Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) professor of political science, public management and criminal justice, Dr. Chinyere Ogbonna-McGruder likes to keep a close eye on public policy trends.
Her books have analyzed issues such as the Affordable Care Act and TennCare, and when the global COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic struck earlier this spring, she decided to change the honors public policy class she planned to teach this summer.
Now that class – POL 2040, offered during Summer 1 – will not only introduce students to the fundamentals of U.S public policy; it will include a critical examination of the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
“This class will provide students the opportunity to research and delve into the current COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and how specifically the U.S. president has responded to the outbreak,” Ogbonna-McGruder said. “There will also be analyses of epidemiological-driven policies that have been utilized by past U.S. presidents to deal with outbreaks – for example, the 2014 Ebola outbreak – and how such polices may or may not possibly be applied within the current outbreak to help mitigate spread and mortality.”
Ogbonna-McGruder previously worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa and as a bioterrorism epidemiologist for the Tennessee Department of Health. In 2015, she presented a research paper, “Ebola 2014 Outbreak, Discourse and Policy,” at the Critical Issues roundtable at Oxford University, England. She also served as a member of the round table.
Her three books – “Voices from the Inside: Case Studies from a Tennessee Women’s Prison,” “TennCare and Disproportionate Share Hospitals in Tennessee” and “A Different Perspective on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” – are currently available at amazon.com.
For more information, contact Ogbonna-McGruder at ogbonnac@apsu.edu