Anne Hacker

Senior Core Faculty
College of Health Sciences and Public Policy
Ph.D. Public Policy and Administration

Dr. Anne Hacker’s formal training is in public administration and public policy where she has served in various professional capacities in the child welfare and human services systems since 1976. Dr. Hacker served as a Board Member, CEO, Case management Supervisor, Policy Advisor, and Case Manager for a variety of public and nonprofit organizations in Ohio, Michigan and Colorado. In 2006, she shifted to higher education, teaching health policy analysis, research methods, and APA writing for scholars. At Walden University, she teaches the doctoral capstone course and is a frequent faculty facilitator at academic residencies for PhD students. Dr. Hacker has served on numerous doctoral student dissertation committees. She also serves on a variety of university committees at Walden.
Dr. Hacker is active in her community, providing emotional and advocacy support for people caring for family members or friends with dementia, Alzheimer's disease, or who are lonely through the Friends of St. John the Caregiver Support Group at St. Philip Church in Battle Creek. She is the President of Michigan Capitol Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. She was actively involved in various child welfare endeavors throughout her career in humans services. She provided foster care for service dogs in training to be emotional support for veterans with PTSD, and was involved in a senior literacy outreach program.
Dr. Hacker’s current research interests focus on community sustainability, organizational behavior, spirituality, faith, and religion in the public sector, and public policy analysis. She has published in a number of journals, and has presented at conferences including the American Society for Public Administration, Michigan Mental Health Boards Association, and North American Council on Adoptable Children.

Courses Taught

PPPA 9000 - Dissertation

PPPA 8111 - Leadership and organizational change

PPPA 8500 - Ogranizational theory and behavior

PPPA 8115 - Writing a quality prospectus

PPPA 6405 - Ethics and social justice

NPMG 6200 - Introduction to the nonprofit sector

MMPA 6200 - Introduction to public administration

PPPA 6331 - Transformative change in a shared power world

MMPA 6435 - Human resource management

MMPA 6200 - Principles of public administration

PPPA 8200 - Intellectual history of public adminisrtation

PPPA 8410 - Intellectual traditions in public policy and admininstration

PPPA 8992 - Diss Sem2: Bldg Knwldge&Skills

Education

BA, Case Western Reserve University

MPA, Western Michigan University

PhD, Western Michigan University

Public Service

Michigan Capitol Chapter of American Society for Public Administration (MiCAP), President - Lansing

Family Enrichment Center, Board of Directors - Battle Creek

Summit Pointe, Board of Directors - Battle Creek

St. John the Caregiver at St. Philips, Volunteer - Battle Creek

Willard Public Library, Volunteer - Battle Creek

Awards / Honors

Walden WOODS, , 2011

Faculty Excellence Award, Walden University, 2016

Athena - Women in Leadership, Battle Creek Area Chamber of Commerce, 1997

Publications

Hacker, A. J. (2002). The working sheepdog as a model of the street-level bureaucrat. Public voices

Hacker, A. J., Pozil, S. D. (2017). Informal partnerships between nonprofits and local governments, and the role of trust. Journal of Social Change

Hacker, A. J., Pozil, S. D. (2018). NPO and Local Government Informal Partnerships: Resources Contributions that Change the Dynamics. Sage Open

Hacker, A. J., Maricio, M. (2015). Values, perceptions, conceptions, and peacebuilding: An expanded qualitative study in Mexico. International Journal of Peace Studies

Presentations

Hacker, A. J., Jones, C. B. (2017). The prospectus: Getting students off to a good start in the dissertation. SPPA, Walden University

Hacker, A. J. (2013). Demystifying coding for qualitative research. Walden University