Faculty – Dr. Ryan Lofaro
Ryan Lofaro
Assistant Professor of Public Administration
Research and Teaching Interests: Policy Responses to Health Crisis Events, Lived Experience Representative Bureaucracy Theory, Socially Equitable Emergency Management, Social Construction of Target Populations, Narrative Inquiry in Public Policy, Drug Policy
Dr. Lofaro received his Ph.D. in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University in August 2023. He also holds a B.A. in Political Science from the same school. Much of his work has aimed attention at the following research questions: What do governmental policy responses and their associated policy debates look like during public health crises (e.g., the opioid crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic)? How do such responses impact public servants? What do governmental responses and the attitudes and behaviors of public servants mean for the protection of historically marginalized groups during crises? Theoretically, his research contributes to literature in representative bureaucracy theory, narrative inquiry in public policy, the social construction of target populations, behavioral public administration, and equity in emergency management. He has published peer-reviewed articles in Critical Policy Studies, Administrative Theory & Praxis, Public Voices, Contemporary Drug Problems, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, and International Journal of Public Leadership, among other venues. In Fall 2023, he joined the faculty at Georgia Southern University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in public policy, public administration, and program evaluation.
Selected Publications:
Patterson, P. M., & Lofaro R. J. (2023). Death, actually: Emboldening theory and praxis when death is all around. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2023.2207988
Miller, H. T., & Lofaro, R. J. (2023). Political contestation in policy implementation: A narrative inquiry into a needle exchange program. Critical Policy Studies 17(1), 43-62.
Lofaro, R. J. (2023). “No damn cat, and no damn cradle”: Cat’s Cradle, science, and the pitfalls of evidence-based drug policy. Public Voices, 17(2).
Sapat, A., Lofaro, R. J., & Trautman, B. (2022). Policy responsiveness and institutions in a federal system: Analyzing variations in state-level data transparency and equity issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 77, 1-16.
Lofaro, R. J., & Sapat, A. (2022). Communication and leadership in times of crisis: Analyzing the cultural competency of US state governors during the vaccine administration phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Public Leadership, 18(2), 173-188.
Lofaro, R. J., & Miller, H. T. (2021). Narrative politics in policy discourse: The debate over safe injection sites in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Contemporary Drug Problems, 48(1), 75-95.
Lofaro, R. J., & McCue, C. (2020). Salient target populations and the subcategorization of deviants in the release of inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 42(3), 379-393.
Last updated: 12/19/2023
