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Cooper, Terry

Citizenship and Democratic Values

Contact Information
Professor Emeritus
Sol Price School of Public Policy
Office: Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall 302
Phone: (213) 740-0371
E-mail: tlcooper@usc.edu

Education:

  • Ph.D., (Social Ethics), University of Southern California, 1973
  • M.Th., School of Theology at Claremont, California, 1964
  • B.A., (History), University of California at Los Angeles, 1960

Background

Professor Cooper also focuses his research on citizen participation and ethics in government. Currently, Professor Cooper is one of the co-principal investigators in the USC Neighborhood Participation Project. There, he conducted research on the role of neighborhood organizations in governance in the City of Los Angeles through the newly established system of neighborhood councils. He also provides leadership in the creation of a new Center for Civic Engagement at USC.

Terry L. Cooper, Ph.D., focuses his research on citizen participation and ethics in government. Currently, Professor Cooper is one of the co-principal investigators in the USC Neighborhood Participation Project. There, he conducts research on the role of neighborhood organizations in governance in the City of Los Angeles through the newly established system of neighborhood councils. He also provides leadership as director of the Civic Engagement Initiative at USC.
 
In 2010, Professor Cooper was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). During 1993-94, he was a member of a national panel of NAPA where he developed a decision-making process to encourage intergenerational equity in the management of hazardous wastes by the U.S. Department of Energy. He spent the 1988-89 academic year on a Fulbright Lecturing/Research Grant at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. There, his research emphasized the conflicting loyalties likely to be experienced by middle- and upper-level public administrators during Hong Kong’s transition from the United Kingdom of China. Subsequently he coordinated research on administrative ethics in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. Professor Cooper has conducted ethics training for numerous public agencies.
 
He is author of The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role (6th ed.), Jossey-Boss, (2012) and An Ethic of Citizenship for Public Administration (Prentice Hall, 1991). He is the co-editor of Achieving Ethical Competence for Public Service Leadership (M.E. Sharpe, 2013), Exemplary Public Administrators: Character and Leadership in Government (Jossey-Bass, 1992) and the editor of Handbook of Administrative Ethics (2nd ed., Marcel Dekker, 2001). His articles have appeared inPublic Administration Review, Administration and Society, International Review of Administrative Sciences, International Journal of Public Administration, Administrative Theory & Praxis, International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, Public Budgeting and Finance, and The Bureaucrat. He is a past member of the editorial boards of Public Administration Review and Administrative Theory & Praxis, and currently serves on the editorial board of The American Review of Public Administration.

Description of Research
Research Specialties
Administrative ethics, administrative theory, citizen participation, neighborhood organizations, role of citizens

Selected Publications:

  • Wang, W., Li, H., & Cooper, T., From Subjects to Citizens: How Homeowners’ Participation Transforms Local Governance in Beijing; Administration & Society; Forthcoming.
  • Cooper, T.L, & Bryer, T., George Frederickson and the Dialogue on Citizenship in Public Administration; Public Administration Review Special Issue, 72(1), 108-118; 2012.
  • Cooper, T.L, with Menzel, D., M.E. on contract with M.E. Sharpe, Inc., Achieving Ethical Competence; ; 2012, March.
  • Musso, J., Weare, C., Bryer, T., & Cooper, T. L., Toward Strong Democracy in Global Cities? Social Capital Building, Action Research, and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Experience; Public Administration Review, Theory to Practice ; 2011.
  • Cooper, T. , Building Ethical Community; The American Review of Public Administration, 41 (1), 3-22 ; 2011.
  • Cooper, T., Citizen Driven Administration: Civic Engagement in the United States; In D. Menzel & H. White (Eds.) The State of Public Administration: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe; 2011.
  • Cooper, T. , Chinese edition of The Responsible Administrator: an Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role , 5th edition (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006); Renmin University Press ; 2010.
  • Cooper, T., Administrative Responsibility: The Key to Administrative Ethics; In James L. Perry (Ed.), The Jossey-Bass Reader on Nonprofit and Public Leadership San Francisco. Jossey-Bass, 305-331 ; 2010.
  • Cooper, Terry,“Outcomes Achieved Through Citizen-Centered Collaborative Public Management,” with Thomas A. Bryer, and Jack W. Meek, in Rosemary O’Leary and Lisa Bingham, (eds), Big Ideas in Collaborative Public Management. Armonk, NY.: M.E. Sharpe, 2008.
  • Cooper, Terry, The Responsible Administrator:  An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role, 5th edition.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 2006.
  • Cooper, Terry, “Connecting Neighborhood Councils and City Agencies—Trust Building Through the Learning  and Design Forum Process,” with Pradeep C. Kathi, Journal of Public Affairs Education, 13, 2008, pp. 617-630. 
  • Cooper, Terry, “Challenges in Enhancing Responsiveness in Neighborhood Governance,” with Thomas Bryer, Public Performance & Management Review, 31, 2007, no. 2, pp. 191-214.
  • Cooper, Terry, “William Robertson: Exemplar of Politics and Public Management Rightly Understood,” with Thomas Bryer.  Public Administration Review, 67, 2007, pp. 816-823.
  • Cooper, Terry, “The Role of the University as a Mediating Institution in a Neighborhood Council-City Agency Collaboration., with Pradeep Chandra Kathi and Jack W. Meek, Journal of Public Affairs Education, 13, 2007, pp. 365-382.
  • Cooper, Terry, "Citizen-Centered Collaborative Public Management,” with Thomas A. Bryer and Jack W. Meek, Public Administration Review, 66, 2006, special issue, 76-8.
  • Cooper, Terry L., "Big Questions in Administrative Ethics: A Need for Focused, Collaborative Effort"; Public Administration Review, 64, no. 4, pp. 395-407; 2004.
  • Myrtle, Robert C. with Melissa Gaeke and Terry Cooper, "Trust, Deliberation and Changing Administrative Culture"; in Engaging the Global Community. Los Angeles: Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, pp. 30-34; 2003
  • Cooper, Terry L. with Diane Yoder, "Public Management Ethics in a Transnational World"; Public Integrity,IV(4):333-352; 2002.
  • Cooper, Terry L. with Juliet Musso and Alicia Kitsuse, "Faith Organizations and Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles"; Public Administration and Development, 22:83-94; 2002.

AWARDS AND HONORS

  • American Society for Public Administration 2006 Presidential Citation of Merit
  • Appointed to Maria B. Crutcher Professorship in Citizenship and Democratic Values, November, 1997
  • Fulbright Lecturing and Research Grant (Chinese University of Hong Kong), 1988-89
  • Phi Kappa Phi Book Award - Honorable Mention, 1983
  • Teaching Excellence Award (School of Public Administration), 1980