Kurt Thurmaier
Public Budgeting, Comparative Public Administration, Intergovernmental Relations, Public Finance, Research Methods.
Office:
IA 204
(815) 753-0311
kthur@niu.edu
Overview of Scholarly Activity
Professor Thurmaier received his B.A. and M.P.P.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. He held assistant and associate professor positions at the University of Kansas before becoming MPA director at Iowa State University, 2002-2005. His research and teaching interests include budgetary decisionmaking at the local and state levels in the U.S. and other countries, comparative public administration (especially fiscal decentralization), intergovernmental relations, and e-government. His most recent work has focused on city-county consolidations and interlocal agreements among cities and counties, as well as financing state and local e-government. He has served as a consultant and researcher with ICMA, HIID, and several US local governments. He is a lifetime member of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and has served as chair of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM). He presently serves on the editorial board of Public Administration Review.
Selected Publications
Reshaping the Local Government Landscape: Case Studies of Local Government Consolidation , Suzanne Leland and Kurt Thurmaier, eds.; M.E. Sharpe, 2004.
Policy and Politics in State Budgeting , Kurt Thurmaier and Katherine Willoughby; M.E. Sharpe, 2001.
“When Efficiency is Unbelievable: Normative Lessons from 30 Years of City-County Consolidations,” Suzanne Leland and Kurt Thurmaier, Public Administration Review (v65) 2005.
“The Role of Budget Reform in the Accountability of Polish and Ukrainian Local Governments,” International Public Management Journal (v6) 2003.
"Interlocal Agreements as Overlapping Social Networks: Picket-fence regionalism in Metropolitan Kansas City," (with Curtis Wood), Public Administration Review (v62) 2002.
“Beyond Efficiency and Economy: An Examination of Basic Needs and Fiscal Decentralization” (with Kara Lindaman), Economic Development and Cultural Change, (v50) 2002.
“Budgeting Rationality in Midwest State Budget Offices,” International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior (v4) 2001.
Other publications have appeared in the Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Public Budgeting & Finance, Public Administration Quarterly, Administration & Society, State & Local Government Review, and The Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management.