2022 New Commissioners Welcomed!
The Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation (COPRA), under the leadership of the 2022-2023 Chair, Roger E. Hartley, is honored to welcome four new Commissioners serving terms from 2022-2025. Learn more about the members recently joining the Commission below.
Shaoming Cheng, Commissioner, 2022-2025
Shaoming Cheng is an Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Florida International University. He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University. His research interests center on entrepreneurship and small business development policy, firm location decisions responding to various policy incentives and locational conditions, spatial econometric modeling, big data and data analytics, and regional economic health, performance, and development. He has been engaged in a wide variety of funded research projects with support from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kauffman Foundation, Cyber Florida: Florida Center for Cybersecurity, and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He has published a monograph book and dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles.
Jerrell Coggburn, Commissioner, 2022-2025
Jerrell D. Coggburn is a professor of public administration and MPA program director in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at NC State University. His main research interests are in public human resources management and public management. His research has been recognized with the 2022 Jonathan West Outstanding Scholar Award, given by the American Society for Public Administration’s (ASPA) Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations (SPALR), 2018 Jesse Burkhead Award for the best article published in Public Budgeting & Finance (Diebold & Coggburn, 2018), 2010 Best Article Award from the American Review of Public Administration (Coggburn et al., 2010), and 1997 William E. and Frederick C. Mosher Award for the best Public Administration Review article written by an academic (Jacoby, Schneider & Coggburn, 1997). Coggburn serves on the editorial boards of the Public Administration Review, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Public Personnel Management, and Public Integrity. He is a commissioner (2022-2025) on the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration’s (NASPAA) Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation (COPRA).
Anna Ya Ni, Commissioner, 2022-2025
Anna Ya Ni is the Associate Dean and professor of public administration at the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration in California State University, San Bernardino. Anna worked for a Foreign Trade and Economic Development Agency in China and a leading global biochemical corporation (Hoechst Ag) from 1993 to 1999. She received a LL.B. from University of International Relations in China, an M.S. in Information Assurance and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Iowa State University, and a Ph.D. of Public Administration from Maxwell School, Syracuse University. Her research interests center on information assurance, innovation adoption, public-private partnerships, and distance education. She has published over 20 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, American Review of Public Administration, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, etc. She serves on the Board of American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) Section of Science & Technology in Government (SSTIG) as well as the Inland Empire Chapter.
Kurt Zorn, Commissioner, 2022-2025
C. Kurt Zorn is Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and a Professor in the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington.
His research interests focus on state and local public finance, tax policy, transportation safety, economic development, and gaming. He has published articles in numerous journals and is co-author of the book Why Airplanes Crash: Aviation Safety in a Changing World.
He has conducted research, consulted, and taught in the general area of tax policy and fiscal decentralization in a number of international settings including Egypt, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Russian Federation, China, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Over his career he has served in numerous positions at Indiana University including Acting Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education; Director of State Relations and advisor to the President; Associate Dean for Academic and Fiscal Affairs and Interim Dean in the O’Neill School; and as Faculty Athletics Representative. He has also served the State of Indiana in numerous roles including member, Indiana Finance Authority; member, Board of Directors, Indiana Bond Bank; chairperson of the Citizens’ Commission on Taxes; and Chairman of the Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners.