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Biography

Chengxin (Michael) Xu is an assistant professor of the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University. Chengxin got his PhD from the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University-Newark. He researches topics of public administration and nonprofit management, including the sector stereotype in social service market, inter-sectoral collaboration and competition. His studies draw on insights from theories of organizational behavior, social psychology, behavioral science, and sociology. Chengxin's current research uses an ecological approach to investigate people's perceptual and behavioral reactions to the hybridization of social mission and commercial mode in the traditional nonprofit sector. His work appears in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART), Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ), Voluntas, and Philanthropy & Education. 

Chengxin teaches Foundations of Public Administration and Research Design at the Institute of Public Service. His teaching philosophy holds strongly that the education of public and nonprofit administration shall serve as a nexus, which systematically bridges research, knowledge, and practice to solve social problems. In the past, he coordinated with Dr. Lindsey McDougle at Rutgers Newark on an innovative pedagogy known as "experiential philanthropy" for cultivating future philanthropists with strategic and critical thinking. The effectiveness of experiential philanthropy is evidenced by his article with colleagues published on Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly as well as Philanthropy & Education.