Staff: West European Studies (WEST): Indiana University Bloomington

Lois Wise’s research and teaching interests center on the broad area of public management. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in public management and managing workforce diversity. Much of her scholarly work is comparative with a focus on public management reforms. A number of her studies examine bureaucratic behavior. She also has had a long interest in the effects of human diversity broadly defined on organizational performance and effective management. Her current work applies diversity scholarship to the digital divide and issues related to accessibility and responsiveness in the context of E-government. A relatively new prong to her research program focuses on the effects of globalization on the public work force. This includes studies of insourcing foreign professionals into the U.S. public and nonprofit sectors and studies of the effects new laws and policies regarding workforce mobility and citizenship requirements for civil servants and other employees of central governments. In addition to two books, she has published more than 30 articles in many different journals in the fields of public administration and human resource management and contributed more than 20 chapters to edited volumes in the United States and abroad. Her research has been supported by grants from both international and domestic sources. She is a former Fulbright Scholar (Sweden) (1992), recipient of the Swedish Institute Jubilee Prize (1995), the Swedish Bicentennial Fund Research Award (1985), and an Inaugural Fellow, Randall L. Tobias Center for Leadership (2005).

Professor Wise has served as consultant to public and private sector organizations in the United States and abroad including long-term projects with the National Institute of Justice in the USA, The Swedish Agency for Government Employers, and the Swedish Local Government Association (Kommunförbundet). Professor Wise joined the SPEA faculty in 1982 but has also served as visiting professor at the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, Göteborgs University, University of Örebro, and Umeå University.

More information about Dr Lois R. Wise

AMANDA SMITH, Associate Director

Amanda completed her MPA at Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 2008 and immediately began work in her new post as AD for WEST. Prior to attending graduate school, Amanda spent five years managing educational and residential programs for at-risk youth in Pittsburgh, Seattle, Baltimore and Little Rock. In 2003, Amanda received a B.S. in Environmental Biology.

BRANT BEYER, Project Manager

Brant Beyer received an MPA from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs and an MA from the IU Russian and East European Institute in 2008. At IU, he studied the effects of European Union enlargement on Hungary and Romania and economic development. Prior to his arrival in Bloomington, he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Romania, where he worked on improving information technology education in the high schools. Mr. Beyer graduated from Carleton College in 2002 with a B.A. in Political Science/International Relations.

ERIC WELCH, Administrative Coordinator

Eric is originally from Shelbyville, Illinois. He received his BS from Southern Illinois University in Speech Communication and Public Relations in 2008. He is currently pursuing an MA in Journalism at IU and is interested in non-profit and higher education communications and marketing. Prior to coming to WEST, Eric worked for Bloomington Hospital, was a writer at SIU University Communications, and stuffed deer at Davis Taxidermy.

RYAN WEEKS , Graduate Assistant

Ryan grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and Rexburg, Idaho. He served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Yekaterinburg, Russia from 2001-2003. He received his BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University - Idaho in 2007. Ryan is interested in national security issues between Russia and the United States.

RYAN COOPER , Graduate Assistant

Ryan Cooper is from Brownsburg, Indiana. He graduated from Ball State University in 2009 with majors in Geography and German. During the spring of 2007 Ryan studied German language and culture at Justus-Liebig Universität in Giessen, Germany. His research interests include post-1945 German history, mapping Germanic languages and dialects, and transportation development, networks, and issues.

JESSICA FORBES , Graduate Assistant

Jessica Forbes is from Louisville, Kentucky. She received her BA from Murray State University with a double major in International Affairs and French. She spent the spring semester of her sophomore year in Dijon, France studying at the Université de Bourgone. She also spent the summer between her junior and senior year in Bregenz, Austria studying Austrian and German history. Her research interests include the current and past Franco-German relationship and immigration issues in France and Germany.

KALLAN PICHA , Graduate Assistant

Kallan is originally from Colorado and completed her undergraduate degree at Hastings College in Nebraska. She received her BA in International Business and German in 2008 and also studied abroad in Austria, Germany, and Northern Ireland during her undergraduate career. Her research interests include EU eastern enlargement and integration, European identity, and the German language. She is currently pursuing joint Master's degrees in West European Studies and Public Affairs.