Skip to content

Faculty

William G. Resh

Associate Professor

C.C. Crawford Professor in Management and Performance

Headshot of William Resh

Education

PhD in Public Administration and American Politics, American University

Expertise

Public Management
US presidency and executive politics
Policy implementation
Organization theory
Personnel policy
Organizational behavior

Biography

Bill Resh earned his doctoral degree at the American University’s School of Public Affairs in 2011. He was a tenure-track assistant professor in public management at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs from 2011 to 2014. Bill joined the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy in 2014. His research focuses on public management and executive politics. A common theme in his work is how administrative structure and political environments affect the behaviors, perceptions, and working relationships of civil servants.

Bill has received several awards for his scholarship from the American Political Science Association, the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and the Academy of Management. His work has been published in respected peer reviewed journals and academic presses across the fields of public administration, political science, and public policy. His recent book, Rethinking the Administrative Presidency (Johns Hopkins University Press), was awarded the Best Book in Public Administration Research award by ASPA in 2017. In this book, he uses combined strains of political and organizational theory to argue that appointee-careerist relations in the federal executive branch are critical to understanding which efforts at political control might harm agency performance and undermine presidential policy prerogatives.

Selected Publications

Affiliated Research Centers

Bedrosian Center on Governance

Effective governance is essential to the quality of life of all Americans. The center is dedicated to understanding and improving the nature of democratic governance, policymaking, and management of the public enterprise in the 21st century. The center provides a highly visible focal point for imaginative research, policy analysis, and dialogue across the university. Through public discussion, the center focuses on pressing issues facing society and integrates conversations with civic education, which is at the heart of strong communities.

Sol Price Center for Social Innovation

The Sol Price Center for Social Innovation was established with the recent gift to name the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. This new center aims to advance ideas, strategies, and practices that enhance the quality of life for people in urban communities.

Kudos

May 6, 2024 Dr. Resh wins the 2024 Herbert Kaufman Best Paper Award from the Public Administration Section at the American Political Science Association. “Assessing the Effects of Government Shutdowns on the Inflow and Outflow Dynamics of the United States Federal Workforce,” with Yongjin Ahn, Weijie Wang, and Keunyoung Lee.

May 1, 2024 Dr. Resh wins the Student Empowerment Innovation Award for proposal: “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Public Service Labor Market” and is awarded a grant from the USC Office of Research and Innovation (OORI).

August 1, 2023 Dr. Resh is named to the Advisory Board for the Institute for Public Procurement’s Center for the Advancement of Research and Excellence.