David John Farmer
Richard F. Huff
Cynthia Cors
Presentation Given at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management’s
2014 Spring Conference, Washington, D. C., April 12, 2014

Part I: Bi-Directionality Definition and Context

Part II: Quasi-Symptom – e.g., Happiness
Model

Part III: Quasi-Solution – e.g., Ferenczi/Anton
Model
Part I
We have to look for routes of power our teachers
never imagined, or were encouraged to avoid.
Source: Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
BPSS Relevance
Combinations of biological,
psychological, social, and
spiritual or poetic factors work
in combination. These factors
cannot be adequately
understood by their
reductionist components. Just
as every individual is the
product of a combination of
factors so too are the teacher
and student operating in the
context of the university
environment.
Public Policy teaching and
learning can be more fully
understood in the context of
the BPSS Model.
Biopsychosocial and Spiritual
(Poetic) Model
Terms of discourse are globalization and
privatization. Claims of the ABM:
 Self interest rules
 Free market fundamentalism is essential
 Minimal government role
 Minimal taxation
Part II
How does the U.S. compare to other countries?
The U.S. ranks:
 23rd in Happiness but consumes 2/3 of the
world’s anti-depressants
 31st in Personal Safety
 34th in Water and Sanitation
 39th in Access to Basic Education
 70th in Health and Wellness
 150th in Environmental sustainability
The U. S. is 40th in internet performance and one
in five Americans lacks internet access.
OF TEACHER



Praise from students
Praise from “powers that
be”
Tenure or permanent
employment
OF TAUGHT


Reward: Grades and Jobs
Learn techniques to
maintain employability
Variation in Public
Policy Program
Content
Core Requirements of Doctoral
Programs by Methods and
Non-Methods courses
1 Syracuse
Students seek
quality as
determined by
school ranking and
core content.
Chart shows
number of credits
for core courses as
sum of methods
and non-methods
courses.
2 SPEA
5 Princeton - Wilson
6 NYU
6 UC Berkeley Goldman
6 USC - Price
Non-Methods
12 American
Methods
12 GWU/Trachtenberg
16 Arizona State
16 U Kentucky
37 Virginia Tech
53 VCU
104 ODU
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Credit Hours
Source: Program websites; US News and World Report Rankings, 2012.
How are
students’
expectations
understood
by teachers?
Red circles =
Methods
Source: Authors’ research.
Part III

Relevant to universities because of ABM’s
resulting push for private grants and funding

Increases need for branding and marketing of
public universities

The influence of the ABM is seen in the
increasing use of adjunct faculty to teach
graduate courses.

ABM is limited because of its focus on the
perspectives of economics and business.
45%
Virginia Public Universities
experienced a 44% drop in public
revenue from 1991 to 2011
40%
35%
30%
25%
Nationwide
20%
Virginia
15%
10%
5%
0%
1991
2011
Source: Virginia Legislative Audit and Review Commission



Recognition of social construction, primarily the
influence of the ABM and American
Exceptionalism
Teachers’ increased willingness to be released
from ABM and American Exceptionalism
The object of bi-directionality will change:
Rather than being exhibited as a reflexive
relationship between teacher and student, both
the teacher and the student will separately look
to greater understanding as the interactive
factor in teachers’ and students’ happiness.
We have to look for routes of power our teachers
never imagined, or were encouraged to avoid.
Source: Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Happiness Model
Ferenczi/Anton Model
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biopsychosocial model 25 years later: Principles, practice, and scientific
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Engel, G. L. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for
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Engel, G. L. (1980). The clinical application of the biopsychosocial model.
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Frankel, R. M., Quill, T. E., & McDaniel, S. H. (Eds.) (2003). The
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University of Rochester Press.
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Uccelo, Paolo. Saint George and the Dragon. Retrieved from
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