Jodi Benenson, Ph.D.
- she/her
- Associate Professor
- School of Public Administration
General Information
Biography
Dr. Jodi Benenson is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska Omaha. She also serves as the School's Associate Director and the chair of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. She received a B.S. and M.P.A. from Indiana University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in social policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Prior to returning to graduate school, Dr. Benenson worked in the public and nonprofit sectors in the Twin Cities.
Teaching Interests
Dr. Benenson uses theories of public policy, nonprofit management, social equity, and civic engagement to inform her teaching. In the MPA program, she teaches the Social Policy and Inequality, Policy Design and Implementation, Policy Analysis, Public Policy Evaluation, and Strategic Planning and Evaluation courses. In the doctoral program, she teaches the Theories of Nonprofit Organizations and Civil Society and Theories of the Public Policy Process courses. She also serves on dissertation and thesis committees across the university.From 2017-2023, Dr. Benenson served as the Academic Director for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Institute on Civic Engagement through the U.S. Department of State. From 2020-2023, she served as a Service Learning Faculty Fellow for the College of Public Affairs and Community Service.In 2021, Dr. Benenson received both the Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Public Affairs and Community Service and the Outstanding Faculty Service Learning Award at the University of Nebraska Omaha. ​
Research Interests
Dr. Benenson's research interests are in the areas of civic engagement, nonprofit organizations, social policy, and social equity. Her research has been published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Voluntas, Journal of Public Affairs Education, Review of Higher Education, Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, and other academic and practice-based outlets. She presents her research in national and international venues, as well as in community settings. She currently serves as the Reviews Editor for the Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration and previously served as the Assistant Editor for the International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. In 2021, she received the Outstanding Article Award from the Journal of Public Affairs Education.From 2023-24, Dr. Benenson served as the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Governance and Public Administration at the University of Ottawa. She currently serves as the Principal Investigator on an AmeriCorps-funded research project entitled Examining Civic Mobility in the Heartland.
Service Summary
At UNO, Dr. Benenson serves as the chair of Women and Public Policy Week, which she founded in 2017 to amplify policy issues that affect women and girls, and co-founded the Nebraska Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network to connect area scholars to policymakers, journalists, and civic organizations. Dr. Benenson has previously served on the Faculty Senate, as the Assistant Professor representative on the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Faculty Union, and on several university, college, and school-wide committees that focus on civic engagement and curriculum development. In 2023, she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the UNO Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Gender Equity and in 2024 she received the .In the profession, Dr. Benenson has served in several leadership roles with the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), including as the co-chair of the Professional Development Committee and the chair of ARNOVA's Early Scholars Section. She is also an active member of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), and the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR). She serves as the University of Nebraska representative on the Big Ten Democracy Working Group and on the Research Advisory Board for the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE).In the community, Dr. Benenson serves on the board of Elevate Omaha and on the advisory board of Huespring. Previously, she served on the national board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN), as member of the Women's Fund of Omaha Circles Class 9, as the Nominating Committee Chair of the League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha, and is an advisor to several nonprofit organizations nationwide. She was also recognized as a TOYO (Ten Outstanding Young Omahans) award recipient by the Omaha Jaycees in 2019 and as a national finalist for the Campus Compact Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement award. In 2024, she received the Faculty Excellence in Engagement Award at the University of Nebraska Omaha.