About me...
I am an associate professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, and affiliate faculty of the National Center for Smart Growth and the Maryland Transportation Institute.
My cross-disciplinary research connects the fields of urban studies, planning, and public education. I ask questions about how public schools and planning at the neighborhood, city, and regional levels interact and contribute to the perpetuation of inequality. I also identify potential pathways for these systems to promote justice for historically marginalized and minoritized communities.
I use qualitative methods and draw from interdisciplinary scholarship in planning, community development, policy studies, and geography to consider how the physical dimensions of schools and neighborhoods and cross-sector collaborative governance shape structures of metropolitan and inequality and, by extension, students’ and families’ lived experiences.
My research has appeared in the Planning Theory and Practice journal, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Urban Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Community Development, Urban Education, education policy analysis archives, and the Transportation Research Record. The National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the University of Maryland Division of Research, the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, and Enterprise Community Partners have sponsored my research.
I bring over 20 years of experience in the non-profit and public sectors, working in public policy, cross-sector collaboration, community development, and community arts. Prior to joining the University of Maryland faculty, I served as the Program Director and Senior Researcher at the UC-Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools, a policy research and technical assistance center that promotes high-quality education as an essential component of creating equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities.
I am a member of the American Planning Association Public Schools and Communities Division, president of the 21st Century School Fund board of directors, member of the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming board of directors, and an advisor to Active Voice Labs.
I earned my PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California-Berkeley, a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
I am originally from New Jersey and grew up in Free Acres, a utopian community founded in 1910 based on the principles of Henry George. After 7 years in Philadelphia and 12 years in Oakland, CA, I now live in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland.