Robert F. Pecorella

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Associate Professor
Government and Politics
St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, Political ScienceM.A., Brooklyn College, Political ScienceB.A., St. John’s University, Political Science

Robert F. Pecorella, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor with the Department of Government and Politics. His primary fields of interest are public administration, urban governance, state and local politics, and research methods. He is the author of Community Power in the Postreform City, the coauthor of Politics and Structure, and the co-editor of Governing New York State. His articles have appeared in Polity, Public Administration Review, the Journal of Urban Affairs, and the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. He was a Professor-in-Residence with the New York State Assembly Intern Program between 1986 and 2005. He received a BA from St. John’s, an MA from Brooklyn College and a PhD from Pennsylvania State University.

  • DNY 1000C Discover New York
  • GOV 1030  American Government
  • GOV 1530  Introduction to Public Administration
  • GOV 2470  State and Local Politics and Administration
  • GOV 2480  Municipal Government and Administration   

Books:
Governing New York State, 6th Edition. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2012 (co-edited with Jeffrey Stonecash).                           

Community Power in a Postreform City: Politics in New York. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994.

Politics and Structure: Essentials of American National Government, 6th Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1994 (with Robert O'Connor and Thomas Ingersoll).

Book Chapters:

Regional Politics in New York State.  Governing New York State 6th Ed. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2012.

State Education Aid in New York in the Wake of the Campaign For Fiscal Equity Decision.  Governing New York State 6th Ed. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2012.

New York. Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions. Congressional Quarterly Press (with Jeffrey M. Stonecash and Jessica Boscirino). 2009.                        

The Two New Yorks in the 21st Century: the City and State. In Robert F. Pecorella and Jeffrey Stonecash, (eds.). Governing New York State 5th Ed. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2006. 

The Politics of State Education Aid: Is Demography Destiny?” In Robert F. Pecorella and Jeffrey Stonecash, (eds.). Governing New York State 5th Ed. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2006. 

Upstate and Downstate. In Peter Eisenstadt (ed.). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2005.

The Political and Socioeconomic Contexts of State Governance. In The Guide to the New YorkState Legislature, 3rd Ed. Albany, N.Y.: New York State Assembly, 2001. 

The State Legislature: Constitutional Constraints and Institutional Modernization.” In The Guideto the New York State Legislature, 3rdEd. Albany, N.Y.: New York State Assembly, 2001.

The Two New Yorks Revisited: The City and The State in the 1990s. In Jeff Stonecash (ed.). GoverningNew YorkState 4th ed. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2001.

Federal Mandates, State Policy Coalitions, and Hazardous Waste Management in New York. In Jeff Stonecash, Peter Colby, and John White(eds.). New YorkState Today 3rd ed. Albany,  N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1993.

Fiscal Crises and Regime Change: A Contextual Approach to Urban Politics, in Clarence Stone and Heywood Sanders (eds.), The Politics of Urban Development (Lawrence, Kansas:  University of Kansas Press, 1987).

Community Participation and Modernization: A Study of Political Choices, in Dean L. Yarwood (ed.), Public Administration, Politics, and the People. New York: Longman, 1986 (Reprint).         

Recent Book Reviews:
Brian E. Adams, Citizen Lobbyists: Local Efforts to Influence Public Policy. in The Journal of Urban Affairs, Forthcoming.

 Gerald Benjamin and Richard Nathan, Regionalism and Realism: A Study of Governments in theNew York Metropolitan Area (Brookings), in The Journal of Urban Affairs, Forthcoming. 

Jameson W. Doig, Empire on the Hudson: Entrepreneurial Vision and Political Power at thePort of New York Authority (Columbia University Press), in Publius, Vol, 32, No. 3 (Summer 2002): 138-141. 

Sara Liebschutz et al, New YorkStatePolitics: Competition and Compassion (SUNY Press), in The American Political Science Review, Vol. 92, No. 3 (September 1998): 709-710. 

Julia Vitullo Martin, ed., Breaking Away: The Future of Cities (The Twentieth Century Fund), in Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 32, No 4 March 1997): 583-585.

Articles:

Understanding Political Institutions in a Messy World: Establishing Interdisciplinary Common Ground.  Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol 37, 1, (2019): 54-80.

Property Rights, State Police Powers, and the Takings Clause: The Evolution toward Dysfunctional Land-Use Management.  Fordham Urban Law Review, Vol 44, 1, (2017): 59-88.

From Michel Foucault to Mario Puzo: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Urban Immigration Then and Now.  Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies No. 34, (2016): 53-79.

New York, Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions.  Washington D.C. Congressional Quarterly Press ( with Jeffrey M Stonecash and Jessica Boscirino). 2008.

Property Rights, the Common Good, and the State: The Catholic View of Market Economies. Journal of Catholic Social Thought, vol. 5, no. 2 (Summer 2008): 235-284.

A Preferential Option for the Poor and American Political Culture.  Journal of Catholic Social Thought, vol. 5, No. 1.(Winter 2008): 1-44. 

Evaluating Successful Political Internships: A View from the Students’ Seats. Journal of Cooperative Education and Internships (with Jeffrey Stonecash) vol. 41, no. 1 (2007): 4-11. 

Forests and Trees: The Role of Academics in Legislative Internships. Journal of Political Science Education, vol. 3, no. 1 (Jan-April 2007): 79-100. 

Gubernatorial Powers in New York: The Ongoing Battle.” Government, Law and Policy Journal, vol. 7, no. 2: (Winter 2005): 21-24 (with Jeffrey Stonecash). 

Equity in State Education Spending: ‘Money Doesn’t Talk, It Swears.’ Vincentian Chair of Social Justice, vol. 5, 2001. Vincentian Center: St. John’s University, 2001. 

Measured Decentralization: The New York City Community Board System, The National Civic Review, vol. 78, no. 3 (May/June 1989): 202-208 1989.   

Community Governance: A Decade of Experience," in Frank Mauro & Gerald Benjamin (editors), Restructuring the New York City Government: The Reemergence of Municipal Reform New York: Annual Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, 1989.               

Community Empowerment Revisited: Two Decades of Integrative Reform, State and Local Government Review, vol. 20, no. 2(Spring 1988): 72-79.            

Satisfaction with the Intern Experience: Analysis of the New York Assembly Intern Program, The Journal of Cooperative Education (with Jeff Stonecash & Laurel Winegar), vol. XXV, no. 1 (Fall 1988): 25-43.  

Remediation and Equity: A Case Study of Gender Integration. Public Personnel Management, vol. 17, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 73-82.            

Community Input and the City Budget: Geographically Based Budgeting in New York City, Journal of Urban Affairs Vol. 8 (Winter 1986): 57-70. 

Gender Integration in the Public Sector: From Sanitation Man to Sanitation Worker, Urban Resources, vol. 3, No. 2 (Winter 1986): 15-23.               

Decentralization in New York City: A Study of Community Boards, American Society for Public Administration's, Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management, Occasional Paper, July 1985.      

Resident Participation as Agenda Setting: A Study of Neighborhood-Based Development Corporations, Journal of Urban Affairs,vol. 7 (Fall 1985): 13-29.                          

Coping with Crises: The Politics of Urban Retrenchment, Polity XVII (Winter 1984): 298-317.                      

Community Participation and Modernization: A Study of Political Choices, 44 Public Administration Review (May/June 1984): 224-231 (with Curtis Ventriss).           

Rejoinder to Cooper, 44 Public Administration Review November/December1984): 556.   

Reports:

Guide to the New York State Legislative, 3rd ed. (editor). Albany: NYS Assembly: 2001.

Community Government. The New York City Charter Revision Commission. New York: The Urban Research Center, New York University, 1988 (with Joseph Viteritti).

Selected Conference Presentations:

Attentive Non-Elites and Political Agency: A Field of Consciousness Approach. A paper presented at the annual meeting of The Association for Interdisciplinary Affairs, October 16, 2021.

Political Agency at the Margins: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Urban Regimes. A paper presented at the annual meeting of The Northeast Political Science Association, On-Line Conference, November 11, 2021.

Political Text as Politics, Philosophy, and Theology: An Interdisciplinary Assessment of “‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, Detroit Michigan, October 12, 2018.

Using Interdisciplinary Institutionalism to Counter the Intellectual Imperialism of Economics. paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, Baltimore, MD: University of Maryland in Baltimore County, October 19-21, 2017.

Institutional Change in a Messy World: Adaptation in Public Organizations. A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association. Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 2017.

Federal Impacts on State and Local Land-use Authority: Competing Approaches to Regional Development.  A presentation at the Annual Meeting of the New York State Political Science Association, Plattsburgh, New York, April 11, 2015. 

Moving toward an Interdisciplinary Class Model: The Evolution of a Non-Traditional Common Core Course with Dr. Heidi Upton. A paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, North Andover, MA, October 2015.

Art, Politics and the Social Imagination: An Example of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research. A workshop organized and conducted with Dr. Heidi Upton at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, East Lansing, Michigan: October 16, 2014.  

 

During the course of his more than two decades at St. John’s University, Robert F. Pecorella has served his department, St. John’s College, and various the University in numerous and varied roles.

He chaired the Department of Government and Politics from 1996 to 2002; he has served on the Department Personnel and Budget, Undergraduate and Graduate Educational Policy Committees as well as numerous ad hoc committees dealing with departmental curricula and assessment matters; he has acted as a thesis mentor and has offered a variety of independent study courses for graduate and undergraduate students; and he has served as academic advisor to countless students pursuing either the undergraduate major or graduate degrees. 

Pecorella has also participated on a number of committees and served in a number of roles for St. John’s College as well as for various offices in the University.   

Several awards and honors of note: 

  1. Robert Pecorella received an “Outstanding Faculty Achievement Reward” from Father Harrington in 1996;
  2. He has been a Research Fellow with the Vincentian Center for Social Justice at St. John’s since 1997; and
  3. He received two “State of New York Legislative Resolutions” from the New York State Assembly and one “Official Commendation” from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s Office acknowledging his work with the New York State Assembly Internship Program.