Spring/Summer 2026 Program & Project Brief

SPRING/SUMMER 2026

ISSUE 7

PROGRAM & PROJECT

BRIEF Founded in 1992, the Department of Public Administration is located in the College of Public Affairs and Health Sciences in historic Chilton Hall.

The Civic Engagement Learning Lab (CELL) enables us to work with nonprofits and local governments to improve communities in North Texas and globally through sponsored research.

The Department of Public Administration also houses the Center for Public Management (CPM), which provides professional training to the public and nonprofit sectors.

DEPARTMENT OF

FACULTY JOINS NATIONAL SCHOLAR COHORT In May 2026, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy hosted their 2026 Lincoln Scholars for three days of programming and networking opportunities.

Scholars, inlcuding our own Dr. Laiyang Ke, attended presentations on the academic publication process, received feedback on their papers from senior scholars, presented their research, and participated in the 2026 Urban Economics and Public Finance Conference.

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy seeks to improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. Their Lincoln Scholar Program provides an important link between the institute’s educational mission and its research objectives by supporting scholars early in their careers.

“I have benefited tremendously from the Lincoln Institute’s support, research community, and valuable discussions over the years, and I am deeply grateful for this opportunity.”

Dr. Ke is collaborating on this research with PADM PhD candidate, Hyojun Kim.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

DEGREE PROGRAMS MPA Master of Public Administration

BA Urban Policy & Planning BA Nonprofit Leadership Studies PhD Public Administration and Management Certificate in Conflict Resolution Certificate in Volunteer & Community Resource Management

As part of the program, Dr. Ke has been paired with a senior scholar who will serve as a mentor and help strengthen his proposed research paper, “When Land Value Capture Ends: Fiscal Effects of Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Termination in Texas,” which proposes a key finding that citywide assessed property values increase following the termination of a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ).

PADM.UNT.EDU

DR. LAIYANG KE

HYOJUN KIM

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

PHD CANDIDATE UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

LAIYANG.KE@UNT.EDU

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HYOJUN.KIM@UNT.EDU

DENTON, TEXAS

PROGRAM & PROJECT

BRIEF

PHD PROGRAM COORDINATOR

YU “KELLY” SHI

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION YU.SHI@UNT.EDU

ONGOING PHD RURAL TRANSIT RESEARCH

Updates on our latest doctoral student research contributions to the field:

RURAL TRANSIT SYSTEMS IN TEXAS POST-COVID Aparajita Sengupta, under the supervision of Dr. Mashrur Rahman, is working to develop a benchmarking framework to assess the performance of 36 rural transit systems in Texas; some of which have declined in performance since 2020 while others have recovered well. This benchmarking can be supplemented with qualititative data to discover patterns in transit resiliency.

systems showed excellent recovery systems suffered in performance

APARAJITA SENGUPTA PHD STUDENT UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

APARAJITA.SENGUPTA@UNT.EDU

from 2020 to 2023

Methods of Analysis: Novel dataset created from the National Transit Database and Texas Transit Statistics, separating out rural areas from urban areas

RESEARCH QUESTIONS WITH THIS NEW DATASET: Why did some systems fare better than others?

Did having a different governance structure affect performance?

RURAL AMERICAN TRANSIT USE & ACCESSIBILITY

Ziyao Wang has been investigating who exactly uses public transit in small urban & rural areas, and how disability affects ridership trends. Wang is conducting this research under the supervision of Dr. Mashrur Rahman.

KEY FINDINGS: Dataset: N = 4,784 Who? Structurally rural and small urban individuals disadvantaged populations are more likely to use transit.

How? Individuals with disabilities are 8% more likely to use public transit, but still report making fewer trips than they plan or need.

A TEXAS-SPECIFIC TAKEAWAY: The South showed the lowest IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICYMAKERS: transit use across 4 regions, Traditional measures like cost-benefit potentially reflecting less transit analysis or ridership do not evaluate a investment in states like Texas. system’s full value or regional impact.

PADM.UNT.EDU

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ZIYAO WANG

PHD STUDENT UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ZIYAOWANG@MY.UNT.EDU

Methods of Analysis: Binary logistic regression model

DENTON, TEXAS

PROGRAM & PROJECT

BRIEF LEAD FACULTY

ENVISIONING THE FUTURE UNT DENTON CAMPUS This Spring semester our Urban Policy and Planning (UPOP) Studio class focused on providing ideas for the University of North Texas campus Master Plan. 31 students developed thoughtful and forward-looking proposals that addressed important planning issues ranging from affordable housing, accessibility, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, land use and zoning, placemaking, and heat-resilient campus design.

MASHRUR RAHMAN, PHD

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MASHRUR.RAHMAN@UNT.EDU

Community Partners: UNT Strategic Planning Division UNT Transportation Services City of Denton Antero Group

JAYOUNG KIM, PHD

LECTURER UNT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION* JAYOUNG.KIM@UNT.EDU

Students made poster presentations to staff from UNT Strategic Planning and the City of Denton, both of which share responsibility for the formulation and integration of the Denton campus master plan.

I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share our work, engage in meaningful conversations, and receive valuable feedback on practical, healthy urbanism solutions for the -Henry Burvee, Urban future of UNT’s campus.

Policy & Planning Major

How we plan university campuses - the built environment, public spaces, housing, and transportation - plays a critical role in student learning and academic performance.

-Dr. Mashrur Rahman

*Dr. Kim has since accepted a faculty position at the Levin School of Urban Affairs.

PADM.UNT.EDU

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DENTON, TEXAS

SPRING/SUMMER 2026

ISSUE 7

PROGRAM & PROJECT

BRIEF 2026 MPA ALUMNI OF THE YEAR PA M

‘11

A STAR-STUDDED ALUMNI CONFERENCE

This was a record-breaking year for our annual MPA Alumni-Student Conference and Luncheon! We welcomed over 300 alumni, students, and friends to UNT Gateway Center on April 10th. The luncheon keynote featured a conversation with three city managers and alumni of our MPA program, T.C. Broadnax, Kimberly Tolbert, and Jay Chapa - all 1993 alumni - with PAAB Chair Dan Johnson, MPA ‘82 as moderator.

Nicole Binkley-Newkham CEO, TRAC Resource Center

PA M

5 ‘9

Drew Corn Town Manager, Town of Northlake

PARTNER WITH US

Our faculty are looking to engage with stakeholders in local communities, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations across North Texas for applied research opportunities.

Applied Research Internships

Career Pipelines

Community Service For more information, or to

share ideas, please contact: Jessica Woods, CVA

Internship & Community

Engagement Coordinator JESSICA.WOODS@UNT.EDU

940-369-5344

PADM.UNT.EDU

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DENTON, TEXAS