Specializing in Crisis Management

Naim Kapucu, PhD, is Professor of Public Policy and Administration at the School of Public Administration. He is the founding director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management and the director of the Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) program. He received his PhD in Public and International Affairs from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Pittsburgh in 2003. Prior to his PhD, he earned a Master’s of Public Management degree from Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University in 1997.

His specialties include dealing with terrorist threats and incidents, managing natural and man-made disasters, planning for emergencies and to reduce risk, coordinating inter-governmental and multi-organizational operations, and building administrative and technical capacities in public and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Kapucu’s research interests are in collaborative public management and governance, emergency and crisis management, and decision making in complex environments. He teaches courses in the areas of Emergency and Crisis Management, Research Methods, Collaborative Public Management, and Comparative Public Policy and Management. He mentored and advised numerous graduate and doctoral students at UCF. Graduate students were also funded for several research projects directed by Dr. Kapucu.