Leon Moreta 2
Agustín León-Moreta

Agustín León-Moreta, professor at the School of Public Administration (SPA) at The University of New Mexico, and SPA alumna Vittoria R. Totaro were recently honored with the Louis Brownlow Award. It’s a recognition bestowed by the leading journal in public administration, Public Administration Review (PAR) through the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA).

The two were recognized for their article Workforce Capacity in Municipal Government, which aims to “examine trends in the municipal government workforce in metropolitan (urban) areas. It explores, from a local public economies perspective, how the intergovernmental organization of municipalities influences their workforce capacities.”

Totaro received her master’s degree from The University of New Mexico in Public Administration and León-Moreta’s current research includes municipal government, local public finance and functional responsibilities.

“Agustin brings a great depth of understanding to our classrooms, from budgets to municipal government,” said Patria de Lancer Julnes, director of the UNM School of Public Administration. “He and SPA alumna Vittoria Totaro pack a one-two-punch that continually finds success in the world of Public Administration academia and practice, and this award showcases that. We are very fortunate to count them among our faculty and alumni ranks.” 

The award recognizes contributions to public administration from both academicians and practitioners. Recipients are chosen by a committee that seeks out work embodying factual accuracy, analytical thinking, readable style and significant development or performance of a government institution. The judging committee also takes the work’s lasting impact to the public administration field and improvements in methodology into account.