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Public Administration

About This Guide

Welcome to the Mary and John Gray Library research guide for Public Administration. Please use the tabs above to access information on electronic, print and web-based resources available to users of the Library. This guide includes links to both publicly-available internet resources and to electronic resources available only to Lamar University faculty, students and staff.

Definition

Public administration refers to two distinguishable but intimately related activities: (1) a professional practice (profession, occupation, field of activity), and (2) an academic field which seeks to understand, extend, criticize, and improve that professional practice as well as to train individuals for that practice.

Shafritz, J. M. (2000). Defining public administration: Selections from the International encyclopedia of public policy and administration. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.