Dr. Suzanne Piotrowski Sworn into Newly Established Open Government Federal Advisory Committee

Dr. Suzanne Piotrowski, professor and director of the Transparency and Governance Center (TGC) at Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA), was sworn in to serve on the newly established Open Government Federal Advisory Committee (OG FAC), which is set to advise on key priorities for the 6th U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (NAP 6) and other open government related topics. At the committee's inaugural meeting held recently in Washington D.C., Dr. Piotrowski presented on "The History of Open Government in the United States" and talked about directives and reforms throughout the last several decades.

The OG FAC will serve as an advisory body to the administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) on open government initiatives including GSA’s creation, implementation, and monitoring of U.S. Open Government National Action Plans (NAP)s and commitment themes. The initial focus of the committee will be to provide advice on the development of NAP 6, as well as emerging open government issues, challenges, and opportunities to support GSA’s Open Government Secretariat, which looks to ensure a more transparent, responsive, and inclusive federal government. The 15-member committee includes a balanced mix of regular government employees from the federal government and special government employees from civil society, academia, and industry.

In addition to being the founding director of the Rutgers Transparency and Governance Center, Dr. Piotrowski is also director of SPAA's Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. She researches freedom of information, transparency, and open government issues with a strong focus on connecting with communities of practice, and writes widely on public management, accountability, and transparency issues and publishes extensively in academic journals and edited volumes. Her book, The Power of Partnership in Open Government: Reconsidering Multistakeholder Governance Reform, received the 2024 Best Book Award from the American Society for Public Administration's Section on Public Administration Research.