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Jay Rickabaugh

Assistant Professor of Public Administration, North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Chapter Member: North Carolina SSN
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About Jay

Rickabaugh researches how governments cooperate on a wide array of policy issues, including the sustainable management of phosphorus through NCSU’s STEPS Center. His research has been published by Sustainability, Washington Monthly, the American Review of Public Administration and Public Administration journals. He is a contributing author to the 2019 book Discovering American Regionalism: An Introduction to Regional Intergovernmental Organizations.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Trump’s Washington is Ghosting States and Cities

  • Philip Rocco
  • Jay Rickabaugh
Commentary,

In the News

Opinion: "I Study Local Government and Hurricane Helene Forced Me from My Home − Here’s How Rural Towns and Counties in North Carolina and beyond Cooperate to Rebuild," Jay Rickabaugh, The Conversation, April 22, 2025.

Publications

"Teaching the Orchestra, Not Just the Conductor: Early Undergraduate Transdisciplinary Education in Public Affairs Designed for Non-Majors" (with Jacob Siegel). Journal of Public Affairs Education 31, no. 3 (2025): 322-340.

Outlines a pilot course that brought together undergraduate students from multiple majors into a convergence classroom. Findings suggest that introducing complexity and transdisciplinary learning earlier in the curriculum can reduce disciplinary blind spots and strengthen students’ readiness for advanced, collaborative problem-solving.

"Regional Public Sector Organizations: A Broader Taxonomic Classification to Cross-Pollinate Empirical Research" Public Administration 101, no. 1 (2023): 271-283.

Argues that studies of local governments’ cross-boundary organizations are too fragmented, focusing on narrow types rather than the broader structures they share. Proposes a clear measurable definition of a larger category called "Regional Public Sector Organizations" (RPSOs), adapted from the standard definition of international governmental organizations.

"Regionalism With and Without Metropolitanism: Governance Structures of Rural and Non-Rural Regional Intergovernmental Organizations" The American Review of Public Administration 51, no. 2 (2020).

Highlights how research on regional organizations has focused heavily on metropolitan areas, leaving rural regional organizations largely unexamined. Demonstrates that despite smaller populations, rural and non-rural Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) contain a similar number and balance of local governments, raising questions about capacity and collaboration in rural regions.