Dr. Fernandes is an adjunct faculty member at the School of Public Service (SPS), DePaul University. Prior to this he was Assistant Director of the School of Public Service (for 5 years) and on the faculty for 15 years.
His doctorate from Carnegie Mellon is in public policy and management. He has a graduate degree in non-profit and development management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), India, and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Jabalpur, India. Prior to his doctoral studies and career at DePaul, he worked in India in production and finance in an agricultural cooperative and in marketing for an engineering firm.
His teaching interests include courses in management, finance, research methods and statistics, sustainable development, and the management of nongovernmental organizations. His administrative responsibilities at DePaul included serving as Principal Representative to the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) and for leading the accreditation of our graduate degrees. During his full-time career at DePaul, he chaired the MPA degree program for one year, the Master of Science in Public Service Management degree (for three years) and the M.S. in International Public Management (for two years). He chaired the SPS Study Abroad committee and led the SPS India Study Abroad program for 13 years as well as teaching in the Dublin, Ireland and Manila, Philippines Study Abroad programs. He was involved in creating the SPS Online program in 2007 and directed it for 10 years. He is a certified Master Reviewer for Quality Matters, a consortium of experts created to review the quality of online courses in American universities.
He serves on the board of India Development Service, a 501(c)3 charitable organization based in Chicago which supports development projects in India. He is the founder President (and current Vice President), of the American Friends of WOTR (AFOW), a charitable organization registered in Illinois and supporting innovative development programs on water conservation and climate change adaptation in India. AFOW works in close collaboration with the Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR), one of the largest Indian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the field of watershed development and climate change adaptation.
Selected Publications:
Fernandes, R., Ha, I., McElroy, S., and Myers, S. (2016). Black-White Disparities in Test Scores: Distributional Characteristics. The Review of Black Political Economy, 43(2), 209-232.
Newman, T., & Fernandes, R. (2015). A re-assessment of factors associated with environmental concern and behavior using the 2010 General Social Survey. Environmental Education Research, 22(2), 1-23.
Rubin, B., & Fernandes, R. (2013). The Teacher as Leader: Effect of Teaching Behaviors on Class Community and Agreement. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(5).
Rubin, B., & Fernandes, R. (2013). Measuring the Community in Online Classes. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 17(3). pp. 115-136.
Rubin, B., Fernandes, R., & Avgerinou, M. D. (2012). The Effects of Technology on the Community of Inquiry and Satisfaction with Online Courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 17: pp. 48-57.
Arora, A., Arunachalam, V.S., Asundi, J., & Fernandes, R. (2000). “The Indian Software Industry.” Research Policy, 30 (8): pp. 1267-1287.
Fernandes, R. & Simon, H.A. (1999). A Study of How Individuals Solve Complex and Ill-Structured Problems. Policy Sciences, 32: pp. 225-245.