Calvin Mackenzie
G. Calvin Mackenzie holds an endowed chair as The Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of Government at Colby College. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and has a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard. Mackenzie served with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. From 1985 through 1988, he was Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at Colby.
Mackenzie's professional work focuses on governance and public policy, with a special interest in the politics of presidential appointments. He has been a frequent consultant to presidential personnel staffs and congressional committees on those matters. During the 1980s, he played a central role in the Presidential Appointee Project of the National Academy of Public Administration, as Project Director and principal author of several National Academy publications including Leadership in Jeopardy: The Fraying of the Presidential Appointments System, Guidebook for the Senior Executive Service, and both editions of The Presidential Appointee's Handbook. From 2000-2003, he was Senior Advisor to the Presidential Appointee Initiative in Washington while serving as Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In 2002, he was Senior Advisor to the National Commission on the Public Service (Second Volcker Commission).
Mackenzie frequently testifies on personnel and ethics issues before congressional committees and special commissions. In the 1970s he participated, as a consultant and senior staff member, in the work of several commissions studying the organization and operations of the Congress. As Senior Research Analyst for the U.S. House Commission on Administrative Review, he was the principal author of its analyses of administrative operations in the House of Representatives. Mackenzie has led seminars on government ethics for senior executives of the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.
Mackenzie is the author or editor of many books and articles on public administration and government personnel. Among those are The Politics of Presidential Appointments, The House at Work, America's Unelected Government, American Government: Politics and Public Policy, The In-and-Outers, and The Politics of American Government. Other recent books include The Irony of Reform: Roots of American Political Disenchantment, Bucking the Deficit: Economic Policy Making in America (with economist Saranna Thornton), Innocent Until Nominated: The Breakdown of the Presidential Appointments Process, and Scandal Proof: Can Ethics Laws Make Government Ethical. His latest book, The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s, was published in 2008.
Mackenzie has held a number of elected positions in scholarly and professional associations including service on the editorial boards of several journals and the presidency of the New England Political Science Association. He was a member of the Panel on Presidentially Appointed Scientists and Engineers of the National Academy of Sciences. From 1994 through 1996, he served as Executive Director of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on the Appointment Process. In 1992, Mackenzie was appointed to serve as a chair Maine's Board of Arbitration and Conciliation. In 1996, he was elected chairman of Maine's Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. During the 1999-2000 academic year, Mackenzie was the John Adams Fellow at the Institute of United States Studies at the University of London. In 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
G. Calvin Mackenzie holds an endowed chair as The Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of Government at Colby College. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and has a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard. Mackenzie served with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. From 1985 through 1988, he was Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at Colby.
Mackenzie's professional work focuses on governance and public policy, with a special interest in the politics of presidential appointments. He has been a frequent consultant to presidential personnel staffs and congressional committees on those matters. During the 1980s, he played a central role in the Presidential Appointee Project of the National Academy of Public Administration, as Project Director and principal author of several National Academy publications including Leadership in Jeopardy: The Fraying of the Presidential Appointments System, Guidebook for the Senior Executive Service, and both editions of The Presidential Appointee's Handbook. From 2000-2003, he was Senior Advisor to the Presidential Appointee Initiative in Washington while serving as Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In 2002, he was Senior Advisor to the National Commission on the Public Service (Second Volcker Commission).
Mackenzie frequently testifies on personnel and ethics issues before congressional committees and special commissions. In the 1970s he participated, as a consultant and senior staff member, in the work of several commissions studying the organization and operations of the Congress. As Senior Research Analyst for the U.S. House Commission on Administrative Review, he was the principal author of its analyses of administrative operations in the House of Representatives. Mackenzie has led seminars on government ethics for senior executives of the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.
Mackenzie is the author or editor of many books and articles on public administration and government personnel. Among those are The Politics of Presidential Appointments, The House at Work, America's Unelected Government, American Government: Politics and Public Policy, The In-and-Outers, and The Politics of American Government. Other recent books include The Irony of Reform: Roots of American Political Disenchantment, Bucking the Deficit: Economic Policy Making in America (with economist Saranna Thornton), Innocent Until Nominated: The Breakdown of the Presidential Appointments Process, and Scandal Proof: Can Ethics Laws Make Government Ethical. His latest book, The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s, was published in 2008.
Mackenzie has held a number of elected positions in scholarly and professional associations including service on the editorial boards of several journals and the presidency of the New England Political Science Association. He was a member of the Panel on Presidentially Appointed Scientists and Engineers of the National Academy of Sciences. From 1994 through 1996, he served as Executive Director of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on the Appointment Process. In 1992, Mackenzie was appointed to serve as a chair Maine's Board of Arbitration and Conciliation. In 1996, he was elected chairman of Maine's Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. During the 1999-2000 academic year, Mackenzie was the John Adams Fellow at the Institute of United States Studies at the University of London. In 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
