About
Biography
Kathy Quick is the Gross Family Chair and an Associate Professor, Academic Co-Director of the university-wide Center for Integrative Leadership, and former chair of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs' public and nonprofit management and leadership area.
Dr. Quick’s focus is bringing together people with diverse perspectives to work on high-stakes, complex, and often contentious public policy problems. Since 2016, she has centered her work on how different people define and experience public safety. Her research has included collaborating with tribal governments on roadway safety in reservations, partnering with government and nonprofit organizations to problematize and try to improve community relationships with police and other first responders, co-editing a special issue of Public Management Review on what public management can learn from studies of policing, and co-founding an international study group on policing.
Dr. Quick utilizes ethnographic methods to identify practices and processes that improve or impede equity and inclusion. By studying practitioners doing their work, she gleans insights to share with graduate students and community partners working to build their civic engagement skills and strengthen democracy. She also continually hones her own craft by practicing what she studies and teaches, for example by facilitating the Falcon Heights Task Force on Policing and Inclusion and co-chairing the University of Minnesota's MSafe Committee on campus policing.
Originally from rural Pennsylvania, Dr. Quick worked as an environmental advocate and policy analyst in Indonesia for eight years and as a community development manager for two California cities for six years. She holds a PhD in Planning, Policy, and Design from the University of California, Irvine, which recognized Dr. Quick as one of their top 50 graduate student alumni from the first fifty years of the university.
Education
PhD in Planning, Policy, and Design (University of California, Irvine, 2010)
MCP in City Planning (University of California, Berkeley, 2002)
BS in Biology (Swarthmore College, 1991)
Recent Publications
Laird, V., Quick, K. S. & Shaver, M. (2024). Cross-sector initiatives should start small, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 22(1), 46-53
Hartley, J., Ongaro, E., Quick, K. S. & Schröter, E. (2023). Public Management and Policing: A Dialectical Inquiry, Public Management Review, 25(9), 1711-1729
Quick, K. S. (2023). (De)Centering Whiteness through Community Dialogues about Safety Problems and Solutions, Public Administration Review, 1-19
Schröter, E., Quick, K. S., Ongaro, E. & Hartley, J. (2023). Insights into public management from policing: Introduction to the special issue of Public Management Review, Public Management Review, 25(9), 1633-1639
Quick, K. S. (2022). Just Talk: The Promise and Peril of Dialogues about Whiteness, Planning Theory and Practice, 23(3), 425-458
Quick, K. S. & Bryson, J. S. (2022). Theories of Public Participation in Governance. In Handbook on Theories of Governance, 2nd edition 158-168). Edward Elgar: Northampton, MA United States
Quick, K. S. (2021). Tribal sovereignty and the limits and potential of inter-governmental collaboration. In 253-267). Edward Elgar Publishing:
Quick, K. S. (2021). The Narrative Production of Stakeholder Engagement Processes, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 41(3), 326-341
Lemmie, V., Quick, K. S. & Williams, B. N. (2021). Citizen-Led Efforts to Create Safe Communities: Diversity, Dialogues, and Directions for Moving Forward, National Civic Review, 110(1), 6-15
Cira, T., Quick, K. & Venette, R. C. (2019). Watch your language! The consequences of linguistic uncertainty for insect management, American Entomologist, 65(4 (Winter 2019)), 258–267
Quick, K. S. (2019). An American’s reflections on Skeffington’s relevance at 50, Planning Theory and Practice, 20(5), 1-25
Narvaez, G. E., Dufour, S. & Quick, K. S. (in press). Emergency Medical Services in American Indian reservations and communities: results of a national survey, Indian Health Service Primary Care Provider,
Narvaez, G. E. & Quick, K. S. (in press). Pedestrian safety: A critical, distinctive, and under-recognized priority for reducing roadway injuries in reservations, Indian Health Service Primary Care Provider,
Quick, K. S., Larsen, A. & Narváez, G. E. (2019). Tribal Transportation Specialists’ Priorities for Reservation Roadway Safety: Results of a National Survey, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research 28 Board,, 2673(7),
Quick, K. S. & Narváez, G. E. (2018). Understanding Roadway Safety in American Indian Reservations. Center for Transportation Studies: Minneapolis, MN United States
Schneider, I. E., Peck, M. A., Quick, K. S. & Pflughoeft, B. (in press). Effective social media engagement options for Minnesota’s diversifying population. Minnesota Department of Transportation: St Paul, MN United States
Dressel, E. & Quick, K. S. (2017). Evaluation of the Falcon Heights community conversations process. Minnesota State Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution and the Dispute Resolution Institute of Mithcell Hamline School of Law: Saint Paul, MN United States
Narvaez, G. E. & Quick, K. S. (2017). Stakeholder Attitudes, Knowledge and Engagement in Local Road Systems Planning Decision-Making. Minnesota Department of Transportation: St Paul, MN United States
Quick, K. S. & Sandfort, J. (2017). Deliberative Technology: A Holistic Lens for Interpreting Resources and Dynamics in Deliberation, Journal of Public Deliberation, 13(1), Article 7
Quick, K. S. & Sandfort, J. R. (2017). Learning to facilitate: Implications for skill development in the public participation field. In The Professionalization of Public Participation 214-241). Routledge: New York and London
Courses
- LAW 6623 - Integrative Leadership: Leading Across Sectors to Address Grand Challenges
- MGMT 6402 - Integrative Leadership: Leading Across Sectors to Address Grand Challenges
- OLPD 6402 - Integrative Leadership: Leading Across Sectors to Address Grand Challenges
- PA 5105 - Integrative Leadership: Leading Across Sectors to Address Grand Challenges
- PUBH 6702 - Integrative Leadership Seminar
News and Media
Humphrey School News
Humphrey School Faculty Discuss Police-Community Relations in Wake of George Floyd's Death
Researchers, Tribes Collaborate to Advance Roadway Safety in Minnesota Reservations
Read more Humphrey School news
Research Updates
Read about Quick's latest research
In the Media
Experts, Activists Speak on Calls for Change as Peaceful Protests Continue
KSTP, 06-02-2020
Businesses' Role in Policing, Policy, and Change
Twin Cities Business, 06-01-2020