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize for best PhD thesis in the social sciences. He also holds a master of city planning from UC Berkeley and a bachelor of arts in Classics from the University of Tennessee. Hartley is originally from Nashville, Tennessee.