Brent Never (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management. His research considers the spatial and geographic implications of a decentralized human service system. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial regression methods, he has worked to identify communities underserved by human services. He has also worked to highlight clusters of financially distressed nonprofit organizations, those most likely to go out of business in the near future raising the question as to who is served by financially ‘sick’ human service providers.
Never has served as Visiting Professor in the School of Community Resources & Development at Arizona State University where he conducted research on the continued devolution of human services from government provision to private-sector provision through contracts, vouchers, and grants. He has published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, Voluntas, Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, and Nonprofit Policy Forum. In addition, Never regularly writes for the practitioner audience in the Nonprofit Quarterly.
Never’s research has been funded by national and regional foundations. He was a Fulbright Scholar (2003-04 to Benin and 2007 to Northern Ireland), and in 2011-2013 was awarded a Young Scholar Research Grant from the Kresge Foundation. In 2018, he and Prof. Jim DeLisle was awarded the Alteryx Excellence Award for their method of data cleaning, mixing, and analysis; their work is now being used to understand patterns of abandoned housing in Kansas City.
Never teaches courses in research methods, public policy analysis, program evaluation, and public-private partnerships. He teaches courses in the Master of Public Administration, Executive Master of Public Administration, Executive Master of Business Administration, and the Master of Business Administration programs. He has earned the Elmer F. Pierson Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Bloch Student Award for Impactful Teaching.
Never serves the nonprofit research community as a Track Chair for the ARNOVA Annual Meeting (2014-2016), a member of the Executive Committee for the Theories, Issues, Boundaries Section, and is a frequent manuscript reviewer for journals and book publishers.
Never enjoys serving the regional nonprofit community as a Senior Fellow at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership. His work includes executive board training, strategic planning, and program evaluation services. He has also served the City of Kansas City as a member of the Citizens’ Commission on Municipal Revenue and Mayor Sly James’ Challenge Cabinet.