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Core Faculty

	Amy Ruggaber Amy Ruggaber, MPA, is the Assistant Director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. With over 20 years of experience as a performing artist, educator, and arts advocate, Amy's research focuses on inequities within policy systems that impact the arts workforce and marginalized communities. She curated exhibitions such as Uplift the Vote and The Fayette County Civil Rights Movement and the Photos of Art Shay. Amy also consulted on social policy for the More for Memphis project. *Interests: Social Justice, Social Change, Art and Performing Arts, Humanities, Civil Rights, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics*
	Dr. Brooke Shannon Brooke Shannon is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Memphis. Drawing from her background in community engagement and organizing, her research interests include local government, policy agendas, public policy, political institutions, city councils, American federalism, and intergovernmental relations. Brooke previously taught Spanish in Memphis City Schools and facilitated training with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. She enjoys bicycles, vinyl collecting, and spending time with her dog, Mr. Chicken. *Interests: Local Government, Policy Agendas, Public Policy, Political Institutions, City Councils, American Federalism, Intergovernmental Relations*
	Dr. Tim McCuddy Tim McCuddy is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. He focuses on the causes and consequences of youth crime and violence. His research examines how schools, neighborhoods, and the internet impact offending and victimization. Tim specializes in the implications of digital communication for crime and deviance, peer groups and crime, school safety, and community crime prevention. He aims to support prevention and intervention efforts to keep youth safe and address the consequences of exposure to crime and violence. *Interests: Youth Crime and Violence, Peer Group Dynamics, Digital Criminology, Community Crime Prevention, School Safety*
	Dr. Donal Harris Donal Harris is the Orgill Endowed Chair for Engaged Research in the Department of English and Director of the Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities (MOCH) at the University of Memphis. His work focuses on 20th and 21st century U.S. literature and culture, especially the relationship between the arts and social institutions. He has guest-curated exhibits and essay series for several Memphis cultural organizations, and for the past four years partnered with Memphis Public Library to create digital collections and learning tools about the civic life of public libraries in the South. *Interests: Literature and the arts, social institutions, public humanities, digital humanities*
	Dr. Courtnee Melton-Fant Courtnee Melton-Fant, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis. Her research examines how state and local government policies and politics shape racial health and economic inequities. Her current projects explore the health and economic consequences of state preemption of local government policies and the connections between housing policy and health. *Interests: State and Local Policy and Politics, Racialized Health Inequities, Economic Inequity*
	Dr. Brenda Mathias Brenda Mathias, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Memphis School of Social Work. Grounded in Black feminist epistemology and intersectional theory, her research uses mixed-methods and community-based participatory approaches to understand how urban adolescents鈥� engagement with neighborhood institutions shapes subjective psychological well-being. Dr. Mathias鈥� scholarship seeks to reduce social injustice by strengthening university-community partnerships. Interests: Urban Spaces, Community-based Participatory Approaches, Subjective psychological Well-being, University-community Partnerships, Neighborhood Institutions, intersectional Theory, Youth, Multiple Forms of Violence
	Dr. Atyeh Ashtari Atyeh (Ati) Ashtari is an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis. With a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and using a Critical Feminist lens, Ati's research centers community as the main unit of analysis, emphasizing intersectional humane urbanism, sustainable community-based development and economies, and participatory action research. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of Faculty Women's Interest Group within the American Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). Interests: Intersectional Humane Urbanism, Community-based development, Community Economies, Participatory Action Research, Critical Feminist Theories, Methodologies, and Digital Storytelling
	Daniel Schaffzin, J.D. Daniel M. Schaffzin is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Neighborhood Preservation Clinic at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. He also serves as a Senior Assistant City of Memphis Attorney for Neighborhood Preservation. Professor Schaffzin's advocacy and scholarship focus on collaborative approaches for addressing vacant, abandoned, and distressed properties. He is a co-founder and lead faculty for the Strategic Code Enforcement Management Academy. *Interests: Neighborhood Revitalization Strategies, Vacant Property Management*
	Dr. Andrew Guthrie Andrew Guthrie is an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis. His research focuses on equitable transit-oriented development and shared prosperity community economic development. He has broad experience in geospatial and community-engaged research with a housing justice focus. *Interests: Transportation Planning, Public Transit, Non-motorized Transportation, Housing, Alternative Land Tenure, Urban Governance and Political Economy*
	Dr. Arleen Hill Arleen Hill is a professor and chair in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis. She also serves as Director of the Emergency Management interdisciplinary minor. As a hazards geographer, her research and teaching focus on managing/reducing the impacts of disruptions on our society and environment. Arleen teams with practitioners and residents on applied or engaged, multi-disciplinary efforts to address causes of vulnerability and build capacity to absorb disruptions (resilience). *Interests: Social Vulnerability, Community Resilience, Scale, Remote Sensing, Practitioner Engagement, Nature-society Interactions*
	Dr. Katherine Lambert-Pennington Katherine Lambert-Pennington, PhD, is the Director of the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. As an engaged anthropologist, she collaborates with residents and community organizations on research related to food access, housing inequalities, and well-being for Black women. She also co-leads the Community, Planning and Environmental Design (CoPED) study abroad program in Sicily. Interests: Race and Social Inequality, Social Movements, Identity Production, Community Development, Food Justice, Alternative Food Networks, Participatory Action Research, Community-University Partnerships
	Dr. Wesley James Wesley James is the Founding Executive Director of the Center for Community Research and Evaluation (CCRE), Chair of the Department of Sociology, and Pat E. Burlison Professor at the University of Memphis. His primary research areas are medical sociology, demography, and rural health, focusing on mortality disparities, social determinants of health, and access to healthcare in the Mississippi Delta and the Southern U.S. *Interests: Social Determinants of Health, Infant and Maternal Health Disparities, Policy and Health Disparities, Demographic Determinants of Health and Mortality*
	Dr. Austin Harrison Austin (鈥淎.T.") Harrison is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Rhodes College. His research focuses on neighborhood change, community development and organizing, housing policy, and structural decline. His work has appeared in Housing Policy Debate, the Journal of Urban Affairs, and Housing Studies. A.T. has collaborated with organizations such as the Federal Reserve Bank and the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. He co-founded the Memphis Research 4 Action CoLab. A.T. is also a trained community organizer actively involved in housing issues in Memphis. *Interests: Neighborhood Change, Community Development and Organizing, Affordable/fair Housing Policy, and Structural Decline*