David Van Slyke is an Associate Professor of Public Administration in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University and a senior research associate in the Campbell Institute of Public Affairs. He is a public and nonprofit management specialist and received his Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy of the University at Albany, State University of New York.

At the Maxwell School Dr. Van Slyke teaches the required Public Organizations and Management course and Project Management course as well as a course on the Implementation of Social Policy.  His research areas focus on public and nonprofit management topics including privatization and public-private partnerships, contracting and contract management, policy implementation, strategic management, and philanthropy.  He has published on public and nonprofit management topics in journals such as the Public Administration Review, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Administration and Society, Organization Science, the American Review of Public Administration, Public Performance and Management Review, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Local Government Studies, and the International Journal of Public Administration. Van Slyke is the recipient of the 2002 Best Article Award and the 1999 Best Conference Paper Award from the Academy of Management's Public-Nonprofit Division for a co-authored article that appeared in Organization Science.

Dr. Van Slyke is involved in a range of contract management research with Trevor Brown of the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University and Matthew Potoski in the Department of Political Science at Iowa State University. Professor Van Slyke is currently working with several federal agencies, state and local governments, and nonprofits on contracting and contract management. His current contracting research is on contract management capacity and relational “incomplete” contract design.  In addition, he has been the principal investigator for several studies on philanthropy and nonprofit management as well as projects in which government and nonprofit organizations seek to adopt strategic management tools and practices. He has also worked closely with nonprofit organizations on enhancing the effectiveness of their fundraising and resource development operations.

Professor Van Slyke regularly speaks to senior government officials from other countries (e.g., China and India) on contracting and public-private partnerships, strategic management, policy implementation, government oversight and nonprofit organizations as part of the Maxwell School’s Executive Education. He also speaks to groups associated with the National League of Cities, the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, and the Cornell Municipal Clerks Institute. Dr. Van Slyke also serves as a committee member on the transnational NGO project in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

Prior to coming to Syracuse University, Dr. Van Slyke was on the faculty of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies where he taught in the public administration program and directed the nonprofit studies program.  Before becoming an academic, Dr. Van Slyke spent twelve years working in project management in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

Curriculum Vita

Recent Publications:

Brown, Trevor L., Matthew Potoski, and David M. Van Slyke.(Forthcoming). “Contracting for Complex Products.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Collaboration and Relational Contracting. David M. Van Slyke (2009). In Rosemary O’Leary and Lisa Blomgren Bingham (editors), The Collaborative Public Manager: New Ideas for the Twenty-first Century, Georgetown University Press. 

The Challenge of Contracting for Large Complex Projects: A Case Study of the Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program  Trevor L. Brown, Matthew Potoski, and David M. Van Slyke (2008). IBM Center for the Business of Government: Contracting Series. 

Accountability Challenges in Public Sector Contracting for Complex Products. Trevor L. Brown, Matthew Potoski, and David M. Van Slyke. (Forthcoming). In George Frederickson and Melvin Dubnick (editors), Public Accountability and its Promises, M.E. Sharpe Publishers.

Changing Modes of Service Delivery: How Past Choices Structure Future Choices. Trevor L. Brown,  Matthew Potoski, and David M. Van Slyke (2008). Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 26: 127-143.

Strategies for Engaging African Americans in Philanthropy . David M. Van Slyke, Janet L. Johnson, and Shena R. Ashley (2007). American Review of Public Administration, 37(3):278-305.

Trust and Contract Completeness in the Public Sector. Trevor L. Brown, Matthew Potoski, and David M. Van Slyke (2007). Local Government Studies, 33(4): 607-623.

Agents or Stewards: Using Theory to Understand the Government – Nonprofit Social Services Contracting Relationship. David M. Van Slyke (2007). Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory,17(2): 157-187.

Courses

PPA 709 Organizations and Management

PPA 785 Policy Implementation