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Speaking from Experience Robert Blair, Ph.D., Associate Professor Ask Associate Professor Robert Blair, Ph.D., about the issues and challenges his Public Administration students would face as city managers and he responds with the conviction of personal experience. That is because Dr. Blair spent 14 years in city and state government positions before joining the academic world. After earning a Master of Public Administration (MPA) at UNO in 1975, he went to work in Grand Island as assistant to the city’s Public Works Director, then as City Personnel Director. In 1979, he became Assistant City Manager in Kearney. From Kearney he moved to Lincoln, where he served as Industrial Development Consultant (1981-‘85) and Coordinator of Community Assistance Programs (1985-‘89) at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. He came to UNO as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) in 1989, and joined the faculty of the School of Public Administration (SPA) in 1996, the year he earned a doctorate in political science from UNL. “I tell my students I’ve changed careers three times now,” he says, smiling. “Each change has come with its own unique set of challenges.” Dr. Blair puts his city government experience to work as a teaching tool he employs for his students, as a focus of his research, and in his extensive and active outreach. He is a longtime member of the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA) and is helping plan the 99th ICMA annual conference in 2013 in Boston. “We’ll draw people from 14 countries,” he says. “Our 50-person planning committee has 49 city managers and one college professor: me.” Dr. Blair’s warm, welcoming nature makes him extremely approachable, a trait appreciated by his students, colleagues and the city managers and administrators who seek his advice and collaboration. “What I do today reflects why I got into this 30 years ago,” he says, “to work with local government. I stay involved through education.” As associate professor of public administration and urban studies, and as director of local government programs, he is helping guide the next generation of city managers and administrators. “The greatest challenge is drawing people to the work,” he says. “I take particular pride that at least 15 of my former students are now city administrators or assistants in the U.S.” Reaching beyond UNO, he imparts his knowledge to students in Lithuania, where in December he gave two
weeks of lectures at UNO’s sister institution, Šiauliai University. “Twenty years ago it was a Communist country,” he says. “They are very eager to embrace public management, but so much of this is new to them.” His research interests include policy implementation, policy specializations and public management. In 2009, he was awarded a visiting scholar fellowship by the University of Agder in Norway to conduct research in comparative local government management. The author of chapters in several public policy texts as well as monographs, applied research studies and articles in professional management publications, Dr. Blair also served as executive editor and is a member of the editorial board for Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society. A native of Omaha, he and his wife, Barbara, have been married “40-plus” years. Their only child, Andrew, died four years ago from complications after a lifetime of cardiac disease and cerebral palsy. He was 31. In his honor, the Blairs have established the Andrew Blair Memorial Fellowship through the University of Nebraska Foundation. The fellowship is for MPA students who plan careers with the disabled or nonprofit human service organizations. “Barbara and I have incredible admiration for what people do in this field.” In his free time, the 63-year-old follows the Chicago Cubs and Bears, and participates in sprint triathlons – endurance events that combine a 500-meter swim, a 12-mile bicycle ride and a three-mile run. “I always place in my age division,” he says, smiling once again, “because there’s no one else in my division.”