John Nalbandian chairs the Department of Public Administration at the University of Kansas.  He also serves as the Greg and Emma Melikian Visiting Scholar of Urban Affairs at Arizona State University. He came to Kansas in 1976 from Los Angeles, where he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. 

The public administration department at KU specializes in training students for careers in local government.   US News and World Report has rated it as the number one local government MPA program in the country.

In addition to his faculty position, he served on the city council in Lawrence from 1991-1999.  The council elected him mayor in 1993-1994 and again in 1996-1997

In addition to numerous articles on city management, in 1991 he wrote Professionalism in Local Government: Transformations in the Roles, Responsibilities, and Values of City Managers and now in its fifth edition with Donald Klingner: Public Personnel Management: Conflict and Compromise.

He has spoken nationwide and in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia,  to elected officials, professional staff, and academic audiences about “Council-Staff Relations,” the “High Performance Governing Body” and “Contemporary Trends in Local Government.” 

Professor Nalbandian has been honored on two occasions by the International City Management Association—as an honorary member and as recipient of the Stephen B. Sweeney award for local government education.  The Kansas Association of Parks and Recreation recognized him in 1996 as its elected official of the year. He was honored with a teaching excellence award by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration in 1997 and was inducted into the National Academy of Public Administration for lifetime contributions to public administration.  In 2007 the Kansas Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration honored him as the "Public Administrator of the Year." And, also in 2007 the National Forum for Black Public Administrators named him and spouse, Carol, as "Co-Educators of the Year." In 2008, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce recognized him and Carol, with the Buford Watson, Jr. community service award; and also in 2008 he received a Kemper university wide teaching award at KU.

Web Site: www.goodlocalgovernment.org