Professor Karen Sweeting uses her past 20 years of experience in the public sector to offer a new approach to public administration.
After working for over 20 years in the public sector, Karen Sweeting is utilizing her background in human resource management to develop her research in a wide range of topics including disparities in public administration and policy.
“That’s where my passion for my research developed,” Sweeting said. “Because within the field, you notice discrepancies and you notice how the system is designed to operate and who is normally left out in terms of historically marginalized groups.”
The new University of Rhode Island assistant professor of public administration previously worked as a human resources administrator in the Broward County, Florida Public School system before pursuing her doctorate in public administration from Florida Atlantic University in 2017.
After completing her doctorate and a dissertation entitled “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Cultural Competence: An Interpretive Analysis for Cultural Competence of Federal Departments’ Strategic Plans,” Sweeting joined the URI political science department in June 2021. She accepted the position because of the similarity between her dissertation focus and the URI strategic plan to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on campus.
“What captured me with the URI ad for this position that I’m in right now was their mission statement and their strategic plan in terms of DEI and what they were hoping to do,” Sweeting said.
In her current first semester at URI, Sweeting is teaching PSC 504: Ethics in Public Administration and Policy. She has worked to connect what she is teaching in the classroom to real-life by asking students questions related to ethical situations they may face, connecting theory to the real world.
“Let’s connect what we’re learning to what you’re physically doing, and then we can see how we can build that knowledge base so you can understand how to deal with it going forward,” Sweeting said.
Beyond teaching URI public administration classes, Sweeting has helped develop the master of public administration (MPA) accelerated online program with Aaron Ley, the MPA program director, and Perri Leviss, the assistant director of the MPA program.
Ley said that Sweeting has brought perspective and knowledge about diversity, inclusion and cultural competence to the MPA program.
“We never really had anybody else that focuses specifically on diversity, inclusion and cultural competence in our curriculum,” Ley said. “And Karen, just for her expertise in this area, is going to be a special thing for our students.”
Ley has found that Sweeting has helped develop many aspects of the program. The MPA program offers the opportunity for students to complete two or three graduate certificates in policy analysis or public management and an essential professional certificate in public administration and policy while finishing the program.
“She has a lot of input on the governance of the program and the direction of the program,” Ley said. “And she is just very instrumental in that regard because she comes from a Ph.D. program that has an accredited MPA program.”
Sweeting is looking forward to teaching a new course entitled PSC 502: Diversity and Inclusion in Public Administration within the accelerated seven-week asynchronous format and PSC 503: Problems in Public Personnel Administration next semester.
In her future semesters at URI, Sweeting will continue to keep up a pipeline of projects to contribute knowledge towards her field while incorporating the values of DEI in her work at URI.
“So we have to come to the table with an open mind and we have to create those brave and safe spaces for people to be free to express themselves,” Sweeting said. “And then once you’re able to do that, then you can get into enjoying the value of diversity, equity and inclusion.”