Colt Jensen’s Professional Website

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I study how local governments build capacity, legitimacy, and trust—particularly outside of large metropolitan contexts.

My research examines state and local government management, rural governance, and intergovernmental collaboration. I focus on how public values shape citizen preferences, administrative behavior, and service delivery; how local governments adapt to capacity constraints; and how formalized networks and collaborations influence governance outcomes. Across projects, I am especially interested in how trust in government is built, maintained, and sometimes undermined across levels of government.

My research has been published in Public Administration Review, The American Review of Public Administration, Administration & Society, and other leading journals. I am also a co-editor of the forthcoming second edition of Intergovernmental Relations in Transition.

I earned my Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from the University of Georgia and previously served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Studies at Georgia Southern University. I am actively involved in the American Society for Public Administration’s Section on Interngovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM), the Tribal Relations Working Group (TRWG) and the International City/County Management Association’s (ICMA) Graduate Education Committee.

My most recent publications are now available online in Public Administration Review and in The American Review of Public Administration.