Dr. Suzanne Piotrowski Elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration
Dr. Suzanne Piotrowski, professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University–Newark, and director of the Transparency and Governance Center (TGC), has been elected to the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) as a member of its 2025 Class of Academy Fellows, in recognition of her years of public administration service and expertise.
Dr. Piotrowski writes widely on public management, transparency, and open government issues and publishes extensively in academic journals and edited volumes. Her 2022 coauthored project The Power of Partnership in Open Government? Multistakeholder Governance Reform and the Open Government Partnership (MIT Press’ Information Policy Series), received the 2024 Best Book Award from the American Society of Public Administration’s Section of Public Administration Research. In 2010, Lexington Books published Dr. Piotrowski’s edited volume Governmental Transparency and Secrecy: Linking Literature and Contemporary Debate. She also authored the book Governmental Transparency in the Path of Administrative Reform (State University of New York Press, 2007).
In 2025, she was awarded the Academic of the Year Award by the New Jersey Section of the American Society for Public Administration. She served on the inaugural U.S. Open Government Federal Advisory Committee from 2024-2025. In 2020, she became a co-principal investigator on a $2.3 million Smart and Connected Cities National Science Foundation Grant to make public services more equitable and efficient in the City of Newark, NJ. In 2018, Dr. Piotrowski was appointed by the Archivist of the United States to serve on the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee for a two-year term. She served as the independent assessor of the United States national action plan for the Open Government Partnership. She is founder of the Global Conference on Transparency Research and hosted the first conference at Rutgers University–Newark in May 2011. She is a past chair of the American Society for Public Administration’s Section on Ethics and Integrity of Governance. She has an MPA from the University of Delaware and a PhD in political science from American University.
“I am so pleased to welcome Dr. Piotrowski to the Academy’s 2025 class of Fellows,” said James-Christian Blockwood, President and CEO of the Academy. “It is an incredibly important time to honor excellence in public service. Our Academy Fellows are nationally recognized and respected for their expertise and contributions to their country. Dr. Piotrowski exemplifies everything we ask public servants to be.”
Selection of the Academy’s new Fellows follows a rigorous review of the individual’s contributions to the field of public administration and policy. A Fellows Nominating Committee makes its recommendations to the full Fellowship, which then votes on those individuals to be elected. The 2025 class joins more than 1,000 Academy Fellows, including former cabinet officers, members of Congress, governors, mayors and state legislators, as well as prominent scholars, executives, and more.
Induction of the new Fellows will occur during the Academy’s 2025 National Conference, which will take place November 2-4 at the National Academy of Sciences building, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, in Washington, D.C. Fellows are encouraged to attend, and the event is open to the public. Registration information can be found here.