The Exemplary Path of Deil Wright's Life

F ROM THE M.P.A. PROGRAM Balancing Professional Passions: The Exemplary Path of Deil Wright’s Life Brendan Burke s the twentieth century ended, many fields of endeavor engaged A in self-reflection, considering their achievements over the previous 100 years. Various organizations compiled lists, identifying their greatest successes of the century. The American Film Institute cited Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Schindler’s List among its “100 Greatest Movies.” The Modern Library Association placed The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury, and Catch-22 near the top of its “100 Best Novels” for the period. Public administration did not produce a list of its most enduring and powerful works. But in the fifty-four book excerpts and articles included in Shafritz and Hyde’s Classics of Public Administration, the field has a relatively widely accepted indicator of its best offerings.1 Happily, the work of one of UNC Chapel Hill’s own appears in all recent editions of the Classics: a portion of Deil Wright’s Understanding Inter- new and highly appropriate direction. aging a program for the Massachusetts governmental Relations. At its 2001 annual conference, the UNC Rehabilitation Commission. He also At the close of the twentieth century, Chapel Hill Master of Public Adminis- began studying for an M.P.A., but the the American Society of Public Admin- tration (M.P.A.) Alumni Association transition was not easy. “Those first istration recognized Wright with two of honored Wright for his career and readings [in Introduction to Public its most prestigious awards: service. The full measure of a public Administration] didn’t really impress administration scholar is to be highly me,” he said. “The papers seemed too • The Dwight Waldo Award, for career favored by his or her academic peers, as obvious or too circuitous. But when we contributions to the literature of well as by the successful public servants got to the Federalism/Intergovernmental public administration. In this who have sat in his or her classroom. Relations section, Deil Wright’s essay achievement, Wright joined the likes My own recent experience as a teacher was the first thing that made sense of of Aaron Wildavsky, Herbert in an M.P.A. program five hundred my complex situation and that would Kaufman, and Herbert Simon. miles removed from Chapel Hill has help me with my work.” • The 1999 William E. and Frederick C. shown me that Wright’s work has been Mosher Award, with coauthors significant in the advancement of Jeffrey Brudney and F. Ted Hebert, The author is an assistant professor in the government professionals across the for the best paper by academics in Master of Public Administration Program at nation and the world. Two examples Public Administration Review.2 Bridgewater State College (Massachusetts). already stand out for me. He earned an M.P.A. and a Ph.D. from Early in the twenty-first century, the Mark Cowell made a mid-career UNC Chapel Hill. Contact him at bburke accolades for Wright are moving in a change from being an attorney to man- @bridgew.edu. summer 2002 web supplement 1 Wright’s Journey Hill. From there, his career diversified. NON–U.S. CITIES Wright’s life serves as an example of the He continued his work with the ASAP HERE EIL RIGHT way for a professor to promote his survey, taught undergraduate and W D W scholarly ideas and to influence the doctoral students, and wrote about HAS TAUGHT OR world of public administration. In 1948 public finance. But he also pursued LECTURED he went from a small town in Michigan several new challenges. He started to the state’s flagship university in Ann working with the fledgling UNC Chapel Dublin, Ireland Arbor. Early in his academic career, he Hill M.P.A. Program. He became an aspired to become a city manager. Nine important name in the study of inter- Swansea, Wales years later, he held a B.A., an M.P.A., governmental relations, and the topic London, England and a Ph.D. from the University of began to turn up in his writings more Basel, Switzerland Michigan; had performed several grant- frequently at that time. funded community studies around the Further, he began a period of high- Berne, Switzerland state; had published his first article in level political and policy involvement. Duisburg, West Germany Public Administration Review; and had During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Nuremburg, West Germany served as an instructor at both the he served as an adviser to Richard West Berlin, West Germany University of Michigan and Wayne State Nixon before the Nixon presidency and University, in Detroit. From the outset also to North Carolina Governor James East Berlin, East Germany he found a place in academe but with Holshouser. He spoke about revenue- Madrid, Spain steady involvement in the workings and sharing policy before U.S. House commit- Trieste, Italy the issues of local governments. tees on two occasions. His consulting By the