Elijah K. Agyapong, Ph.D.

Bio

Dr. Elijah Agyapong is the Master’s in Public Administration and Urban Affairs (MPA) program coordinator for the Robertson School of Government (RSG). Dr. Agyapong joined the RSG faculty as an assistant professor of public administration in the fall of 2016. He earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022. He teaches the foundational courses in the MPA program, including Principles of Public Administration, Public Policy Initiatives, Organizational Theory, and Research Methods.

Dr. Agyapong is originally from Ghana, West Africa. He received his Ph.D. in Public Affairs from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He also holds a MPA from the University of Akron, Ohio, and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Ghana.

His research interests broadly focus on public administration, policy implementation, and the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy. Within this framework, he is particularly interested in bureaucratic responsiveness, administrative ethics, representative bureaucracy, and other mechanisms for engendering street-level bureaucrats’ responsible use of discretion. His recent works have been published in the International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Public Affairs Education, Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy and Governance, Review of Development Economics, Handbook of Servant Leadership, and PA Times.

Dr. Agyapong is a member of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA national) and the Hampton Roads Chapter. He is also the NASPAA representative for RSG and the faculty advisor for the Regent Student Chapters of the Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society (PAA) and the International City-County Management Association (ICMA).

Publications

Agyapong, E. (2017). Representative Bureaucracy: Examining the Effects of Female Teachers on Girls’ Education in Ghana. International Journal of Public Administration, 41(16), 1338-1350.

Agyapong, E. (2018). Representative Bureaucracy in Ghana. In: Farazmand A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3489-1

Agyapong, E. (2018). A Critical Assessment of Representative Bureaucracy: Toward a more Expanded Theory. PA Times. https://patimes.org/a-critical-assessment-of-representative-bureaucracy-toward-a-more-expanded-theory/

Sulemana I., & Agyapong, E. (2019). Subjective Well-Being and Political Participation: Empirical Evidence from Ghana. Review of Development Economics, 23(3), 1368-1386

King, M. S., Agyapong, E., & Roberts, G. (2019). ASPA Code of Ethics as a Framework for Teaching Ethics in Public Affairs and Administration: A Conceptual Content Analysis of MPA Ethics Course Syllabi. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 27(2), 176-197.

Roberts, G.E., King, S.M., Agyapong, E. (2022). Servant Soldiers. In: Dhiman, S., Roberts, G.E. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Servant Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69802-7_51-1

Agyapong, E., King, S.M., Roberts, G. (2022). Servant Leadership and Ethics. In: Dhiman, S.K., Roberts, G.E. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Servant Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69802-7_96-1