Profile

Dr. Daniel Stephens is an Associate Lecturer and the Coordinator of the Public Administration program at the University of Central Florida’s Osceola Connect Center, though he also teaches at UCF Downtown and online. His staple of courses includes undergraduate and graduate offerings for fiscal management, human resource administration, strategic planning and management, organizational and administrative theory, and research methods. Beyond the classroom, he serves as Faculty advisor to the Organization of Public Administration student group, organizes and leads the annual student trek to the state Capital, is the Past-President of Central Florida ASPA, and is an honorary member of Pi Alpha Alpha. Dr. Stephens currently serves as the School of Public Administration's elected representative to the UCF Faculty Senate and on a multitude of other committees, such as the PARC organizing committee, as leader of the School's Diversity Committee, and as an invited speaker at the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management's Capacity Building Seminar Series. Having earned his Ph.D. in Public Affairs from UCF in 2018, Dr. Stephens has continued studying the behavior of roadway users, with a particular interest in active (i.e. human-powered) commuters, and more recently, with micromobility devices. In 2023, Dr. Stephens led an executive committee of developers, attorneys, urban planners, and academics to orchestrate a state-wide summit for the Congress for the New Urbanism, which convened at UCF Downtown. Given that his doctoral dissertation examines the effect of the thematic elements found in mass media on the perceived self-efficacy specific to pedestrians, he continues this work through his service to Metroplan Orlando as a regional appointee, advocating on behalf of vulnerable roadway users and historically excluded communities across the tri-county region. His MetroPlan service includes various leadership roles, such as the two-year term serving as the Chairman of its Bicycle / Pedestrian Advisory Committee and more recently as the elected Chairman of its Community Advisory Committee, which also entails being an advisory liaison to the Executive Committee. Prior to public service, Dr. Stephens worked nearly nineteen years in the private sector, having founded the international freight forwarding company AutoShippers.com. He now parlays that same entrepreneurial expertise into producing Open Educational Resources via his production company, PlannerDanner Productions.

University of Central Florida

• Transportation
• Public Policy
• Urban & Regional Planning
• Human Resource Management