Gordon P. Whitaker retired as Professor of Public Administration and Government at the UNC School of Government in 2012. He was a faculty member at UNC since 1973 and served as director the Master of Public Administration program from 1980-1993. His research on local government and citizen organizations was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and other federal, state, and foundation grants. He is the author of many books and articles. Whitaker was instrumental in the creation and development of the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium. He has been honored for his contributions and achievements by the International City and County Management Association, the Carolina Center for Public Service, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Society, and numerous other organizations, including the UNC MPA program’s Gordon Whitaker Scholarship. He earned a PhD in Political Science from Indiana University in 1972.

Rick Morse is Associate Professor of Public Administration and Government. Rick Morse joined the School of Government in 2006. He previously was assistant professor in the Public Policy and Administration Program at Iowa State University. He teaches and advises state and local public officials in the areas of collaborative governance, civic engagement, and leadership. He also teaches in the School’s Master of Public Administration program. His publications include more than two dozen articles and book chapters and he is lead editor of two books on public leadership: Transforming Public Leadership for the 21st Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2007), and Innovations in Public Leadership Development (M.E. Sharpe, 2008). He also contributes to the School’s Community and Economic Development blog. Morse earned a BA and MA in public policy from Brigham Young University and a PhD in public administration/public affairs from Virginia Tech.

Stefanie Panke is an educational technology specialist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, School of Government. Her instructional development work focuses on educational media tools and environments, such as podcasts, web apps, e-books, social networks, websites and blogs. In 2009, Stefanie received a doctorate degree with summa cum laude from the department of Applied Linguistics and Literature at the University of Bielefeld (Germany). Her research interests comprise social media, informal learning, digital citizenship, open educational resources, and design thinking. As social media coordinator for the AACE conference series, Stefanie oversees a team of interns and edits, finds interview partners and sets topics for the blog aace.org/review.