The Doctor Honoris Causa conferring ceremony of Prof. Dr. h.c. John Duffy, a guest professor of the Public Administration Department, School of International Relations and Public Administration, National University of Mongolia (NUM) was held on 28th February, 2019 at the NUM.
Prof. Dr. John Duffy has been held senior executive positions in Alaska local government. His major accomplishments in local government, include successfully managing large-scale transportation, corrections, and school construction projects in the State of Alaska. Also Prof. Dr. h.c. John Duffy teaches graduate level courses in the areas of program evaluation and performance measurement, public policy analysis, executive communication skills, and executive managerial skills, at the UAA College of Business and Public Policy. He also provides continuing education courses in leadership, planning and high-performance organizations to public administrators through UAA’s Center for Corporate and Professional Development.
Since 2017, he has been working at the NUM Public Administration Program as a Guest Professor. During his time at the School of International Relations and Public Administration (SIRPA), NUM Prof. Dr. h.c. John Duffy has implemented many activities in different areas, including:
- Establishing, strengthening and expanding the cooperation between the College of Business and Public Policy, UAA and SIRPA, NUM;
- Participating as a guest speaker at the 2017 and 2018 annual NUM Leadership international conferences;
- Presenting a keynote speech at the 13th series of “Quality Growth” of UB-IMPULSE, a public lecture jointly organized by the Integrated Mineral Resources Initiative (IMRI) project of GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation) and the SIRPA;
- Serving as a member of the editorial board of the “International Journals of Public Administration and Consulting” a joint journal of the NUM, and Hanson University of South Korea;
- Providing training sessions and seminars for the Public Administration Department members on making research meaningful and improving teaching skills;
- Teaching courses for graduate level students in public administration programs at SIRPA;
- Providing training seminars for empowering civil servants in the different provinces of Mongolia;
- Donating professional books and journals to the Public Administration Department;
- Recruiting Public Administration Department members to the American Society for Public Administration paying their annual membership fees from his personal fonds;
- Establishing joint cooperation and collaboration between UAA’s student government association and SIRPA’s “Mini Parliament” student club;
- Helping Public Administration Program graduate and assistant Tsermaa Nyamdavaa receive a Ph.D. scholarship from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Participants at the ceremony for conferring the Honorary Doctorate included, among others, the NUM president; vice presidents; deans of the branch schools; professors, lecturers, and students of NUM; the U.S Ambassador to Mongolia, the Honorable Michael S. Klecheski; US Embassy representatives, and Open Society Forum representatives.
We wish Prof. Dr. h.c. John Duffy all the best in his academic and personal life and hope our cooperation will grow continuously.
School of International Relations and Public Administration,
National University of Mongolia
