Hello there!
I'm Dr. Dana Dolan
I help passionate policy professionals excel in the fast-paced context of Capitol Hill and beyond. With my courses and guidance, they can confidently produce high-quality policy analysis, research, and communications with ease.
About Me
In brief, I’m a tech-savvy educator, social science researcher, and public policy theorist. My research engages Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework and “Big-Q” qualitative methods that value meaning and context. These methods are crucial for research on long-term policy challenges with their complex dynamics. I’m proud to teach at two of the region’s three “George” universities in the Washington, DC region, which has served as home base for my F2F and virtual work since 1984. And I’m passionate about bridging the gaps between timeless theory, insightful research, and professional practices to make a real-world difference.
I help turn passion for public service into impactful policy analysis, research, and communications.
My unique approach to teaching and research fuses professional practices with academic insights.
I draw on a wealth of expertise from my earlier career, aiding government clients adopt, and adapt to, advanced information technologies. And it was during those years I began asking uncomfortable questions. You know, the kind that software and systems engineers aren’t supposed to ask. Questions about power. About who decides. And about what those deciders considered when they weighed their options.
I needed answers, but I didn’t have the tools to find them. So I did the unthinkable: I went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy. Who knows why they let me in, with my MS in Information Systems, BS in Math & Business, and a career in IT, but there I was, relearning things I’d forgotten long ago, about governments and politics. And I loved it.
Here, decisions were made out in the open, not hidden in corporate boardrooms. Or so I thought – things are not so simple, are they?
In spite of my math/tech background, I forged a path out of the quantitative core of my doctoral program, to drank deeply at the qualitative oasis of IQMR. Process tracing? Absolutely. Concept development? Of course! Deep, informative interviews? Yes, please!
Publications
New to my research? Some of my more popular publications are:
- Dolan, Dana A., and Sonja Blum. 2023. “The Beating Heart of the MSF: Coupling as a Process.” In The Modern Guide to the Multiple Streams Framework, eds. N. Zahariadis, N. Herweg, R. Zohlnhöfer, and E. Petridou. Edward Elgar.
- Westman, Linda, James Patterson, Rachel Macrorie, Christopher J. Orr, Catherine M. Ashcraft, Vanesa Castán Broto, Dana Dolan, et al. 2022. “Compound Urban Crises.” Ambio: 1402–15. doi:10.1007/s13280-021-01697-6.
- Dolan, Dana A. 2021. “Multiple Partial Couplings in the Multiple Streams Framework: The Case of Extreme Weather and Climate Change Adaptation.” Policy Studies Journal 49(1): 164–89. doi:10.1111/psj.12341.
- Wedel, Janine R., Nazia Hussain, and Dana A. Dolan. 2017. Political Rigging: A Primer on Political Capture and Influence in the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: Oxfam America. Research Backgrounder. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/political-rigging/.
- Dolan, Dana A, Genevieve B Soule, Jill Greeney, and Jason Morris. 2010. “Warming Up to Climate Action – A Survey of GHG Mitigation through Building Energy Efficiency in City Climate Action Plans.” Carbon and Climate Law Review (2/2010): 161–72.
- Nidiffer, Kenneth E., and Dana Dolan. 2005. “Evolving Distributed Project Management.” IEEE Software 22(5): 63–72. doi:10.1109/MS.2005.120.
For more, visit my profile pages on Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or Academia.edu.
Courses - What Can You Learn With Me?
I teach public policy and qualitative methods courses to graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and career professionals. My teaching style emphasizes critical thinking in a collaborative learning environment. Conversations with curious minds can inspire and enlighten, and we the most important policy issues of the day. People often ask, how do I navigate political controversies and partisan divides? By grounding discussions in theory, my approach encourages diverse audiences to develop alternative perspectives. This habit evolves naturally from course lessons and examples, and hopefully sticks with people long after the course ends.
Strategic Policy Analysis, Research, and Communications (SPARC)
Enrollment will soon open for the Rapid Response Policy Memo Challenge. In one week’s time, you’ll not only know how to write top-notch, strategic policy memos, you’ll also have your first memo ready to share. It’s the perfect taster for what’s coming up in my full-length SPARC Course (expected early 2025).
Want a head start? Download my free guide and template for writing Strategic Policy Memos today.
Together, these offerings aim to build policy capacity and accelerate careers on Capitol Hill and beyond. In today’s increasingly complex social, political, and technological context, it is crucial that current and aspiring policy professionals augment their practical skills with timeless theoretical principles and leading-edge research the need to excel. These high-quality online courses are designed to supercharge careers while respecting challenging working schedules.
Public Policy Processes
How does a policy idea’s time come? What moves it on to the policy agenda for serious consideration, and on to the decision agenda where legislators agree to adopt it (or not)? We explore this question in depth in PUAD540, a required course in the public administration graduate program at GMU’s Schar School for Policy and Government.
Students use Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework to analyze current policy issues from the perspective of theory, develop their own policy analysis along the way, and write a detailed policy brief. In addition, they collaborate in teams to understand and apply alternative policy process perspectives, such as Policy Design.
Link: Dana Dolan @ GMU’s Schar School for Policy and Government.
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative methods is a big tent where many variations reside. The George Washington University (GW) Elliott School of International Affairs graduate students and others who take my IAFF6118 course learn to appreciate this diversity practically and theoretically.
Students gain practical, hands-on experience with interviewing, observing, and document analysis working in collaborative teams. They put this knowledge into theoretical perspective by discussing how “Big Q” qualitative research differs from “small q” qual and quantitative research to better understand the messy, uncertain, evolving reality of our complex world.
I’m honored to be invited once again to present a 7-week version of this course to visiting scholars from Kazakhstan, in collaboration with the Bolashak International Scholarship Program and the GW School of Business.
Link: Dana Dolan @ GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs
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Contact Me
I look forward to hearing from you! Use the form to email me (please allow 1 to 2 working days for a reply). Alternatively, you can text or call me at 202-480-9766.
