Two founding faculty of the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program at the University of Oklahoma have received the inaugural Distinguished Public Service Award from the Oklahoma chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. The recipients are Mark Shafer, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at the University of Oklahoma and deputy director of the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program, and Barry Keim, Ph.D., a professor at Louisiana State University.
Shafer, principal investigator, and Keim, co-principal investigator, formed the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program in 2008. SCIPP, which is federally funded and led by the University of Oklahoma, assists organizations with decision making that builds resilience by collaboratively producing research, tools and knowledge that reduces weather and climate risks and impacts across the South-Central United States.
The Distinguished Public Service Award was presented to Shafer and Keim in recognition of their significant contributions to the advancement of public service in Oklahoma through their leadership as co-principal investigators for SCIPP. The award was presented by Aimee Franklin, Ph.D., professor of political science in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma and treasurer of the Oklahoma chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.
