I am an American Politics and Public Policy scholar with academic appointments in the Departments of Political Science and Public Policy and Administration at Rutgers University, Camden. My research is motivated by a deep desire to understand the political and institutional drivers of inequality and falls into four categories: housing and homelessness policy, LGBTQIA+ politics and policy, the effects of public opinion on public policy, and urban politics, with a focus on intergovernmental dynamics and responsiveness.
In my current book manuscript, I combine my professional and volunteer experience working in community and economic development with my academic interests in urban politics and housing policy to investigate the drivers of municipal responses to homelessness. Using a novel dataset of 250 cities that spans the last decade, I explore why we see such variation in homelessness policy across communities and whether this variation has affected cities’ ability to reduce homelessness. Beyond this book, my research is currently investigating a variety of questions about how institutional and political arrangements affect localities’ ability to reduce homelessness, how state identification laws have influenced transgender political participation, and the drivers of public opinion on transgender rights legislation. Past work has explored the effects of state felon disenfranchisement laws on the political participation of non-felons, the influences of community context on support for same-sex relationship recognition, and the sources of public opinion on environmental policy. My teaching interests and experience lie in reaching diverse learners by bridging digital and physical space to create effective learning environments. For example, I have a recent scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) article that explores how to use student-generated photography to flip the classroom and promote visual and experiential learning.
I spent my formative years in Colorado, earning a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and as a result I love everything outdoors. I spend my free time at the beach, hiking, running, doing yoga, painting, writing creatively and traveling. Living in the fabulous agricultural area that is the mid-Atlantic, I have also developed a love of farm to table cooking and am an aspiring baker.
In my current book manuscript, I combine my professional and volunteer experience working in community and economic development with my academic interests in urban politics and housing policy to investigate the drivers of municipal responses to homelessness. Using a novel dataset of 250 cities that spans the last decade, I explore why we see such variation in homelessness policy across communities and whether this variation has affected cities’ ability to reduce homelessness. Beyond this book, my research is currently investigating a variety of questions about how institutional and political arrangements affect localities’ ability to reduce homelessness, how state identification laws have influenced transgender political participation, and the drivers of public opinion on transgender rights legislation. Past work has explored the effects of state felon disenfranchisement laws on the political participation of non-felons, the influences of community context on support for same-sex relationship recognition, and the sources of public opinion on environmental policy. My teaching interests and experience lie in reaching diverse learners by bridging digital and physical space to create effective learning environments. For example, I have a recent scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) article that explores how to use student-generated photography to flip the classroom and promote visual and experiential learning.
I spent my formative years in Colorado, earning a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and as a result I love everything outdoors. I spend my free time at the beach, hiking, running, doing yoga, painting, writing creatively and traveling. Living in the fabulous agricultural area that is the mid-Atlantic, I have also developed a love of farm to table cooking and am an aspiring baker.