Cathleen Erwin

Education

PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham

MBA, Auburn University Montgomery

BA, Auburn University

About Me

Cathleen Erwin is the department chair and a professor in the Department of Political Science. She holds a PhD in administration-health services from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, an MBA from Auburn University Montgomery, and a BA in theatre from Auburn University. Before joining the faculty at Auburn in 2010, Erwin spent more than twenty-five years working in administration, development, public relations, and communications for nonprofit healthcare, higher education, and arts organizations. Her teaching expertise includes healthcare delivery systems, healthcare management and leadership, health insurance and reimbursement, health information technology, healthcare quality management, and nonprofit resource development. Her research focuses on various strategic management issues faced by healthcare organizations.

Erwin served as the Ralph “Shug” Jordan Endowed Professor of Writing at Auburn University from 2019-2022. She has been honored with the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Health Care Management Division of the Academy of Management (2020), the Teaching Excellence Award from the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts (2014), and the Auburn University Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award (2017). In 2024, Erwin was elected as board chair for the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). She has previously served in leadership roles for the Alabama chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Health Care Management division of the Academy of Management (AOM), the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and Southern Management Association (SMA).

Research Interests

healthcare organizational development, board governance, external relations, and healthcare quality management

Publications

• “A seat at the table: An examination of hospital governing boards, 2011-2021,” in Journal of Healthcare Management (2023)
• Management of Healthcare Organizations: An Introduction (4^th edition), Health Administration Press (2023)
• “Organization of care,” in J. K. Knickman and B. Elbel (Eds.) Jonas and Kovner’s Health Care Delivery in the United States(13^th), Springer Publishing Company (2023).
• “Effective governance and hospital boards revisited: Reflections on 25 years of research,” in Medical Care Research and Review(2018).
• “Utilization of websites for fundraising by NCI-designated cancer centers: An application of a dialogic communications framework,” in Health Marketing Quarterly(2016).
• “Organizational characteristics associated with fundraising performance of nonprofit hospitals,” in Journal of Healthcare Management (2015).
• “Perspectives on multidisciplinary team processes among healthcare executives: Processes that facilitate team effectiveness,” in Journal of Health and Human Services Administration (2015).