Kennedy, Sheila Suess 1941-

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Kennedy, Sheila Suess 1941-

PERSONAL:

Born October 20, 1941, in Indianapolis, IN; daughter of Joseph S. and Annette Simkin; married Robert E. Suess, June 27, 1964 (divorced, 1977), married Robert N. Kennedy, March 2, 1980; children: (from first marriage) Michael, Stephen, David. Education: Stephens College, A.A., 1960; Indiana University, B.S. (with honors), 1964; Indiana University School of Law, J.D. (cum laude), 1975.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Indianapolis, IN. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Baker & Daniels, Indianapolis, IN, attorney, 1975-77; City of Indianapolis, IN, corporation counsel, 1977-80; Republican Candidate, 11th Congressional District, IN, 1980; Mears, Crawford, Kennedy & Eichholtz, Indianapolis, IN, partner, 1980-86; Kennedy Development Services, Indianapolis, IN;, 1987-92; Indiana Civil Liberties Union, executive director, 1992-98; Indiana University, Indianapolis, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, adjunct professor, 1996-98, assistant professor, 1998-2003, associate professor, 2003-08, professor, 2008—. Indiana University, Indianapolis, philanthropic studies faculty, 1999—, adjunct faculty in political science, 1999—, Center for Urban Policy and Environment, faculty fellow, 2000—, Tobias Center for Leadership, faculty fellow, 2004—, Center for Religion and American Culture, research fellow, 2005—; has also served as a journalist and publisher for Common Ground.

MEMBER:

Indiana State Bar Association, Indiana Leadership Celebration, American Political Science Association, American Society for Public Administration, Indiana Society for Public Administration, Law & Society Association, Society of Professional Journalists, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Standing Panel on Social Equity, National Academy of Public Administration; Indiana Advisory Committee, U.S. Commission On Civil Rights (1995—), Race Relations Leadership Network (1995—), Indiana Advisory Committee, Institute for Women's Policy Research (1999—), Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee Race Relations Advisory Council (2003—), Lawyers Council of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union (steering committee, 2004—), American Values Alliance Board (2005—).

WRITINGS:

What's a Nice Republican Girl like Me Doing in the ACLU?, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 1997.

Free Expression in America: A Documentary History, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1999.

(Editor, with Ingrid Ritchie) To Market, to Market: Reinventing Indianapolis, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 2001.

Charitable Choice: First Results from Three States, Center for Urban Policy and the Environment of Indiana University (Indianapolis, IN), 2003.

(With Wolfgang Bielefeld) Charitable Choice at Work: Evaluating Faith-based Job Programs in the States, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2006.

God and Country: America in Red and Blue, Baylor University Press (Waco, TX), 2007.

Contributor to various journals and periodicals, including Journal of Public Affairs Education, Public Administration Times, Indiana Libraries, Res Gestae, Indianapolis Star, Indiana Word, Public Administration Review, American Journal of Public Administration, and Indiana Journal of Political Science.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sheila Suess Kennedy was born October 20, 1941, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She earned undergraduate degrees from Stephens College and Indiana University, then went on to graduate from Indiana University's law school. Over the course of her career, she has worked as an attorney for several firms in Indianapolis, focusing primarily on real estate, administrative, and business law, as well as being corporation counsel for the city itself. In 1980, she ran for office as the Republican candidate for the eleventh congressional district of Indiana, and although she lost her bid, she continued to remain involved in public planning and public service. She served for a number of years as the executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union and is a member of a number of organizations, including Indiana Leadership Celebration, the American Political Science Association, the American Society for Public Administration, the Indiana Society for Public Administration, the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, the Standing Panel on Social Equity, and the National Academy of Public Administration. Since 1996, she has served on the faculty of Indiana University in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She has also been a faculty fellow for the University's Center for Urban Policy and Environment and the Tobias Center for Leadership, and a research fellow for the Center for Religion and American Culture. In addition, she contributes regularly to a number of journals and periodicals, including Journal of Public Affairs Education, Public Administration Times, Indiana Libraries, Res Gestae, Indianapolis Star, Indiana Word, Public Administration Review, American Journal of Public Administration, and Indiana Journal of Political Science. She is also the author or editor of several book on law, civil liberties, and public policy in the United States.

Kennedy's first book, What's a Nice Republican Girl like Me Doing in the ACLU?, talks about the misconception that the American Civil Liberties Union is merely a breeding ground for knee-jerk liberals. As a registered Republican who considers Barry Goldwater to be a role model of sorts, Kennedy is the polar opposite of the stereotypical member of the ACLU, and as a result, feels it is vital that people come to understand the true goals of the organization. Over the course of the book, Kennedy explains her own values and those of many other Republicans, and shows how the ACLU's values match against her own concept of liberty and what it means to be an American. She stresses that the sole purpose of the ACLU is to uphold the Bill of Rights from the Constitution of the United States. In addition, she argues that the most extreme right-wing Republicans, who are frequently identified by other party members as well as by other parties as the "religious right," might seek to make government more powerful and to encourage censorship and eliminate certain personal freedoms, but they are just one portion of a major political party and should not be used as a benchmark for Republicans in general. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked of Kennedy: "Her book makes a worthwhile contribution to American political thought."

In Charitable Choice: First Results from Three States, Kennedy looks back to 1996 and the federal welfare legislation that was passed at that time allowing religious groups that contract with government agencies to use religious tests in the hiring process and to display religious symbols in areas where services are rendered. The book sets out the background of the legislation and the context within which the researchers analyzed claims by the legislation's proponents that faith-based job training organizations are more effective than secular organizations.

Charitable Choice at Work: Evaluating Faith-based Job Programs in the States, which Kennedy authored with Wolfgang Bielefeld, reports the results of an empirical study of faith-based job training organizations that contract with state agencies across the nation, focusing in particular on the states of Massachusetts, Indiana, and North Carolina. These three states were emphasized in order to provide both regional and religious diversity, as well as a cross section of socio-economic backgrounds, to allow for suitable variety in the study. The book examines the different ways in which states implemented the original legislation, and it analyzes the effect and constitutionality of the White House's faith-based program. It also looks at the various approaches taken by religious organizations to address poverty.

Kennedy and Bielefeld's effort is the first volume of its kind to address this specific topic. John P. Bartkowski, in a review for the Journal of Church and State, found the work to be "a volume that offers a well-rounded treatment of charitable choice, and one that is capable of speaking to multiple audiences." Bartkowski concluded that "the book ends with a thoughtful and compelling plea for more enlightened, empirically informed discussions about charitable choice."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October 1, 2007, D.S. Pierson, review of Charitable Choice at Work: Evaluating Faith-based Job Programs in the States, p. 323.

Chronicle of Philanthropy, August 21, 2003, "Report on State Support for Religious Groups That Provide Social Services."

Contemporary Sociology, November 1, 2007, Rebecca A. Allahyari, review of Charitable Choice at Work, p. 573.

Journal of Church and State, fall, 2007, John P. Bartkowski, review of Charitable Choice at Work, p. 782.

Law Library Journal, January 1, 2001, Betty Lambert, review of Free Expression in America: A Documentary History, p. 190.

Public Administration Review, September 1, 2001, review of To Market, to Market: Reinventing Indianapolis, p. 637.

Publishers Weekly, April 21, 1997, review of What's a Nice Republican Girl like Me Doing in the ACLU?, p. 52.

Reference & Research Book News, February 1, 2000, review of Free Expression in America, p. 124.

Social Service Review, March 1, 2008, review of Charitable Choice at Work, p. 165.

Wisconsin Lawyer, December 1, 2000, John A. Neuenschwander, review of Free Expression in America, p. 29.