Cathleen Erwin

Education

PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham

MBA, Auburn University Montgomery

BA, Auburn University

About Me

Cathleen Erwin is department chair and associate professor in the Department of Political Science. She holds a PhD in administration-health services from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as an MBA from Auburn University Montgomery and BA from Auburn University. Prior to joining the faculty at Auburn in 2010, Erwin spent more than twenty-five years working in the fields of administration, development, public relations and communications for nonprofit health care, higher education and arts organizations. She has taught a variety of courses in the HADM program, including healthcare delivery systems, healthcare management and leadership, insurance and reimbursement, health information technology, healthcare quality management, and the Capstone seminar. Her research focuses on a variety of strategic management issues faced by health care organizations.

Erwin was named the Ralph “Shug” Jordan Endowed Professor of Writing at Auburn University in 2019, and serves as co-chair of the University Writing Committee. 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). Erwin is a past president and active member of the Alabama Health Executives Forum, the officially-designated state chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). She is active in service to the Health Care Management division of the Academy of Management, the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), and the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).

Research Interests

healthcare organizational development, leadership, healthcare quality management

Publications

• “Organization of care,” in J. K. Knickman and B. Elbel (Eds.) Jonas and Kovner’s Health Care Delivery in the United States (12^th ed.), (2018).
• “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 Health Care Management (2015).
• “Perspectives on multidisciplinary team processes among healthcare executives: Processes that facilitate team effectiveness,” in Journal of Health and Human Services Administration (2015).
• “Capacity management in emergency departments – a systematic literature review,” in Journal of Health Care Management (2015).