Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Heritage Hall 409
(205) 996-2159
Research and Teaching Interests: Organizational and individual ethics, workplace rules and red tape, rule behavior, public administration in pop culture, social equity, human resources management, governmental transparency
Office Hours: By Appointment
Education:
- BA, Rutgers University – Newark
- MPA, Rutgers University – Newark
- PhD, University of Kansas
Dr. Borry (she/her/hers) has been teaching in the UAB MPA program since 2013. Her research investigates public sector rule behavior, red tape, public administration in pop culture, and social equity. In 2015, Dr. Borry was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s grant, which allowed her to explore the utility of the NBC series Parks and Recreation for the public administration classroom. Her work has appeared in Public Administration Review, Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, Public Management Review, Public Administration, International Public Management Journal, Public Integrity, Journal of Public Affairs Education, and more. In 2018, Dr. Borry received the Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award by the Center for Organization Research and Design (CORD) at Arizona State University. She has won several awards for her research, teaching, and service, including the 2019 UAB College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. Borry currently serves as Associate Editor for the Social Science Journal, and on the editorial boards of Public Administration Review, Journal of Social Equity in Public Administration, Journal of Public Affairs Education, and Public Performance & Management Review. She is on the executive committee of the Southeastern Conference of Public Administration (SECoPA) and has served on section boards within the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA). She is a research fellow with the Center for Organization Research and Design (CORD) at Arizona State University, an affiliated researcher with the Local Government Workplace Initiative (LGWI) out of University of North Carolina, a member of Scholars Strategy Network’s Alabama Chapter, and a member of Engaging Local Government Leaders’ Academic Brain Trust.
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Recent Courses
- Scope of Public Administration
- Open Government
- Equity in Public Administration
- Public Administration in Pop Culture
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Select Publications
Articles
- Borry, E. L., and Reuter, T. K. (2022). Humanizing Bureaucracy: Applying the Human Rights-Based Approach to Weber’s Bureaucracy. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance. Symposium issue: Reappraising Bureaucracy in the 21st Century.
- Jiang, Z., DeHart-Davis, L., and Borry, E. L. (2022). Organizational Antecedents of Diversity Climate: The Roles of Workplace Voice, Centralization and Teamwork. Public Administration Review.
- Kaufmann, W., Borry, E. L., DeHart-Davis, L. (2022). Can effective organizational rules keep employees from leaving? A study of green tape and turnover intention. Public Management Review, 1-22.
- Borry, E. L., Getha-Taylor, H., and Husar Holmes, M. (2021). Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce: Executive Order 13583 and Demographic Trends. Public Administration Quarterly, 45(4): 392-417.
- Borry, E. L. (2021). Social Equity and Popular Culture: Gender and Gender Identity on TV. Public Integrity, 23(3): 235-252. Invitation-only special issue on social equity and pop culture.
- Henderson, A. C., and Borry, E. L. (2020). The Emotional Burdens of Public Service: Rules, Trust, and Emotional Labor in Emergency Medical Services. Public Money & Management. Symposium issue on emotional labor. Online first in October 2020.
- Borry, E. L., and Henderson, A. C. (2020). Patients, Protocols, and Prosocial Behavior: Rule Breaking in Front-Line Health Care. American Review of Public Administration, 50(1): 45-61.
- Borry, E. L. (2022). Using Pop Culture to Teach Public Ethics: The Case of Parks and Recreation. In K. Bottom, J. Diamond, P. Dunning, and I. Elliott (Eds.), Handbook of Teaching Public Administration. Elgar Publishing.
- Gaskin, R. E., and Borry, E. L. (2021). When Bullies Get Jobs: Workplace Bullying in Local Governments. In D. Svyantek (Ed.), Organizations Behaving Badly: Destructive Behavior and Corrective Responses (pp. 127-147). Information Age Publishing.
- Borry, E. L. (2020). Bureaucratic Representation in Parks and Recreation. In H. Sullivan, H. Dickinson, & H. Henderson (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
- Borry, E. L. (2019). “Rules can be good. Really.” [Review of the book Creating Effective Rules in Public Organizations by Leisha DeHart-Davis.] International Public Management Journal 22(1): 207-212.
- Borry, E. L. (2015). “Bureaucracy and Dissent” or “The Ethics of Red Tape”? Linking Red Tape and Guerrilla Government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(3), 996-1003. doi:10.1093/jopart/muu082
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Academic Distinctions
- 2022 Faculty Academic Excellence Award, Alabama Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)
- 2020 Outstanding Reviewer, Journal of Public Affairs Education, Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA)
- 2019 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- 2018 Outstanding Early Career Scholar, awarded by the Center for Organization Research & Design at Arizona State University
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Professional Memberships
- Scholars Strategy Network – Alabama Chapter
- Pi Alpha Alpha and Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Societies
- Public Management Research Association
- American Society for Public Administration
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Media
- “Organizational Rules, Green Tape, and Employee Turnover with Erin Borry & Leisha DeHart-Davis.” Interview on GovLove Podcast by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL.org). February 4, 2022.
- “Teaching Ethics through Parks & Rec with Dr. Erin Borry.” Interview on GovLove Podcast by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL.org). July 5, 2019.
- “When the machines come for government jobs, will efficiency crush equity?” Article by Matt Windsor on UAB News. May 8, 2019.
- “9 times ‘Parks and Recreation’ taught us how to get real about ethics.” Article by Matt Windsor in UAB Reporter. April 25, 2019.
