News | Section on Professional & Organizational Development (SPOD)

NEWS & Updates

Winners of SPOD Annual Scholarships 2025

Join us in congratulating the three winners of the SPOD Annual Scholarships! Each recipient will receive a $500 award and a one-year SPOD membership in recognition of their outstanding academic and professional achievements.

(March 2025)

Youngseok Yoon

Youngseok Yoon is a doctoral candidate in Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Dallas, specializing in public and nonprofit human resource management. His research applies political, administrative, and behavioral theories to study organizational reform, development, change, and performance. His co-authored paper, published in Public Administration and Development (PAD), received the 2024 Garcia-Zamor Best Paper Award from the Section on International and Comparative Administration (SICA) at ASPA. Youngseok’s work contributes to advancing HRM practices and organizational effectiveness in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Rajni Jaiswal

Rajni Jaiswal is an MPA student at Pace University’s Dyson College of Arts & Sciences, graduating in January 2026. She holds a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from Jadavpur University and a Master’s in Political Science from Presidency University, India. Her research explores gender, racial, and pay disparities among public officials, and she has presented at the Northeast Conference on Public Administration. Rajni is President of the ICMA Chapter at Pace and the MPA Student Organization, while also working as a Graduate Research Assistant. She plans to pursue a PhD and advance equity in public administration through research and leadership.

Moonsoo Lee

Moonsoo Lee is a doctoral student in Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Dallas. He holds a Master’s in Political Science from UT Dallas, a Master’s in Public Administration, and a Bachelor’s in Philosophy & Public Administration from Yonsei University, South Korea. His research focuses on corruption, democracy, local government, and policy decision-making. Moonsoo has received the 2024 Research & Student Award from the International Society for Crisis and Emergency Management and the Merit Award for his Master’s Thesis (2020). He aims to contribute to public sector leadership and governance through research.

Winners of SPOD Annual Scholarships 2024

Join us in congratulating the five winners of the SPOD Annual Scholarships this year. Each winner will receive a $500 award and a one-year SPOD membership.

(March 2024)

Dragana (Dasha) Djukic-Min

Dragana (Dasha) Djukic-Min is a doctoral candidate in public administration at the University of Texas at Dallas. She holds an MA in government from the University of Texas at Austin, an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from Northeastern Illinois University. Her research interests include public-private partnerships with a focus on environmental issues, nonprofit advocacy, and green human resource management. Previously, she worked as a practitioner in fundraising research and nonprofit development/management. Dasha was named an ASPA Founders’ Fellow in 2023.

Eli Keunyoung Lee

Eli Keunyoung Lee is a PhD Candidate in the Public Policy and Management program at the Price School of Public Policy. He holds two master’s degrees in Public Administration from Seoul National University (South Korea) and the University of Southern California (2020). His research interests are in behavioral public administration, primarily how agency resources and political environments affect public officials’ attitudes and behavior. More specifically, he is interested in the influence of agency reputation on changes in public employees’ attitudes and behaviors.

Saman Afshan

Saman Afshan is a doctoral student in public administration at North Carolina State University and a doctoral fellow in the Municipal Research Lab. Her research primarily focuses on social equity, municipal budgets, and finance. She also serves as the editorial assistant for the Journal of Public Finance. She received her BA in Economics from the University of Delhi, India, MA in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia, India, and MPA from NC State University.

Abdollah Zeraatpisheh

Abdollah Zeraatpisheh is currently in his second year as a Ph.D. student in Public Administration at the University of Texas at Dallas. His academic journey is enriched by over 20 years of experience in the HR field, primarily within multinational companies in the business sector. This experience has been invaluable in shaping his research, which centers on Human Resources, Performance Management, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and Anti-fragility. Abdollah also works as a graduate teaching instructor at UTD.

Seongdeok Oh

Seongdeok Oh is a doctoral student in the Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. His research interests encompass a range of subjects including Public Management, Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Performance Management, and the Policy Process, Implementation, and Evaluation of Science and Technology. Seongdeok has published several articles, notably “From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Historical Analysis of Racism Experienced by Asian Americans in the United States” and “An Empirical Study of Organizational Factors Influencing Performance Information Use: Perspectives from Employees in Governmental-Funded Science and Technology Research Institutes.”

Winners of SPOD Annual Scholarships 2023

April 2023

Winners of SPOD Annual Scholarships 2022

March 2022

2022 Annual SPOD scholarship recipients.png

Scholarship recipient biographies are detailed below:

Intae Choi is a Ph.D. student in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. His research interests are in human resources management and organizational behavior in public organizations, with particular focus on issues of public service ethics and employee separations. He holds a bachelor's degree in Public Administration and a master's degree in Public Administration-all from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.

Ravin Cline earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Belhaven University. She earned her Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Palm Beach Atlantic University. Ravin spent her previous career in the Social Work and Addiction fields. She has a passion for diversity and immigrant issues, which was birthed, in part, from her experience as a social worker. She is currently the Founder and Executive Director of Embracing Diversity, a 501(c)3 founded serving the immigrant community. In operating the nonprofit, the importance of sectoral collaboration became clear. With an interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and an intrigue toward collaborative governance, Ravin enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is currently studying Public Affairs and Public and Nonprofit Management. She is a Teaching Assistant and teaches a class entitled Diversity in the Public Sector. She is also a co-author of a book chapter about intersectionality and Human Resource Management during the COVID pandemic.

Meng Ye is a third-year PhD student in public policy with the major field of public management and nonprofit studies. Her research interests lie in nonprofit management, cross-sector collaboration and competition, nonprofit marketization and social enterprises. She has published a journal article and several book chapters on topics including social enterprise policy in China, charitable fundraising, and charitable financial management. Meng worked formerly as the Deputy Director of the Center for Charity Law of China Philanthropy Research Institute (CPRI). Her roles include conducting research and consulting projects on the nonprofit sector. She consulted the National People’s Congress and National Development and Reform Committee regarding refining the regulatory systems for nonprofits and was closely involved in the legislative process of China’s first Charity Law. She also helped drafting local policies on nonprofits in Beijing, Shenzhen and Yunnan. Meng is also a qualified lawyer in China.

Winners of SPOD Annual Scholarships 2021

March 2021

Hoang is a Ph.D. Student of Public Affairs and Instructor of the Public and Nonprofit Management Program, The University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests are in Public Human Resource Management and Leadership, Diversity Management, Fundraising and Social Media Engagement of the Nonprofit Sector.

Hoang is also a 2020 ARNOVA Diversity Scholar and 2021 ASPA Founder Fellow. She earned a Master of Public Management at the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She had several years of experience working as a Communication and Program Coordinator in both local and international nonprofit organizations in Vietnam.

Platt is a Public Policy and Administration Ph.D. student in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, where she previously received her MPA and her BA in Writing with an emphasis in modernist poetry.

Inspired by her experiences as a local, state, and federal practitioner, her research interests focus on government contractor compliance, privatization, politicization, agency capture, public service motivation, and intersectoral regulation.