Paul C. Light, Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and author of the 2008 book A Government Ill Executed: The Decline of the Federal Service and How to Reverse It, has launched a partnership with the Washington Post during the presidential transition, entitled “The NYU Wagner Presidential Transition Project.”
The new partnership will feature periodic web and print columns by Light, who is a nationally recognized expert on the federal service and presidential transitions. The first column was published November 5, 2008, spelling out the enormous challenge represented by this year’s historic changing of the guard.
“This presidential transition will be the most difficult since Abraham Lincoln,” Light wrote. “Although President-elect Barack Obama is not facing a civil war, he will inherit an agenda of staggering uncertainty as the nation teeters on the edge of economic collapse.”
In addition to the columns, the Washington Post plans to run Light’s analysis and a weekly “countdown” charting the details and speed of the appointment process for all Senate-confirmed positions for at least the first six months of President Obama’s administration. The new data, plus similar information on the transitions of 2000, 1992, and 1988, will be posted in searchable form at washingtonpost.com, and the paper’s staff columnists will make use of it in their published work.
In case you missed Light’s debut column, please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110404549.html.
About NYU Wagner
Established in 1938, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service offers advanced programs leading to the professional degrees of Master of Public Administration, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Science in Management, and Doctor of Philosophy Through these rigorous programs, NYU Wagner educates the future leaders of public, nonprofit, and health institutions as well as private organizations serving the public sector. www.wagner.nyu.