Dr. Kimberly Speers

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Professional Information & Research Interests

Professional Information

Dr. Kimberly Speers is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Public Administration. She is the Master’s Project advisor for students in the MPA program. Dr. Speers also teaches regularly with the national local government program at the University of Alberta and teaches policy analysis and evaluation at the University of Fraser Valley.

She completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Alberta and has a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Carleton University, a Master of Arts in History from Queen’s University and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Waterloo.

Prior to coming to British Columbia, Dr. Speers was an Assistant Professor and the Graduate Chair in the Department of Political Studies (MA and MPA programs) at the University of Manitoba and taught in the areas of public administration, research methods, and Canadian politics.  She received an Outstanding Faculty Award in 2009 at the University of Manitoba and in 2008, she received a President's Committee Community Outreach Award.

Dr. Speers was also a management consultant with KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC Consulting, Praxis, and IMI Strategics prior to moving to Manitoba. Further, she has also worked as a government relations consultant and worked at the federal, provincial, and local orders of government. She also was the Director for Strategy and Policy with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, Manager of Business Planning and Performance Measurement with Alberta Municipal Affairs and worked for a former Prime Minister to assist him with researching his memoirs.

She is a frequent media commentator at the national, provincial, and local levels and many years ago, she was actively involved in partisan and student politics.  She is still involved in campaign management at the local order of government and loves elections!

She has published and presented at conferences in the areas of performance measurement, planning, management consulting in the public sector, gender and bureaucracy, graduate teaching, and animal policy and politics.

Research Interests

• Performance measurement
• Project and program management
• Food policy and politics
• Animal policy and politics
• Business and strategic planning in government
• Local government and administration
• Management consulting and the public sector

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• 2005 July, “Performance Measurement: Truth and Propaganda,” Revue Governance, Vol. 1, Issue 2.

Books, Chapters, Monographs

• 2007, “The Invisible Private Service: Consultants and Public Policy in Canada” in Policy Analysis in Canada: The State of the Art, L. Dobuzinskis, M. Howlett, D. Laycock, eds. (Toronto: Oxford University Press)
• 2001, “The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, 1967-1970: Liberal Feminism and Its Radical Implications,” Framing Our Past: Canadian Women’s History in the Twentieth Century. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.
• 1996, Contributed two chapters, "Financial Survival and Planning" and "Economic Alternatives: Entrepreneurship," to Investing in Women's Worth Resource Workbook. Ottawa: Ottawa Women's Credit Union.

Other Publications (book reviews, reports, etc)

• 2006, “For Better or for Worse? How Political Consultants are Changing Elections in the United States,” Book review for the Canadian Journal of Political Science

Recent Speaking Engagements & Event Participation

Paper, Lectures, Addresses

• 2009, Presenter, “Thinking about Leadership in the 21st Century,” IPAC Speakers’ Series, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2009, Presenter, “Measuring Terrorism, Teenage Pregnancy, Food Safety, and Democracy in Government,” University of Manitoba High School Days, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2009, Presenter, “Thinking Strategically: Issue Management in the Department of Agriculture,” Government of Manitoba
• 2008, Presenter, “Performance Management in Alberta: An Overview,” Centre of Excellence on Performance Management and Accountability Regional Workshop, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2008, Co-presenter, “Climate Change Plans and Performance Measures in Western Canada – An Urban and Provincial Lens,” Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia
• 2007, Moderator, Technology-Enabled Governance, Annual IPAC conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2007, Presenter and Organizer of Student Panel on “Youth Voter Turnout”, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Annual Regional Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2004, Presenter, “Performance Measurement in the Government of Alberta: Truth or Bureaucratic Propaganda,” Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2001, Presenter, “Accountability and Business Planning in the Government of Alberta,” Seventh Annual Conference of the British Columbia Political Studies’ Association, Langara College, Vancouver, British Columbia
• 1999, Presenter, Workshop on Service Excellence, Personnel Administration Office, Government of Alberta. Title of Presentation: "Service Excellence Across Canada"

Courses Taught

• ADMN 411: Public Sector Project Management
• ADMN 422: Ethical Public Management
• ADMN 477: Strategic Planning and Implementation
• ADMN 502A: Research Design: Critical Appraisal of Information
• ADMN 504: Public Sector Governance
• ADMN 550: Strategic Communication and Engagement
• ADMN 577: Strategic Planning and Implementation
• ADMN 580: Qualitative Evaluation Methods
• ICDG 305: Indigenous Research Methods and Project Management
• POLI 321: Introduction to Research Methods in Politics
• POLI 339: The Empirical Analysis of Politics
• POLI 351: Public Policy and Analysis
• POLI 361: Parties and Press Groups in Canada
• POLI 364: Canadian Public Policy
• POLI 365: BC Political Economy
• POLI 433: Seminal Issues in Politics: Politics of Food