Rate My Professor Adam Butz

California State University Office of the Chancellor

Political Science Social Science Public Administration and Policy Public Administration Public Policy Urban Politics Race, Ethnicity and Politics

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5.05/4/2026

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About Adam

Adam Butz serves as Department Chair and Professor in Public Policy and Administration at California State University, Long Beach. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Kentucky in 2012, specializing in Public Policy and Administration with a minor in American Political Behavior. Prior to his doctorate, he earned an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Kentucky in 2007 and dual bachelor's degrees cum laude—a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Business Administration—from Southeast Missouri State University in 2004.

Professor Butz's research focuses on social policy adoption and administration, administrative contracting and cross-sector collaboration, street-level implementation and administrative discretion, program evaluation and performance, policy innovation and diffusion, the public policy process, race and representative bureaucracy, urban affairs and metropolitics, social equity, organizational behavior, and immigration policy. His scholarship has appeared in leading journals including Public Administration Review, Social Policy & Administration, Policy Studies Journal, Politics & Policy, and Evaluation Review. Key publications include the co-authored book Race and Representative Bureaucracy in American Policing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); "Intersectionality and Social Welfare: Avoidance and Unequal Treatment among Transgender Women of Color" (Public Administration Review, 2022, with T. S. Gaynor); "The Color of Corrections: Racial Politics and Prison Privatization" (Social Policy & Administration, 2022, with R. C. Fording); "Systemic Racism and COVID-19: Vulnerabilities with the U.S. Social Safety Net for Immigrants and People of Color" (Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, 2022, with J. E. Kehrberg); and "A Contingent Diffusion Model of Local Climate Policy Adoption: Evidence from Southern California Cities" (Cities, 2022, with B. An and J. L. Mitchell). He has also published case studies such as "Privatization and Performance in Northern California’s Battle with the Opioid Epidemic" (Electronic Hallway, 2020, with D. C. Powell) and "Bicycling and Coast City" (Electronic Hallway, 2017, with J. W. Ostrowski).

Butz has secured extramural funding from the United States Department of Labor for his study on administrative privatization and employment outcomes in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families programs (2009, $7,500). Additional support includes a CHHS RSCA Small Faculty Grant from California State University, Long Beach and Quinlan Endowment Travel Grants from Marshall University. His research has garnered over 360 citations on Google Scholar, contributing to advancements in public administration, policy implementation, equity, and representative bureaucracy.