Revisiting “Public Administration as a Design Science” for the Twenty‐First Century Public University
本文回顾了将公共行政视为设计科学的观点，并以亚利桑那州立大学为例，展示了如何通过设计原则改造公立大学，提升包容性与学术卓越性。
In the decades since Wilson's 1887 treatise on the study of administration, scholars of public administration have contended with the challenges and opportunities facing theory and practice in the field. While some public administration neophytes may see these discussions as trivial self-indulgences, veteran scholars and experienced practitioners recognize them as important contributions with the potential to improve inestimably critical social enterprises. The Minnowbrook Conference of 1968 served as an important demarcation point in the development of the science of public administration. Recognizing the significance of Minnowbrook, some 25 years ago we set out as earnest contributors to the Minnowbrook II discussion to propose that public administration, as a domain of social enterprise, should be seen as a design science (“Public Administration as a Design Science,” PAR 49 [1989]: 153–160) rather than a rigid, highly structured, legalistic, and bureaucratic construct. Drawing from Herbert Simon's conceptualization of design in The Sciences of the Artificial, our vision for public administration as a design science includes a process of adaptive, deliberate action. In our view, the intent beginning in 1968 was to reconceptualize the design principles of public administration around flexibility, change orientation, system responsivity, client-centricity, transdisciplinarity, and adaptivity. From these principles, a new design paradigm was laid out, and thus, a new approach for collective action and outcomes was envisioned in what had by then become a massively diverse and complex democracy. In our estimation, the public institutions of American democracy have in recent decades reached the limits of their initial and reformed designs. But in no case are the limits more apparent than in public universities. With more than 650 public four-year colleges serving millions of students and more than a thousand public two-year colleges serving over 10 million students, the ultimate success of these institutions, and American democracy as outlined by John Adams, are closely tied. But like other public institutions, they have seen public support and confidence erode at unprecedented levels, as well as decreasing outcome effectiveness. The designs of public universities were initially legalistic, bureaucratic, faculty-centric, and subject to conserver models of organizational behavior, and thus exhibited only minimal rates of adaptation and change over long periods of time. The result was that by the late 1990s there were significant calls for new models for public-purposed universities, including those articulated by Frank Rhodes, then president of Cornell University, and James Duderstadt, then president of the University of Michigan. Recognizing the need for a new public administration of public universities, we set out as architects, drawing from our Minnowbrook II assumptions about public administration as a design science, to construct a “New American University.” This new form of public institution is a complex and adaptive public research university built around the core democratic principles of equity and meritocracy, and its foundational prototype is Arizona State University (ASU). The reconceptualization is based on a set of “design aspirations” that enhance public value. A new university charter built on a unique and self-determined set of core assumptions expresses its aspirational institutional self-identity: Arizona State University is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural, and overall health of the communities it serves. Since the late 18th century, public universities have been increasingly important to the social mobility of American society, and to the success of both the ideals of American democracy and the growth of its economy. Countless studies demonstrate their historic impact on social mobility. However, as a consequence of entrenchment in rigid organizational structures and practices, their performance in terms of outcomes for students and benefit for society are increasingly restricted. The case of ASU demonstrates that the traditional bureaucratic model of public universities can be transformed through the application of public administration as a design science. The result is a new model that combines academic excellence and accessibility to students from a broad demographic. ASU has succeeded in advancing both the academic rigor and diversity of our student body, which increasingly includes more and more students from socioeconomically disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds, including a significant constituent of first-generation college applicants. The university is committed to offering admission to all academically qualified Arizona residents regardless of financial need. Using the historical admissions standards of leading major research universities such as the University of California, Berkeley in the 1950s and 1960s, ASU admits students with high school grade point averages within the range of “A” (4.0) and “B” (3.0) who have met specific course requirements. The success of the model may be judged by its metrics. Enrollment has risen from 55,491 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in Fall 2002 to more than 91,000 in Fall 2015—roughly a 65 percent increase. Degree production has increased by more than 78 percent, amounting to more than 100,000 degrees during the past six academic years alone. Minority enrollment from Fall 2002 through Fall 2015 increased 172 percent. Research-related expenditures over the fiscal year period 2002–2015 have grown by about a factor of four, reaching a record $446 million in fiscal year 2015, up from $123 million in fiscal year 2002. All these accomplishments have occurred without a substantial increase in the number of faculty. The emergence of the model for a New American University and its operationalization in Arizona attests to the potential of public administration as a design science. Using the basic design parameters from the Minnowbrook Conference, blending in the theory and concepts of design articulated by Herbert Simon, drawing from the design and public management experience of such academic leaders as Frank Rhodes and Jim Duderstadt, as well as the perspective of a range of design-oriented integrative theories, the imperative for this new model for public research universities becomes apparent. The New American University is a model that offers accessibility to world-class academic excellence to student bodies representative of the socioeconomic and intellectual diversity of this nation. Michael M. Crow is the sixteenth president of Arizona State University and former executive vice provost of Columbia University. A graduate of the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University, Dr. Crow is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and has written extensively on topics related to public administration, science policy, and innovation. His latest book is Designing the New American University (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), coauthored with historian William Dabars. E-mail: michael.crow@asu.edu R. F. Shangraw, Jr., is CEO of the Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University. He is founder and former CEO of Project Performance Corporation, a research and technology consulting firm specializing in environmental, energy, and information management issues. He holds an MPA and doctorate from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where he was also on the faculty prior to entering the private sector. E-mail: rick.shangraw@asu.edu