Alex Torpey
SOUTH ORANGE — Seton Hall University is once again making the most of the opportunities which stem from its location in South Orange. This fall, the school will partner with the village government to present a graduate-level public-administration course.
The course, “Strategic Management for Collaborative Governance,” which will focus on transparency, data use and collaboration, according to a release from the university, will be taught by longtime Seton Hall professor Matt Hale and village President Alex Torpey. Hale, a political science and public affairs professor, and Torpey will use the course to offer students a chance to see their academic work and learning applied to a real-world setting, according to the release.
“In a day of record frustration by Americans at their government at many levels, finding ways to help make government an ecosystem of innovation without a focus on party politics is a much-needed step towards improving how responsive government can be in the future,” Torpey said in the release. “There’s too much focus in most traditional public administration classes on how things have been done. Through this course we’d like to help spark new ideas to improve government operations and responsiveness within local government, while also making the whole process more transparent and getting people more engaged.”
Hale is looking forward to his partnership with Torpey, viewing it as a chance to show students how they can effect change.
“This is such an exciting project because we are not just looking at open governance as a theory, but as a series of actual action steps our students can do,” Hale said in the release. “Our students have a great opportunity to practice the future of public administration today.”
According to Seton Hall, the course will bring in leading public, private and nonprofit experts from the open governance movement for a series of guest lectures and discussions on specific ways that local government can become more transparent and open.
While the roster of guest speakers has not yet been set, Torpey told the News-Record that some of the guest lecturers will be “homeruns for the students.”
“We’re still inviting folks and juggling all the different days of who is coming when,” Torpey told the News-Record earlier this week via email.
Following these in-class lectures, students will then conduct local research projects and community outreach throughout the county in an effort to implement some of what they have learned. According to Seton Hall, the students will focus on applying newer concepts of open government to managing, overseeing and working in a public agency.
Torpey hopes this class will influence students in their future careers in government; rather than teach the graduate students the answers to any specific dilemma, Torpey wants the students to think critically and evaluate all possible solutions, picking the best for the right reasons.
“The broadest take-away I hope students take from this class would be that students could start imagining themselves more in the role of elected decision-makers in government, and have the inspiration and some more of the skills to be critical and creative about how to approach that or any position in government,” Torpey told the News-Record.
While Torpey does not know off the top of his head how much compensation he will receive for his professorial duties, Torpey will be paid by the school. Torpey added that, because of this, he is aware that he will need to recuse himself from certain issues directly related to Seton Hall. According to Torpey, prior to accepting the Seton Hall position, he discussed this with the village counsel and made sure everything was legitimate.
Although Torpey may have to scale back his involvement regarding Seton Hall issues in the village, he is looking forward to shaping the minds of the next generation of politicians.
“I’m really excited about it,” Torpey told the News-Record. “The professor whose idea this was, Matt Hale, and I hope this can really be a fantastic academic and practical experience and hopefully become a model of ways to get students thinking extra-creatively about how government could work, not just how it does work.”