New Book Addresses Leadership Shortage in Public Service

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Press has just published Passing the Torch: Planning for the Next Generation of Leaders in Public Service, by Karl Besel and Charlotte Lewellen Williams. The book addresses the coming shortage of leaders in public service, including both elected and appointed positions within the public and nonprofit sectors.

The public-service sector, like the rest of the country, is being threatened by an aging population with record levels of retirement. This new book investigates how this trend will affect the public service field in particular, providing a roadmap for leaders to address these challenges. Obstacles to succession planning within organizations and finding ways to motivate the next generation to enter public service are two of the topics covered.

Passing the Torch will be of value to executives in nonprofit organizations, university faculty, researchers in the field of nonprofit management, and students of nonprofit management positions.

“The mounting crisis in executive leadership within public service requires immediate attention now more than ever before,” Lewellen Williams said.

There will be a number of public events for the book, including:

• Besel and Lewellen Williams will both speak at the Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock, from 12 to 1 p.m. Oct. 26, with a book signing to follow.
• Besel and Lewellen Williams will speak and sign books at Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana from  5:30 to 7:30 pm. Nov. 9.

Charlotte Lewellen Williams is associate professor of public health and director of the Center on Community Philanthropy at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

Karl Besel is dean and professor of public administration and health management at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Northwest.

About the University of Arkansas Press: The University of Arkansas Press was founded in 1980 as the book publishing division of the University of Arkansas. A member of the Association of American University Presses, it has as its central and continuing mission the publication of books that serve both the broader academic community and Arkansas and the region.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.