University of Southern California

U-M’s Mazmanian Is Named Dean of the
School of Policy, Planning, and Development

by Alfred G. Kildow

Daniel A. Mazmanian, an expert in the formulation and implementation of public policy, has been named the first dean of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development. His appointment, effective July 1, was announced May 17 by Lloyd Armstrong Jr., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

For the past four years, Mazmanian has been dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, following an extensive career at Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate School in Southern California.

The new dean has significant national experience in policy research and is a leader in developing educational programs to train policy analysts, Armstrong said. “Daniel Mazmanian has been at the nexus of national efforts to develop and implement environmental policy, and his scholarship is widely admired,” he said. “He has the breadth of leadership experience that makes him the perfect choice to lead the school as it creates a unique and valuable niche in higher education.”

The USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development was formed in 1998 by combining two top-rated USC schools – the School of Public Administration and the School of Urban Planning and Development.

“I’m eager to accept the challenge of helping to forge the future of this new, synergistic venture in research and education, focusing on Los Angeles as a living laboratory, the state of California as a national policy initiator and both as a basis of comparison to rapidly growing megacities and regions around the world,” Mazmanian said.

“The two predecessor schools were both powerful and influential, but perhaps too small and less interdisciplinary than the issues of the 21st century will require,” he said. “Combined, we will become a strong force in research, education and leadership training on a much broader scale. The opportunities the new school provides are already quite extraordinary, and I’m indebted to interim dean Robert Biller and his faculty colleagues for their great work in launching the school.”

Mazmanian added that returning to his California base will allow him the pleasure of “observing Michigan winters from a distance.”

He is the author of numerous books, including, “Toward Sustainable Communities: Transitions and Transformations in Environmental Policy” (1999), “Beyond Superfailure: America’s Toxic Policy for the 1990s” (1992), “Implementation and Public Policy” (second edition, 1989), “Can Regulation Work” (1983), “Can Organizations Change? Environmental Protection, Citizen Participation and the Corps of Engineers” (1979) and “Third Parties in Presidential Elections” (1974).

He has written or co-written dozens of articles and has been the principal investigator on numerous funded research projects.

Mazmanian serves as a senior associate of the California Institute of Public Affairs and is a member of the executive committee of the Institute of Social Research and the national advisory board of Green Leaf. He is a trustee of the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation and was a member of the Commission on Environmental Strategy and Planning of the World Conservation Union from 1992 to 1996.

He is a recipient of the Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award from the American Political Science Association (1997) and Pomona College’s Wig Award for Distinguished Teaching (1981). He was named the first president of the Policy Studies Section of the American Political Science Association in 1989.

Mazmanian earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from San Francisco State University in 1966 and 1967, respectively, and his Ph.D. in political science from Washington University of St. Louis, Mo., in 1970.

Following his doctoral study, Mazmanian spent four years as a research associate at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. This was followed by 12 years on the faculty at Pomona College, where he established and served as director of the school’s Program in Public Policy Analysis from 1979 to 1986.

In 1986 he moved to Claremont Graduate School (now University), where he remained until 1996, serving as the first director of the Center for Politics and Policy, which was expanded in 1993 into the Center for Politics and Economics. He served as Claremont’s vice president and dean from 1990 to 1991.

Mazmanian succeeds public policy and management expert Robert P. Biller as holder of the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean’s Chair. Biller has served as interim dean since the school’s formation and will return to teaching this fall.