Dr. Patsy Kraeger

Associate Professor
Department of Public and Nonprofit Studies

Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA, USA
Email: pkraeger@georgiasouthern.edu

Interest in CDE Collaborative

I teach and research in Community Development. I have recently co-edited a Research Handbook on Community Development with Rhonda Phillips.

Quick Bio

Dr. Kraeger received her Ph.D. in Public Administration from Arizona State University, the School of Public Affairs, with a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the School of Community Resources and Development. Her primary research interests relate to the study of transparency and accountability  in philanthropic foundations, the intersection of philanthropy and democracy, community development organizations and networks as well examining social enterprise organizations relating to policy organizational and community outcomes. She also researches in the area of quality of life studies. She is the Special Issues Editor and services on the Editorial Board for refereed journal, Local Development and Society. She is also an editorial board member of the International Journal for Community Well Being a refereed journal. She serves on the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) Board of Directors. She recently concluded a five year term as the co-chair for the Public Administration Section of the Western Social Science Association. She is on the Editorial Board for the Applying Quality of Life Research Book Series, Springer Publications. She is currently working on a book under contract with Routledge Publications on philanthropic organizations legitimate role in the public policy arena.

Her research and other academic writings appear in refereed journals, books and other academic and professional outlets.

Dr. Kraeger also holds a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Studies from Arizona State University, the School of Community Resource and Development. She has studied social enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship at the European Summer School on Social Economy, the Department of Economics of the University of Bologna (Forlì Campus)(Italy) and through the EMES Research Network, University of Trento (Italy).  She was certified in 2019 as a community indicators researcher from the Management Institute for Quality of Life Studies.

She also has a J.D. from Mercer University; and, an A.B. from Sweet Briar College with a double major in history and international relations. In the fall of 2015, she joined the faculty at Georgia Southern University as an assistant professor in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Studies where she teaches graduate courses in public and nonprofit management including program evaluation, foundations of nonprofit, nonprofit board governance and leadership, philanthropy theory and practice and community development.