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About Herman L. Boschken

The primary focus of my policy research has been woven around four subtexts: urban land use and economic development, globalization, public agency behavior, and policy consequences (agency performance, socioeconomic equity and environmental quality). To date, this work has been reported in five books, over two dozen referred journal articles, and numerous professional conference presentations. In the early period (1970-1985), my principal work was on corporate-inspired development of rural resort/recreation communities, and is best found in the book, Land Use Conflicts (University of Illinois Press, 1982) which examined alternative approaches to government policymaking in dealing with the consequences of rural transformations. In the mid 1980s, my research shifted to globalization and maritime trade. Its principal focus was on public entrepreneurial behavior during the "container revolution" at American seaports. The research is comprehensively reported in the book, Strategic Design and Organizational Change (University of Alabama Press, 1988). In the 1990s, my research interests shifted to urban infrastructure policy with a focus on regional public transit agencies. The research is found in the book, Social Class, Politics and Urban Markets (Stanford University Press, 2002), which examines agency policy outcomes and their consequences for different regional constituencies. It received the 2003 best book in public policy from the Academy of Management. My work since 2003 is on globalization and its value in differentiating American cities. The research is multi-faceted. First, given the inadequacy of "global city" definitions, the research has constructed a theory-driven profile of 7 dimensions to empirically discern global from less-global cities. Work on this has been reported internationally at conferences and is published in the January, 2008 issue of Urban Studies. Second, the composite of this work is being used both as a dependent variable dealing with socioeconomic and governmental antecedents of the global city, and as an independent variable looking at global-city consequences (i.e., socioeconomic polarization, inequality, traffic congestion, environmental sustainability, culture and lifestyle). On this continuing research, an article was published in the July, 2013 issue of Urban Studies, under the title "Global Cities are Coastal Cities Too: A Sustainability Paradox?" Another article was published in the American Review of Public Administration in February, 2017, under the title "Aligning a Multi-Government Network with Situational Context: Metropolitan Governance as a Systems Problem." Two more papers on global cities were published in 2022, one in the Journal of Urban Affairs, entitled "Economic Inequality in U.S. Global Cities", and the other in the journal Cities, entitled Income "Inequality and the Imprint of Globalization on U.S. Metropolitan Areas." Both articles deal with the question of whether globalization can be considered an independent cause of economic inequality in metropolitan areas.

Positions

2014 - Present Professor Emeritus, San Jose State University Organization and Management
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2014 - Present Professor Emeritus, San Jose State University Emeritus Faculty
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1983 - 2014 Professor, San Jose State University Organization and Management
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Curriculum Vitae




Grants

1979 - 1981 Economic development at American Pacific Rim seaports during the “container Revolution” and upstart period of contemporary economic globalization
Dept. of Commerce, NOAA
Federal Sea Grant
Role: Principal Investigator
$85,000
1978 - 1979 Proposition 13 impacts on California land use
Lincoln Foundation
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
$20,000
1977 Agency's policy effectiveness and performance
California Department of Real Estate
California Department of Real Estate Grant
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
$50,000
1976 Research monograph on land use conflicts
San Diego State University
Role: Summer Faculty Fellow
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Professional Service and Affiliations

2016 - Present Article Referee, American Review of Public Administration
2011 - Present Commissioner, Planning Commission, City of Davis, California
2009 - Present Article Referee, JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH & THEORY
2008 - Present Article Referee, URBAN STUDIES
1989 - Present Article Referee, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
2015 - 2016 Chair, Task Force on Revisions of the Core Area [Downtown] Specific Plan, City of Davis, California
1988 - 2013 Article Referee, URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW
2006 - 2011 Commissioner, UNITRANS (Davis, CA Transit) Advisory Commission
2005 - 2011 Commissioner, Natural Resources Commission, City of Davis, California
2000 - 2007 Article Referee, ADMINISTRATION & SOCIETY
2005 - 2006 Reviewer, Research Proposals, National Science Foundation
1983 - 2004 Article Referee, PUBLIUS: THE JOURNAL OF FEDERALISM,
1994 - 1998 Editor, INTERMODAL FARE, News Journal of the American Society for Public Administration Section on Transport
1993 - 1998 Board Member, Section on Transportation Policy and Administration, American Society for Public Administration
1984 - 1992 Article Referee, Policy Studies Review
1991 Member, Herbert Kaufman Award Selection Committee, American Political Science Association.
1982 - 1990 Article Referee, COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL,
1981 - 1983 Member, Housing and Community Development Advisory Commission, County of Yolo, California
1978 - 1982 Associate Editor, POLITICAL RESEARCH QUARTERLY, a refereed publication of the Western Political Science Association
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Honors and Awards

  • 2003 - Best Book of 2002-03, Public Sector, Academy of Management
  • 2000-2001 - The Fulbright New Brunswick Distinguished Chair in Property Studies, CIES Fulbright Distinguished European Chairs Program, Canada Award
  • 1992 - Statewide Faculty Fellow, California State University
  • 1990 - Herbert Kaufman Award, American Political Science Association
  • 1988 - Charles H. Levine Award, Public Sector, Academy of Management
  • 1986 - Jeffrey Pressman Award, Best Article in Policy Studies Review
  • 1983 - Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, Political Science and Geography, Umea University, Sweden
  • 1972 - Edna Benson Dissertation Award, University of Washington, Seattle

Education

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1972 PhD, University of Washington - Seattle Campus
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1968 MBA, University of California - Berkeley ‐ Walter Haas School of Business
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1967 B.S., University of California - Berkeley ‐ Walter Haas School of Business
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Contact Information

711 Puma Court
Davis, CA, 95618


Recent Works (2)

SJSU Author & Artist Celebration (1)

URBAN AFFAIRS & PUBLIC POLICY (18)

METROPOLITAN GOVERNANCE, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (3)