Logics of Legitimacy (PDF)

Margaret Stout is an assistant professor of public administration at West Virginia University. Her research explores the role of public and nonprofit practitioners in achieving democratic social and economic justice with specific interests in administrative theory, public service leadership and ethics, and sustainable community development. She has a particularly strong interest in the ontological underpinnings of these issues. Her published work can be found in Administration & Society, Public Administration Review, Administrative Theory & Praxis, International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, Journal of Public Affairs Education, Public Administration and Management, Contemporary Justice Review, Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Second Edition, and PA Times. She serves on the board of the Public Administration Theory Network and is active in the American Society for Public Administration, serving as chair of the Section on Public Administration Education and on the board of the Section on Democracy and Social Justice. She also serves on the editorial board of Administrative Theory & Praxis and provides peer review for a host of other academic journals.

Dr. Stout's first career was in human resource development, with a focus on work/life balance programming. Leading directly from related experiences in statewide and regional community and economic development initiatives, her second career was in community and youth development, serving as a community organizer, project manager, executive director, and organizational consultant to a host of nonprofit and government agencies in Arizona. She enjoys bringing these varied practitioner experiences into her current career as a professor.