Rate My Professor Thomas Rabovsky

Thomas M. Rabovsky is an associate professor at the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington, specializing in public management. He joined the O'Neill School faculty in 2013 after earning his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Oklahoma in 2013, M.P.A. in 2008, and B.A. in 2005 from the same institution. Rabovsky's research interests include accountability, performance management, managerial values and decision making, and higher education policy. His ongoing research investigates accountability and performance pressures in higher education, with particular attention to their effects on managerial behavior and student outcomes.

Rabovsky has published his work in prominent journals such as Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Policy Studies Journal, and Social Science Quarterly. Select publications are "Accountability in higher education: Exploring impacts on state budgets and institutional spending patterns" (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2012); "Evaluating impacts of performance funding policies on student outcomes in higher education" with Amanda Rutherford (The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2014); "Accountability, affordability, access: A review of the recent trends in higher education policy research" with Thomas W. Conner (Policy Studies Journal, 2011); "Using data to manage for performance at public universities" (Public Administration Review, 2014); "Support for performance-based funding: The role of political ideology, performance, and dysfunctional information environments" (Public Administration Review, 2014); "The politics of higher education: University president ideology and external networking" with Amanda Rutherford (Public Administration Review, 2016); "Exploring the antecedents of the gender pay gap in U.S. higher education" with Hyungjoo Lee (Public Administration Review, 2018); and "Deconstructing school choice: Problem schools or problem students?" (Public Administration Review, 2011). He has received the George B. Williams Award for Best Research Paper, Thesis, or Dissertation (University of Oklahoma, 2011) and the Hugh MacNiven Award for Best Research Paper (University of Oklahoma, 2009). Rabovsky teaches public management and a seminar in accountability and performance at the O'Neill School.