Program Director Tanya Heikkila Honored for Public Policy Contributions

Tanya Heikkila, PhD, is an expert in public policy and longtime School of Public Affairs professor and program director, but she’s also a lifelong learner who is committed to making an impact. That mindset has fueled her 24-year career in public policy and led her to her latest achievement. She’s been named a 2025 National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) fellow and joins a membership that includes members of Congress, governors, mayors, scholars, and others.  

Established in 1967, NAPA is a nonprofit chartered by Congress that offers thought leadership in public administration and resources on issues of importance for federal, state, local, and international government entities. The organization is made up of a research staff and nearly 1,000 elected fellows. “They really want people to engage and be thoughtful about transferring expertise and knowledge into an applied setting,” said Heikkila, who oversees CU Denver’s Master of Public Policy program. “It’s not just about our individual knowledge, it’s about how we create these specialty areas so that when requests are made, they have a pool of experts to tap into.”

Heikkila’s areas of expertise are policy processes and environmental governance. Her research centers on assessing what leads to better collaboration in the management of natural resources like water, energy, and also housing. Additionally, she focuses on how to mitigate conflict among stakeholders and how to enable learning to have more effective policy outcomes. “When we are dealing with environmental issues, they tend to cross jurisdictional boundaries. They aren’t neatly defined,” Heikkila said. “How to allocate water or protect endangered species requires multiple jurisdictions to work together.” 

A Career Devoted to Public Policy 

Heikkila’s passion for public policy traces back to her childhood. She grew up in western Oregon in a fishing family and saw firsthand the importance of land management. “I learned a lot about healthy salmon habitat—that it takes coordinated efforts across landowners, farmers, water managers, logging companies, and dam operators,” she said. “As an international studies major as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon, I also developed an interest in transboundary issues, like water management.” 

Heikkila’s interest in environmental issues led her to pursue a master of public administration and PhD in management from the University of Arizona. Her research on water in the West took her to a post-doctoral fellowship at Indiana University’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, where she worked  with Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.  

Heikkila served on the faculty at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs before coming to CU Denver’s School of Public Affairs in 2009. She is the third faculty member from the School of Public Affairs to join the NAPA fellowship. The others are Distinguished Professor Mary E. Guy, PhD, and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professor Christine Martell, PhD. 

Taking What She Learns to the Classroom 

The process to become a NAPA fellow includes a nomination, interview, and election by existing members. An important part of the selection process is an individual’s contributions to the fields of public administration and policy—which Heikkila has no shortage of during her robust career. She’s looking forward to NAPA’s engagement opportunities, like sitting on panels and contributing to reports on critical issues facing today’s government. “This will be a good learning opportunity for me,” Heikkila said. “I hopefully will bring some new ideas into the classroom because of it.”