Rate My Professor Trenton Davis

Trenton J. Davis serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Public and Nonprofit Studies at Georgia Southern University, where he joined the faculty in August 2007. He holds additional roles as MPA Core Faculty, MPA program director since January 2009, and founding director of the Institute for Public and Nonprofit Studies, which became the current department. He also serves as Interim Chair of the School of Human Ecology and is affiliated with the Child Development Center and the Institute for Vibrant and Engaged Communities. Davis earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northern Illinois University in 2007, with fields in Public Administration and American Government-Public Law. He received his Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Missouri State University in 2003 and a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the same institution in 2002.

His academic interests encompass public administration, human resource management, organization development and behavior, local government management, leadership, organizational change, small group behavior, public service motivation, compensation practices, and innovation management within public organizations. Davis has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including the chapter 'Assessment of public service delivery performance: Process improvement' with C. P. Bodkin in the Handbook of Public Service Delivery (2024); 'Leadership Development' with P. C. Christian in the Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance (2023); and 'Motivation Theory and Practice in Public Employment' (2022). His works have appeared in the Review of Public Personnel Administration, Journal of Public Affairs Education, State and Local Government Review, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, The Social Science Journal, and chapters in Human Resource Management: Problems and Prospects (5th and 6th editions). Other notable publications include 'Gender Disparity in Professional City Management: Making the Case for Enhancing Leadership Curriculum' (2012) and 'What Makes Municipal Councils Effective?: An Empirical Analysis of How Council Members Perceive Their Group Interactions and Processes' (2011). His scholarship contributes to areas aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals such as SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).