Meet the Director
Mary Tschirhart is the Director of the Institute for Nonprofits and a Professor of Public Administration in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Tschirhart began her teaching career at the University of Michigan. In 1993, she earned her doctorate from the Michigan business school in the area of organizational behavior and human resource management. One of her dissertation grants was from Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, which laid a path for her move to Indiana as an assistant professor. Tschirhart was the first professor in the area of nonprofit management at Bloomington’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, leading the school’s efforts to develop its nonprofit programs. The School now holds top ranking for its graduate nonprofit management program. While at Indiana, Tschirhart also held appointments in philanthropic studies and museum studies. She received tenure and promotion at Indiana, earning the relatively unique distinction of being designated as achieving excellence in research, teaching, and service. While at Indiana, she was inducted into FACET, a group for the top 2% of Indiana University faculty recognized for exceptional teaching. She was attracted to Syracuse University in 2002 to join the faculty of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and help build their now top ranked nonprofit management program. She served as the director of the Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School for two years before joining the NC State faculty in August of 2008.
Tschirhart currently serves as the Vice President for North America for the International Research Society for Public Management. She held board positions with the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) and was the director of both the Public and Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management and the Nonprofit Education Section of the National Association of School of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). She has served on the boards of social service nonprofit organizations, and her local United Way and community library. For a short time after earning her MBA in arts administration, Tschirhart directed a nonprofit arts organization.
Tschirhart’s scholarly work reflects her interest in management and governance of nonprofit organizations and multi-sector collaborations. Currently, she is addressing the managerial as well as ethical implications of various approaches to membership and volunteer programs. She is the author of “Artful Leadership” and is under contract with Jossey-Bass (Wiley, Inc.) to write the book “Nonprofit Management and Social Ventures” with second author, Wolfgang Bielefeld.
Forthcoming and recent publications include:
- "Who Serves? Predicting Placement of Management Graduates on Nonprofit, Government, and Business Boards" by Mary Tschirhart, Kira Reed, Sarah J. Freeman, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, forthcoming.
- "Is the Grass Greener? Sector-Shifting and Choice of Sector by MPA and MBA Graduates" by Mary Tschirhart, Kira Reed, Sarah Freeman and Alison Anker, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, forthcoming.
- “Self-regulation at the State Level by Nonprofits: The Membership Association Form as a Self-regulatory Vehicle” by Mary Tschirhart, in M. K. Gugerty and A. Prakesh (Eds.) Nonprofit Clubs: Voluntary Regulation of Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizations, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
- “Resource Sharing: How Sharing System Choices are Affected by Resource Attributes” by Mary Tschirhart, Alejandro Amezcua, and Alison Anker, in R. O’Leary (Ed.) The Collaborative Manager, Georgetown University Press, forthcoming.
- “Fine Lines: Design and Implementation Challenges in Employee Volunteer Programs” by Mary Tschirhart and Lynda St. Clair, in M. Liao-Troth (Ed.) Challenges in Volunteer Management, a volume in L. R. Jones and N. C. Roberts (Series Eds.) Research in Public Management, 2008.
- “Evaluation of Brand Use on City Government Web Sites: A Search for Branding Best Practices” by Mary Tschirhart, Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 2008.
- “The Effects of Corporate Volunteering on Volunteerability” by Lucas CPM Meijs, Esther M. Ten Hoorn, Mary Tschirhart and Jeffrey L. Brudney, VIO (‘Vrijwillige Inzet Onderzocht’ = Voluntary Effort Studied), 2007.
- “U.S. Nonprofit Organizations’ Demand for Temporary Foreign Professionals” by Mary Tschirhart and Lois R. Wise, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2007.
- “Service-learning Programs: What Are Universities Selling to Students?” by Lynda St. Clair and Mary Tschirhart, Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 2007.
- “Membership Associations” by Mary Tschirhart in W. W. Powell & R. S. Steinberg (Eds.) The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Second Edition, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
- “The Paradox of Branding and Collaboration” by Mary Tschirhart, Robert K. Christensen, and James L. Perry, Public Productivity and Management Review, 2005.
- “Employee Volunteer Programs” by Mary Tschirhart in J. L. Brudney (Ed.) Emerging Issues in Volunteering, Indianapolis, IN: Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, 2005.
- “Corporate Community Service Programs: Enhancing Community Capacity?” by Mary Tschirhart and Lynda St. Clair, in A. Brooks (Ed.) Gifts of Time and Money in America’s Communities, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.
