ASPA 2027 Annual Conference

Navigating Public Service in Uncharted Territory

Theme and Track Details

No charts. No maps. A world you have not seen before. How do you find your way? The same way everyone always has done: with the knowledge that comes from past experience and an educated companion or two to help you understand the terrain.

Our profession is facing a host of new challenges: technological, regulatory, budgetary, philosophical, conceptual and cultural. No matter your role, chances are good your world is shifting constantly right now—in good ways and cautionary ones. “Doing something new” always carries with it elements of both the exciting and the scary. No matter what any of us faces, upholding our mission and taking care of those we serve require agility, flexibility and temerity.

We continue to grasp the efficiencies generative AI has provided us, the judicial decisions that create new regulatory landscapes and revised concepts of what public service is and should be—as well as the whiplash effect created by recent federal, state and local policy choices. We have better analytics, better tools and a more active and engaged public—who has the same analytics and tools we do, trusts less and is quick to argue. We teach, we learn, we generate research findings and work to put them to use, despite any roadblocks. We serve our communities, manage budgets, develop new funding sources and evaluate programs to ensure success. We highlight “promising practices” and strive to improve programs that do not work anymore. We explore the unknown and share our journey to help guide others. ASPA’s 2027 Annual Conference will help us all navigate uncharted territories—together. Everyone needs someone with them who knows the terrain and can define it.

Seven tracks will guide our discussions, providing space for both research and practice in the conversation. They appear below and we look forward to your proposals. Workshops, student learning, research-specific, roundtables and open conversations are all welcome. Proposals are encouraged to include either quantitative or qualitative methods, as well as promising practices from the field.

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