Ray Davis is retiring this year. In the past 35 years, this is the department’s first retirement, and it feels very different to me around here. When I see Ray I can’t help but think of everything he has done for the department and for KU.

He came here in the early 1970s, a few years before I did. Ray taught Political Science and policy and I taught Public Administration and management. The MPA program was located in the Political Science Department at that time, and we were considered a subfield of that discipline.

The early 1970s were quite a period for public administration at KU. Ed Stene had retired and then was called out of retirement for a year to resume leadership. Then, the department hired one and then another MPA director within a span of about 4 years. At the same time, MPA enrollments had skyrocketed with the addition of the Public Management Center in Topeka and the influx of mid-career students. The intern option rose to some 35 students in city management, health administration, and a general concentration.

When we found ourselves again without a director of the MPA program in 1977, the public administration faculty gathered as a sort of underground coalition in the Kansas Union to decide what course of action we were going to recommend to the Chair of the Political Science Department. I remember someone coming up to us and saying that the chair had appointed Ray Davis, as MPA director. Frankly, it was a slap in the face. No one had consulted with us, and we knew it was the chair’s attempt to reign in the MPA faculty with the appointment of his associate chair, Ray Davis—who did not teach in the MPA program.

No one could have predicted what followed, even though knowing Ray as I now do and everything he has accomplished and the respect he has earned in several fields, it all makes sense.

Ray set us on the path leading to our number 1 ranking. No one has contributed more. The MPA programs at Kansas, USC, Michigan, U. Pennsylvania and other schools all had one individual who was associated with their beginnings. At KU it was Ed Stene and Ethan Allen; at USC it was Emory Olsen; at Michigan it was Art Brommage; and at the University of Pennsylvania it was Steven Sweeney. The organizational task that every one of the successful older programs faced was transitioning from the “family owned business” to an institution where people could come and go, but the program would remain. At Kansas, we struggled from Ed’s retirement until Ray took over. He steadied the ship.

Instead of reigning in the MPA program and faculty, he understood the value it brought to the Political Science Department, and he quickly comprehended the importance of its history. He gave us time to breathe and to think about our future rather than dwelling on the past. It was not an easy time by any means; we argued about everything. If the MPA faculty said it, the POLS faculty opposed it, and vice versa. But, Ray was always there for us—steady and humble.

In 1982 he was asked to start a graduate program in health policy and management—a spin off of the MPA health concentration. Having set the MPA program back on course—still a rocky course, but nevertheless in the right direction--he set out to start the health program and he proceeded and succeeded with the same steady hand and good judgment he had exhibited earlier. The health administration program, now at the Medical Center, has risen to be ranked 18th in North America.

His accomplishments are recognized in his service to the department, the university, and professional associations. He served on the university Senate Executive Committee; the executive committee of the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; and the executive council of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. He Chaired the Association of University Programs in Health Administration; served as a trustee for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital board; he served on the board of editors of the Health Care Management Review and the Journal of Health Administration Education. And, he has served as a Commissioner for the Accrediting Commission of Education for Health Services Administration. Just this last year he was appointed to the Kansas Health Policy Authority, a new state agency responsible for the management of $1.6 billion in state and federal health funds.  

Quite simply, KU is a better place because Ray Davis is a faculty member here.