Dr. Trevor Brown serves as the dean of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, where he has been a faculty member since 2001. He also serves as the interim dean of the Max M. Fisher College of Business at Ohio State. Previously he served as Senior Advisor to the Provost providing advice and counsel on organizational design, strategy, and resource planning for Ohio State’s 15 academic colleges. From 2021-2024, he served in the leadership of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), a membership organization dedicated to promoting the ideal of public service through higher education.
He previously held the position of Pasqual Maragall Chair Visiting Professor at the University of Barcelona’s Department of Economic Policy and a visiting assistant professor position in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. Additionally, he served as the U.S. project manager and associate project executive for the Parliamentary Development Project, a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded organization that provided technical assistance to the Ukrainian parliament from 1994-2013. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
His research focuses on public management and organizational theory, contracting and contract management, and strategic management and performance measurement. The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing recognized him as the Scholar of the Year in 2013. The American Society of Public Administration’s Section on Public Administration Research awarded his co-authored book, Complex Contracting: Government Contracting in the Wake of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program (Oxford University Press), as the Book of the Year in 2014.
He has published in a variety of journals including Public Administration Review, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.
He has also worked with local, state, federal and foreign governments, as well as public organizations, to improve organizational and managerial performance. He has conducted applied research projects for the U.S. Department of the Navy, the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the Pew Center on the States, the City of Columbus, Ohio, the Eurasia Foundation, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. His research on government contracting has been utilized by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
Dean Brown received his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Science from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and a B.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University, Stanford California.