early 1960s, Wright had work was of national prominence. In Bangkok, Thailand published an assortment of articles and advisory roles he consulted with the Chejudo, South Korea several books, moving on a fast track U.S. Advisory Commission on Inter- Seoul, South Korea toward tenure at the University of Iowa. governmental Relations, the Brookings Taegu, South Korea As if this were not a sufficient contribu- Institution, and the U.S. Office of tion, he continued his consulting work Management and Budget. He also Fukuoka, Japan with communities and regional served as an official member of the Kobe, Japan commissions in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Director’s Advisory Committee of the Kyoto, Japan supported a tax study for the Michigan National Institutes of Health, the North legislature, and served in research Carolina Council on Goals and Policies, Naha, Japan institutes in Iowa and at the University and the North Carolina State Internship Osaka, Japan of California, Berkeley. Council. In 1975 he was elected to the Sapporo, Japan While at the University of Iowa, National Academy of Public Adminis- Tokyo, Japan Wright started a major project that will tration and has served that prestigious serve as a lasting contribution to organization in several capacities. Along Jakarta, Indonesia professionals’ understanding of state the way, he had time for his family, golf, Jogjakarta, Indonesia government officials. He began his softball, UNC Chapel Hill basketball, Ife, Nigeria research on American state administra- and ongoing service to the Rotary Club. tive officials with a grant from the Relm How could Wright top the services Melbourne, Australia Foundation. This effort later became the he had performed in the early 1970s? Perth, Australia American State Administrators Project, By becoming a leader of two profes- ASAP for short. This lengthy survey of sional organizations; by carrying his all state agency heads throughout the teachings and ideas about intergovern- Sue Keenan, a property manager for country (approximately 3,600 possible mental relations to other nations; and a nonprofit community action agency respondents) probes their backgrounds, by writing the first edition of what is outside Boston, experienced something policy stances, and working environ- arguably the leading text in intergovern- similar. Her work environment involves ments. The ASAP data have been mental relations. Wright served as several governmental regulatory collected twice every decade since the director of the M.P.A. Program at UNC agencies, several overlapping political 1960s with the ongoing financial Chapel Hill from 1973 to 1980, when processes, court-ordered mandates, and backing of the Earhart Foundation. The the program educated some of its most the lack of a coherent mission—the survey results form an important successful graduates. Immediately substance of about four chapters of longitudinal source on change in the afterward, he served as president of the Understanding Intergovernmental American states, with data on nearly Southern Political Science Association. Relations. She too has been able to 10,000 state agency heads. Starting in the 1970s, Wright make more sense of a confusing inter- Wright, his wife, Pat, and their four traveled to more than a dozen countries governmental environment because of children came to Chapel Hill in 1967, to lecture on intergovernmental rela- Wright’s writings. he as a full professor at UNC Chapel tions (see the sidebar, this page), and to 2 popular government many American states as part of programs sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and other agencies. Understanding Intergovern- mental Relations was not his first or last book.3 But its three editions stand out for the kind of work that he always has pursued in the classroom: effective, creative synthesis and conceptualization of the complex theory and activity of decentralized governance. Y2K and Wright Wright did not slow his pace in the 1980s and 1990s. This brief description leaves out countless activities, including editorial stints for many major political science journals and two prestigious visiting professorships. It names only The Wright family at the 2001 M.P.A. Alumni Association celebration. one of the numerous books and one Seated: Merri (daughter-in-law), David (son), Lindsey (granddaughter), Pat (wife),The Wright and Deil. family Standing, at the 2001 left to M.P.A. right: AlumniMatthew Association (son), Lois celebration.(daughter), Mark of the many articles he wrote during Seated: Deil and Pat (wife). Standing, left to right: Matthew (son), Susan five decades of professional service. It (son), and Susan (daughter-in-law). In August 2009, a new family photo was placed(daughter-in-law), in the online Mark edition (son), of this David article (son), that Pam differs (Lois's from partner),the photo and in the Lois does not give credit to dozens of co- (daughter).

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