Ruth Zaplin Senior Executive in Residence Public Administration and Policy

Degrees: DPA, MPA, MA, BA
Bio: Dr. Ruth Zaplin is a Senior Executive-in-Residence at American University’s School of Public Affairs (SPA), where she designs and teaches graduate courses in leadership, public policy implementation, organizational analysis, coaching for performance, and ethics. Additionally, she is the Director of Coaching for Key Executive Leadership Programs in SPA.

Dr. Zaplin holds a Master’s degree and a Doctorate in Public Administration. She is certified as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a Growth Edge Coach by Cultivating Leadership. She has also been trained at Harvard University to administer and score the Subject-Object Interview, a methodology grounded in Robert Kegan’s theory of adult development.

Her consulting experience includes leading enterprise-wide transformations, workforce restructuring, and work redesign initiatives across both the private and public sectors. She also served as a project director at the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, DC, where she spearheaded the creation of the Academy’s Global Leadership Consortium.

Dr. Zaplin integrates mindfulness and other centering practices into her courses and workshops to enhance personal resilience, presence, and leadership capacity.

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Teaching