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USM’s Muskie School Professor Richard Barringer receives NASPAA award

September 27, 2007

Professor Richard Barringer of the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service has been named the 2007 recipient of the national Elmer B. Staats Public Service Career Award.  

The Staats Award, presented by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), is considered to be among the most prestigious teaching honors in the public administration discipline. It is awarded to a faculty member whose career exemplifies a commitment to inspiring students to pursue public service careers. It will be presented at the NASPAA annual conference scheduled for October 11, in Seattle.

Barringer graduated with a B.A. from Harvard College in 1959, a M.A. from the University of Massachusetts in 1963, and earned his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968. Before coming to the University twenty years ago, Barringer served from 1974-1987 in the administrations of three Maine governors as director of public lands, commissioner of conservation and director of the state planning office. He has served many organizations as a consultant on strategic planning and public policy development. He is also co-founder and director of two non-profit organizations, the Mainewatch Institute and Western Mountain Alliance. Recently, he organized two Blaine House Conferences on Maine’s Natural Resource-based Industries and on Maine’s Creative Economy, the results of which are available on the State of Maine Web site.

Newly appointed by Governor Baldacci as chair of the Governor’s Council on Maine’s Quality of Place, Barringer has remained concerned with contemporary issues of public policy and their impact on our lives throughout his distinguished career at USM. He has motivated students to pursue public service careers and has been a role model in providing students with the motivation to make a positive impact on peoples’ lives.

Barringer has focused on making public policy understandable to the general public since his work at Harvard University. He has published “Maine Mainifest” (1972), “Changing Maine” (1989) and “Changing Maine 1960-2010” (2004). Governor Baldacci, in reference to his last publication, has said, “Barringer has provided a great service to Maine, especially to our youth, who will find here both the knowledge and inspiration they will need to build a better Maine for themselves and their children.”

During his tenure as director of what was then known as the Public Policy and Management program, Barringer was instrumental in the program being designated as a full graduate school of public service and it being named in honor of Senator Edmund S. Muskie.

Barringer will retire from full-time teaching this year, but will remain active in his research and student advising. In regards to his nomination for the award, NASPAA commented that “among a very impressive group of award nominees from around the country, yours stood out as someone for whom this honor was designed.”

Barringer, has also received national recognition from the Council of Governor’s Policy Advisors and has been awarded the Jack Brizius “Rough Rider” Award, established in memory of Theodore Roosevelt, for “consistently demonstrating vision, dedication to excellence and commitment to friends, colleagues and those with limited access to the bounty of this society.”
   

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