Inspiring. Supportive. Kind. Brilliant. Generous. Collaborative. Student-Centered.

Those are but a few of the adjectives used by former colleagues and students to describe Patricia Wallace Ingraham, a longtime Maxwell School faculty member who, among many accomplishments, was founding director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and the first woman to be named a distinguished professor.

Ingraham passed away on June 22, 2025. She was 82.

“Pat was a consummate professional and University citizen who accepted a range of leadership opportunities to strengthen engagement between the Maxwell School and the worlds of scholarship and practice,” said Dean David M. Van Slyke, who worked alongside her in the Public Administration and International Affairs Department. “In many ways, Pat worked at the intersection and her leadership, communication and relationship skills impacted generations of colleagues and students.”

Before her teaching career, Ingraham worked for several years in the public sector, for the North Carolina Fund—a precursor to Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty, and the similarly focused Model Cities Program. She also worked for the U.S. Department of Education and served as the Commissioner of Planning for Broome County, New York.

She enrolled at the State University of New York at Binghamton and received a Ph.D. in 1979, and soon after launched her second career at Maxwell.

As the founding director of the Campbell Institute, named for dean Alan “Scotty” Campbell, Ingraham established a reputation as a national expert and leading scholar in the field of public administration. She also directed the Government Performance Project, a four-year grant funded by the PEW Charitable Trusts that focused on rating the management performance of local and state governments and selected federal agencies in the U.S. 

Ingraham’s scholarly work included a book, The Foundation of Merit, which is used in classrooms and is considered a foundational work in the field. She also co-edited several books which featured chapters from distinguished practitioners. And, she authored articles in peer-reviewed journals, including a piece that was selected as one of the 50 most influential articles in the history of Public Administration Review, a leading academic journal in her field.

Ingraham was recognized as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and she served as the program director on the task force on recruitment and retention for the National Commission on the Public Service, also known as the Volcker Commission.

At Maxwell, she was among the first women to teach courses in public administration and policy. Her former students said she was a role model and trailblazer.

“She changed the course of my life through her example,” said Heather Getha-Taylor ’07 Ph.D. (PA), a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. “I was, and remain, incredibly grateful for her mentorship. I hope to always be someone who Pat would be proud to call her student.”

Getha-Taylor’s classmate, Michael Ahn ’01 M.P.A./’07 Ph.D. (PA), also followed Ingraham’s path into teaching. An associate professor of public policy, he has taught courses such as Public Administration Theory and Public Organizations and Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston for the past 15 years.

“Dr. Ingraham’s emphasis on people—their motivations for public service and how leadership can effectively harness these motivations for the public good—has profoundly shaped my perspective on leadership and public organizations,” said Ahn, who also serves as a national council member for the American Society for Public Administration and as a commentator at the Brookings Institution. “Her teaching and mentorship have had a lasting impact, and I will greatly miss her. She was truly one of Maxwell’s great teachers.”

Still another alumnus, Don Moynihan ’98 M.P.A./’02 Ph.D. (PA), wrote about Ingraham’s impact on his life in his newsletter, “Can We Still Govern?” Moynihan is the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, and the title of the entry about Ingraham is fitting: “What It Means to be a Mentor.”

Moynihan shared that when he arrived at Maxwell as a student from Ireland, Ingraham “took a chance” on hiring him as a research assistant and encouraged him to pursue a doctorate.

“She asked the best of all of us who studied under her, or worked with her, and it was easy to be inspired,” he said. “Pat modeled a combination of kindness and excellence. She always gave us confidence to think about how to make our democracy function better. So many of us owe her a debt that can never be repaid, even as we might try by following her example. For all who were lucky to share some portion of our personal and intellectual lives with her, she will live on.”

In 2006, Ingraham returned to her alma mater, Binghamton, to serve as founding dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs. She retired in 2013.

“We owe her a debt of gratitude for her research and focus on government performance. Her scholarship and practice have influenced the work of many individuals and organizations,” said Van Slyke.

Those who knew Ingraham said in addition to being an accomplished academic, she was also a gracious host, a gourmet cook, and a beloved mother, spouse and grandmother.

Ingraham is survived by her husband of 56 years, Charles O. Ingraham, their two daughters Erin Leff and Molly Wallace, and two grandchildren Adelaide Leff and Owen Wallace as well as other family members and many friends and former colleagues.

By Jessica Youngman