Yuan (Daniel) Cheng is currently an Associate Professor, Chair of the Leadership & Management Area and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Daniel is also a McKnight Presidential Fellow. He serves on the Editorial Board of Nonprofit Management and Leadership and the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, and the Board of Minneapolis Parks Foundation.  

Daniel's research agenda is focused on a range of theoretical and managerial questions lying at the nexus of governance, government-nonprofit relationships, co-production, and the distributional and performance implications of cross-sector collaboration. He is particularly interested in how government agencies, nonprofits, and citizens interact in joint public service provision, and the performance implications of alternative service provision mechanisms. In close collaboration with governmental and community organizations, Dr. Cheng is currently embarking on new research directions to better understand the implementation of evidence-based practices in government, the policy impacts of academic research, and how to design more inclusive public sector grant-making programs. You can access Daniel's latest C.V. here

Daniel has received many awards and recognitions for his work, including the Wen Wang Best Young Scholar Paper Award, Best E-PARCC Teaching Simulation Award, the Felice Davidson Perlmutter Best Paper Award of the ARNOVA Theory, Issues, and Boundaries Section, The ARNOVA Emerging Scholars Award, and the E-PARCC Best Collaborative Public Management Teaching Simulation Award. His Public Administration Review article on the changing role of nonprofits in public service provision is listed as one of the Highly Cited Public Administration Review Article and Web of Science Core Collection Highly Cited Paper. His Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory article on the funding interaction between the government and nonprofits is listed as one of the JPART Highly Cited Articles. His work has been supported by the Ostrom Research Award, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs Faculty Interactive Research Program, Pew Charitable Trusts, and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Research Fund. 

Beyond academic writing, Daniel have written some advice in Chinese about how to network in conferences, how to write, and how to combat biases in the academia - here, how to use a trust-based framework to approach the job market in academia - here, and three analogies for academic publishing - here. 

Daniel received his B.S. in Environmental Science from Zhejiang University in China where he was also a Morningside Scholar. After one year of service in rural China for two Chinese NGOs, Daniel came abroad and obtained his M.A. in Philanthropic Studies and Ph.D. in Public Affairs from Indiana University.