Rebecca Padot

Rebecca Padot serves as Professor of Practice in Public Leadership and Administration at the University of Pennsylvania's College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS), where she directs both the LEAD Program and G-MPA Program through PICCLO. A University of Pennsylvania alumna with three Ivy League graduate degrees, she previously held a tenured Associate Professor position at another national university.

Her academic credentials include:

• PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania
• MGA/MPA from the Fels Institute of Government
• MA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Padot's research centers on societal improvement through leadership practices and cross-sector government collaboration across local, state, federal, and international levels. Her expertise spans foster care administration, policies for disadvantaged populations, tax policy, safety policy, and nonprofit strategy. She has presented research to both Democratic (Obama) and Republican (Bush 43) administrations at the White House and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with recent work addressing the opioid epidemic's impact on foster care systems.

Her professional honors include:

• Bradley Fellow
• Earhart Fellow
• Fox Distinguished Graduate Fellow
• Mumford Fellow
• PRRUCS Fellow
• Nomination for Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching

As a grant maker for The Pew Charitable Trusts, she championed performance measurement in community service initiatives. Her fieldwork includes mentoring three inner-city siblings for two decades, conducting over 3,000 elite interviews with CEOs and politicians for national media, and volunteering with her husband's nonprofit serving disadvantaged youth. She has addressed more than 200 audiences on civic engagement and public policy.