Dr. Chul Hyun Park has been named Associate Professor for the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas.

In addition to leading the development of the Clinton School’s online degree program, Park teaches Field Research Methods, Data Analysis, and Program Evaluation.

Along with Dr. Robert Richards, Park leads the Clinton School’s Open Governance Lab, launched in the summer of 2022, which investigates ways to make public service more participatory, effective, resilient, and secure in the digital era. The Open Governance Lab focuses on opening the government vs. securing the government, evaluating public deliberation, and creating the Arkansas Civic Health Index.

Park has focused much of his research on open and collaborative governance between government and non-state stakeholders, also known as e-governance. Park’s efforts in e-governance include research on emerging technologies that enable multiple actors across the public, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors to effectively communicate and collaborate with one another to collectively resolve complex social problems like disasters and crises.

The article, “Assessing Emergency Information Sharing between the Government and the Public during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Open Government Perspective,” written with Dr. Robert C. Richards, Jr. of the Clinton School of Public Service and Dr. Justin Reedy from the University of Oklahoma, was published in a recent edition of Public Performance & Management Review, an academic journal that showcases research on the performance of public and nonprofit organizations, advancing theories on public governance, public management and public performance.

“We live in the digital era," Park said. "Thus, it is essential for the government and citizens to communicate and collaborate with each other through information technology for diverse public service purposes.”

Another recent article by Park and Dr. Koomin Kim of Geumgang University, “Exploring the Effects of the Adoption of the Open Government Partnership: A Cross-Country Panel Data Analysis,” also published in Public Performance & Management Review, looks at the lack of empirical research that examines the effects of open government.

Park and Kim rigorously test the democratic and administrative effects of open government, focusing on a global initiative known as the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Using longitudinal data from the Center for Systemic Peace, the United Nations, and the World Bank, and employing a panel data analysis based on a fixed effects model, the study examines whether OGP adoption in national governments has reduced government corruption and improved government effectiveness across countries.

Park served as a moderator at the American Society for Public Administration, where he presented his research article on an assessment of emergency information sharing between the government and the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining the Clinton School, Park worked for the School of Public Affairs and the Center for Policy Informatics, both at Arizona State University. He is originally from South Korea, and he received a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from Arizona State University and a Master of Public Policy from Georgia State University.