Lori A. Brainard

Lori Brainard

Lori A. Brainard

Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration


Contact:

Office Phone: (202) 994-1091
Fax: (202) 994-6792
805 21st St. NW Washington, DC 20052

Professor Lori Brainard is primarily interested in communication. The bulk of her work focuses on how ordinary people, nonprofit and grassroots advocacy organizations, and government agencies use the internet to activate and mobilize for change and to disseminate information, conduct transactions, and engage in community building and collaboration. Her current research focuses on how students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL—as well as other stakeholders and policy actors—have used social media for advocacy since the 2018 shooting. She also has a project on how Black Millennials engage in public life, including through social media, and how foundations have responded to the Black Lives Matter movement and the summer 2020 protests. Originally from Massachusetts, Professor Brainard grew up in the Boston area and attended the University of Massachusetts/Boston and Brandeis University. At GW she currently teaches Introduction to Public Administration and Service, Perspectives on Public Values, and the Ph.D. core course, Public Administration Literature.


  • Running
  • Reading (esp. Literary Novels)
  • Cooking/Baking
  • Civic Engagement & Public Participation
  • Social Media
  • Information & Communication Technology
  • Communications
  • Regulation
  • Grassroots advocacy

PPPA 6000  Perspectives on Public Values 
PPPA 6001  Introduction to Public Service and Administration
PPPA 6009  MPA Capstone Seminar
PPPA 8100  Doctoral Seminar in Public Administration Literature

Selected Publications

Refereed Book:

Brainard, Lori A. Television: The Limits of Deregulation. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, (2004.)

Journal Symposium:

Brainard, Lori A. Special Issue Guest Editor. “Directing Public Affairs Programs.” Journal of Public Affairs Education. In production. Summer 2017.

Journal Articles:

(*indicates peer reviewed)

Jun, G., A. Eikenberry, K. Webb Farley, L. A. Brainard. (Forthcoming, in press) “How Do Foundations Support (Anti-)Racism? A Critical Race Theory Perspective on Philanthropy and Racial Equity.” Journal of Philanthropy & Marketing. *

Brainard, L. A. (2020). “Putting ‘Perspectives’ in Perspective: Literary Fiction, Empathy, & Diversity in the Public Affairs Classroom.” Public Integrity: 23(3): 310-327. *

Zavattaro, S. and L. Brainard, "Social Media as Micro-Encounters: Millennial Preferences as Moderators of Digital Value Creation.” International Journal of Public Sector Management. Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 534-552. (2019).*

Hatcher, W., McDonald, B. and Brainard, L. “How to Write a Case Study for Public Affairs.” Journal of Public Affairs Education. 24(1): 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2018.1444902

Brainard, L. A. “Symposium Introduction: Directing Public Affairs Programs.” Journal of Public Affairs Education. 23()3): (2017).

Brainard, L.A. and D. Infeld. “The Challenges and Rewards of Service: Job Satisfaction among Public Affairs Program Directors.” Journal of Public Affairs Education. 23(3): (2017).*

Brainard, L. A. “An Internet Utopia? Government Use of Web Technologies to Engage Citizens in the US.” International Journal of Organizational Theory and Behavior. 19(4): 459-478. (2016).*

Edlins, M. and L. A. Brainard, “Pursuing the Promises of Social Media? Changes in Adoption and Usage of Social Media by the Top 10 Police Departments.” Information Polity. 21: 171-188. (2016).*

Brainard, L. and Mariglynn Edlins. “Top 10 US Police Departments and Their Social Media Usage.”  American Review of Public Administration 45(6): 728-745. (2015).*

Brainard, L.A. and T. Derrick-Mills. “Electronic Commons, Community Policing and Communication: On-Line Police-Citizen Discussion Groups in Washington, DC.” Administrative Theory and Praxis: 33 (3): 383-410. (2011).*

Brainard, L.A. and J. G. McNutt. “Virtual Government-Citizen Relations: Informational, Transactional, or Collaborative?” Administration & Society, 42 (7): 836-858. (2010).*

Brainard, L. A. and J. M. Brinkerhoff. “Sovereignty Under Siege, Or a Circuitous Path for Strengthening the State?: Digital Diasporas and Human Rights” International Journal of Public Administration. 29(8): 595-618. (2006).*

Brainard, L. A. “Television Policy: Economic vs. Content Regulation and Deregulation.” Focus on Law Studies 20(1), pp. 1,8-9 manuscript length 10 pages (lead article in special issue on “Television, the FCC and Regulation”). American Bar Association. (2004).*

Brainard, L. A. and P. Siplon. “Towards Nonprofit Organization Reform in the Voluntary Spirit: Lessons from the Internet.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 33(3): 435-457. (2004).*

Brainard, L. A. and J. M. Brinkerhoff. “Lost in Cyberspace: Shedding Light on the Dark Matter of Grassroots Organizations,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Vol. 33, pp. 32s-53s. (2004).*

Brainard, L. “Citizen Organizing in Cyberspace: Illustrations from Health Care and Implications for Public Administrators.”  American Review of Public Administration 33(4) 384-406. (2003).*

Brainard, L. A. and P. Siplon. “Cyberspace Challenges to Mainstream Nonprofit Health Organizations.” Administration & Society 34(2): 141-175. Lead Article. (2002).*

Brainard, L. A. and P. Siplon. “The Internet and NGO-Government Relations: Injecting Chaos into Order.” Public Administration and Development. 22(1): 63-72. (2002).*

Brainard, L. A. “Presidential Leadership, Interest Groups, and Domestic Policymaking Summitry: Balancing the Values of Efficiency and Representation.” Public Integrity 2(2): 91-104. Lead Article. Spring (2000).*

Refereed Book Chapters:

(*indicates peer reviewed)

Brainard L.A. (2020) “Online Communities.” In: List R., Anheier H., Toepler S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer.

Brainard, Lori and J. Augeri. (2018) “Advocacy Of, By, and For the Internet: The 2012 Protests Against Anti-Piracy Legislation” in McNutt, J. Technology, Activism, & Social Justice in a Digital Age. Oxford University Press.*

Brainard, L.; K. Boland, McNutt, J. “The Advent of Technology Enhanced Leaderless Transnational Social Movement Organizations: Implications for Transnational Advocacy.” In McNutt, J. and L. Goldkind, Promoting Social Justice in Cyberspace: Local, National, and Global Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accepted for publication. (2018).*

McNutt, J. and Lori A. Brainard, with Yingying Zeng and Primoz Kovacic. “Information and Technology For Associations.” In Smith, D. H., R. Stebbins and J. Grotz, eds., Chapter 43. The Palgrave Handbook of Volunteering, Civic Participation, and Nonprofit Associations. Hampshire, England: Springer Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 160-173. (2017)

Brainard, Lori and J. Augeri. “Advocacy Of, By, and For the Internet: The 2012 Protests Against Anti-Piracy Legislation” In McNutt, J. and Lauri Goldkind, Promoting Social Justice in Cyberspace: Local, National and Global Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accepted for Publication.  (Forthcoming 2017). (2018)*

Brainard, Lori A. "Fostering Engagement Through Social Media: The Case of the DC Police Department.” In Zavattaro, S. and T. Bryer, Social Media For Government: Theory and Practice. Pp. 117-134.  Routledge. (2016).*

Brainard, Lori A. “Cyber-Communities,” in Anheir, H. K. and S. Toepler, eds. International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. pp. 597-601. New York: Springer Publications. (2009).

PhD, Politics, Brandeis University
BA, Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Boston