Dean Roger Hartley: Higher Education is Part of the Solution to the Public Service Employment Crisis
September 5, 2024
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
In a guest column in The Barrett & Greene Report, University of Baltimore College of Public Affairs Dean Roger Hartley calls for colleges and universities to work closely with the public sector to resolve a long-term issue effecting government services across the country—"a crisis in recruitment and retention of public servants."
"Something must be done," Dean Hartley writes. "Some of the stories of the crisis are sobering. A recent report by the American Society for Public Administration noted over 1,000,000 government vacancies. In my work around Maryland, I frequently hear of state agencies with double digit percentage vacancies and local governments facing challenges filling vacancies in a host of fields."
Hartley notes that data show that less than 10 percent of the federal workforce is under the age of 30.
"My response: There are incredible benefits for higher education institutions and governments if they build deeper relationships, learn from each other, and partner on innovative solutions," he writes.
Hartley adds that higher education has "important insights on how to attract our students into the workforce and offer many opportunities to advance existing leaders into higher level positions."
Some of that work is already underway, he says, but there is more to do.
At UBalt, programs like NextGen Leaders for Public Service and various opportunities for fellowships at both the undergraduate and graduate level are helping to close the gap.
Read Dean Hartley's column in The Barrett & Greene Report.
Learn more about UBalt's College of Public Affairs.