Welcome to my blog! I am an Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. In my research, I am trying to find out how public managers are using their informal networks to find information for mission-specific tasks. I am using social network analysis techniques to map these complex relationships in order to understand how work “really gets done”. More and more, I hear in my conversations with public managers that online social networking services, such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter are becoming important tools for them. I am interested in finding out how these social networking services can be efficiently used in the public sector. I am lucky to teach classes on topics related to my research. These include New Media Management in the Public Sector, Government 2.0 and Networked Governance classes in the Master of Public Administration program at the Maxwell School.
Contact: ines_mergel (at) yahoo.com or iamergel (at) maxwell.syr.edu
Short bio for media purposes
Ines Mergel is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and The Information Studies School (ischool) at Syracuse University. She was previously a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Program of Networked Governance and the National Center for Digital Government. Professor Mergel teaches in the Master of Public Administration program courses on Government 2.0, New Media Management in the Public Sector, Networked Governance, and Public Organizations & Management. Her research interest focuses on informal networks among public managers and their adoption and use of social media technologies in the public sector. In particular, she studies how public managers search, share and reuse knowledge they need to fulfill the mission of their agency.
A native of Germany, Professor Mergel received a B.A. and M.B.A.-equivalent in business economics from the University of Kassel, Germany. She received a Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.) in information management from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and spent six years as pre- and postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where she conducted research on public managers’ informal social networks and their use of technology to share knowledge.
Professor Mergel’s work has been published among others in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, International Journal of Public Management, and American Review of Public Administration.
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Research and Education
August 2008-present
Assistant Professor of Public Administration
Maxwell School of Public Affairs, Syracuse University
Associated Fellow
Center for Junior Research Fellows
University of Konstanz
2005-2008
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
Fellowship of The Program on Networked Governance
Instructor, Harvard Extension School
- Organizational Behavior, Fall 2007-2008
- Organizational and Career Networking for Managers, Spring 2008
Projects:
Knowledge Sharing and Networking among State Health Officials project
Connecting to Congress project
DNA and the Criminal Justice System project
How networkers network project
i4 – Promoting interdisciplinary, interuniversity and international education via ICT: Networks and Behavior
2004-2005
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
Fellowship of the National Center for Digital Government
2003-2004
Doctoral Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government,
Fellowship of the National Center for Digital Government
Project Coordinator: National Center for Digital Government
Colloquium Rapporteur: Cambridge Colloquium on Complexity and Social Networks
2002-2003
Research Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government,
Fellowship of the SNF (Swiss National Fonds)
2002
Member of Jury 32. ISC-Symposium
2000-2001
Editor M&A-Review for Media Industry
1999-2001
Doctoral course work at University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Major in Information Management
Since 2000
Research Fellow, Prof. Dr. Müller-Stewens,
Institute of Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
1999-2000
Research Fellow, Prof. Dr. Back,
Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
1994-1999
University studies in Business Economics, University of Kassel, Germany
Diploma thesis II: Incentive reward systems for Knowledge Management in Consulting Companies”
Diploma thesis I: “Activity-based costing in service companies”
Fall semester 1996/1997: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, Netherlands
Research Assistant, Center for Research in Higher Education and Work,
WZ I, University of Kassel, Germany
Research Assistant, Prof. Dr. G.-M. Hellstern, Business Administration
Research Assistant, Prof. Dr. Winand, Business Informatics
1991-1994
Vocational Training: Master of Business Administration, Berufsakademie Weserbergland, Hameln and Aerzener Maschinenfabrik, Germany
1991
High School Diploma, Humboldt-Gymnasium Bad Pyrmont,
Germany
