Pitt's Johnson Institute, School of Information Sciences Explore Problems of Government Privatization Feb. 23

PITTSBURGH—Privatization, government agencies contracting public services to private companies, is praised by many for its cost-effectiveness, but it is fraught with thorny questions, including ones of accountability and fairness. Laura S. Jensen, an authority on American social policy, will explore these issues in a presentation titled "Public Ethics, Legal Accountability, and the New Governance" from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Feb. 23 in the Bigelow Room, Pittsburgh Athletic Association, 4215 Fifth Ave., Oakland. The event, which is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the School of Information Sciences, is free and open to the public. Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served at a reception following the lecture. For further information or to register, visit www.johnsoninstitute-gspia.org/events.asp, or contact ethics@gspia.pitt.edu or 412-648-1336.

Jensen, an associate professor of political science in the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Center for Public Policy and Administration, will examine the often-ignored legal dimensions of government accountability when public functions are contracted out, discussing specific cases to highlight the challenges of ensuring accountability in the era of what she refers to as "new governance." She contends that the substitution of government actors for non- and quasi-government actors should not mean abandoning traditional commitments to the public values of liberty, equality, and fairness. Nor should this new type of governance obviate the government's obligations to meet the standards of democratic behavior that stem from those public values and are incorporated in public law.

Jensen received the National Endowment for the Humanities Dissertation Award and, with Sheila S. Kennedy, the Johnson Institute's Best Paper in Ethics and Accountability. She is the author of publications on American welfare state development, social policy, and governance, including Patriots, Settlers, and the Origins of American Social Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2003), and contributed to Ethics in Public Management (Frederickson and Ghere eds., 2005). Kennedy headed the Massachusetts research study, titled "Faith-Based Social Service Provision under Charitable Choice: A Study of Implementation in Three States," funded by the Ford Foundation.

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