Steven A. Cohen (academic)

Steven A. Cohen (born in 1953 in Orange, New Jersey) is an American academic who has taught Public Management and Environmental Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs since 1981. He is currently the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy as well as the Executive Director of the Earth Institute[1] at Columbia University. He served on the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (2002–2004), and also serves on the Board of Homes for the Homeless - a New York City based nonprofit that delivers services to homeless families.^[1][2]

Biography

Cohen graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York in 1970 and then attended Franklin College, in Franklin, Indiana where he received his B.A. in political science in 1974.^[2] He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from University at Buffalo, The State University of New York also in political science with a concentration in Environmental Policy and Public Policy.

He worked at the EPA in 1977 in the Office of Water and then in 1980-1981 in the Office of Hazardous Emergency Response and was responsible for developing and coordinating the implementation of public participation policy for the Agency’s hazardous waste clean-up Superfund Program.

In 1981 he began working at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs as an assistant professor of political science and became the Director of the Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration in 1985. Steven Cohen is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Director of the Masters of Science in Sustainability Management at Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education. From 2002 to 2006 he directed education programs at the Earth Institute. From 1998 to 2001 Cohen worked as the Vice Dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and from 1985 to 1998 he was the Director of Columbia's Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration. In addition, Cohen was from 1987-1998 the Associate Dean for Faculty and Curriculum at SIPA.^[2] He currently is the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy [2] and Director of the Environmental Policy Concentration.

Cohen has acted as a consultant to the EPA’s Superfund program, underground storage tank program and Region II management. Along with William Eimicke he has undertaken management consulting and training for a number of government and nonprofit organizations.

Professor Cohen often comments on regional and national environmental policies, from Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC to waste-to-energy options for urban areas, from the aftermath of 9/11 to global warming and nuclear energy. He is frequently mentioned in publications such as the Daily News, The New York Times, USA Today, and Financial Times on regional politics. Professor Cohen has commented multiple times for both Fox News and NY1 television on the New York City mayoral race and the upcoming presidential campaigns.

Cohen is the author of Sustainability Management (2011), Understanding Environmental Policy (2006) and The Effective Public Manager (1988) as well the co-author of The Responsible Contract Manager (2008), Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation (2005), The Effective Public Manager 3rd and 4th editions (2002, 2008), Tools for Innovators: Creative Strategies for Managing Public Sector Organizations (1998), The New Effective Public Manager (1995), Total Quality Management in Government (1993), Environmental Regulation Through Strategic Planning (1991), and numerous articles on public management innovation, public ethics, sustainability management, politics and environmental management. He also writes a blog for The Huffington Post.

Selected publications

Books

• Sustainability Management: Lessons from and for New York City, America, and the Planet (Columbia University Press, 2011) ISBN 978-0231152587
• Understanding Environmental Policy (Columbia University Press, 2006) ISBN 978-0231135375
• Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation: A Policy Approach That Works (With Sheldon Kamieniecki and Matthew A. Cahn), (MIT Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0262532754
• The Effective Public Manager (third edition) (With William Eimicke), (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2002) ISBN 978-0787959388
• Tools for Innovators (With William Eimicke) (Josey-Bass 1998) ISBN 978-0787909536
• Total Quality Management in Government (With Ronald Brand) ISBN 978-1555425395

Articles

• "Managing Workfare:The Case of the Work Experience Program in the New York City Parks Department" [3]
• "Managing Privatization: The Tools, Skills, Goals and Ethics of Contracting" (with William Eimicke) [4]
• "Environmental Policy at its Most Fundamental: The Case of New York City's Solid Waste Crisis" [5]
• "Public Participation and Shaping Urban Development: The Case of the Atlantic Yard and Nets Arena Project in Brooklyn" (with William Eimicke) [6]

References