ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2020-Present
University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Department of City and Regional Planning
Assistant Professor
2019-Present
Case Western Reserve University, Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences National Initiatives on Mixed-Income Communities
Research Affiliate
2019-2020
University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Department of City and Regional Planning, School of Social Policy and Practice
Joint Lecturer
2016 - 2019
University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Department of City and Regional Planning
Vice Provost Postdoctoral Fellow
EDUCATION
The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University,New Brunswick, NJ PhD, Planning and Public Policy, May 2014
Dissertation title: “The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing: Race, Planning, and Inclusion, 1936-1975”, Qualifying Examinations in Race and Urban Redevelopment, Housing Policy, and Planning and Policy Theory
Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Master of Public Administration, May 2008
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Bachelor of Science in Economics, Concentration in Management, May 2004
PUBLICATIONS: PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES
2021
“Addressing Our Nation’s Toxic School Infrastructure in the Wake of COVID-19” Erika Kitzmiller and Akira Drake Rodriguez. Educational Researcher. Online First.
“Measuring and Explaining Stalled Gentrification in Newark, New Jersey: The Role of Racial Politics” D. Morel, A.D. Rodriguez, M. Sidney, A. Straub, N. Garay. Urban Affairs Review. OnlineFirst.
2020
“Lets Get Ready to Crumble: Black Municipal Empowerment and the Demolition of Public Housing” M.L. Owens, A. D. Rodriguez, R.A. Brown. Urban Affairs Review 57(2): 342-372.
PUBLICATIONS: BOOK CHAPTERS AND MANUSCRIPTS
2021
Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing. Book Manuscript. Forthcoming, University of Georgia Press.
2020
“Parallel Pathways to Reform: Fair Public Schooling and Public Housing for Black Citizens” (with R. Quinn) Book Chapter in Perspectives on Fair Housing by V. Reina, W. Pritchett, and S. Wachter. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
“Black Feminist-Centered Community Organizing as a Framework for Developing Inclusive Mixed-Income Communities: Nicetown CDC’s Village Network and Outreach Initiatives in Philadelphia” (with M. Rashid) Book Chapter in What Works to Promote Inclusive, Equitable Mixed-Income Communities. San Francisco: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
ALL OTHER PUBLICATIONS
2022
“Urban Lowlands: A History of Neighbourhoods, Poverty, and Planning by Steve Moga.” AAG Review of Books 10(1): 4-5.
2021
“‘Power-difference couplings’ and white supremacy in the Rust Belt” (A Review of Jason Hackworth’s Manufacturing Decline) CITY 25(5-6): 794-797
2020
“Review of Race Capital? Harlem as Setting and Symbol and The Legend of the Black Mecca: Politics and Class in the Making of Modern Atlanta” Journal of Urban Affairs. Online First.
Review of Moving toward Integration: The Past and Future of Fair Housing. By Richard H. Sander, Yana A. Kucheva, and Jonathan M. Zasloff. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018. Pp. 608. $41.00 (cloth)” Social Service Review 94(2): 435-440.
2019
“Commentary: Housing Preservation as Social Justice” Housing Policy Debate 29(1): 146—147
“Review of The Newark Frontier: Community Action in the Great Society” Planning Perspectives 34(6): 1062-1063.
2016
“Remaking Black Political Spaces for Black Liberation” Metropolitiques. 1 December 2016.
2015
“Review of More than Shelter: Activism and Community in San Francisco Public Housing by Amy L. Howard”, Housing, Theory, and Society. 2015. 32(2), 244-246
“Review of Black Citymakers: How the Philadelphia Negro Changed Urban America, by Marcus Anthony Hunter”, Urban History. 2015. 42(3): 535-536
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Introduction to City & Regional Planning: History, Theory and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
Assistant Professor
Planning Public Schools as Infrastructure, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
Assistant Professor
City and Regional Planning Thesis, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
Lecturer, Spring 2020
Policy Analysis and Coalition Building, University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy and Practice, Philadelphia, PA
Lecturer, Fall 2019
Racism and American Social Work, University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy and Practice, Philadelphia, PA
Lecturer, Summer 2019
Urban Research Methods, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
Lecturer,Fall 2017-2019 (Core Graduate Requirement)
Readings in Race, Poverty, and Place, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia PA
Postdoctoral Fellow/Lecturer, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Spring 2019 (Graduate Seminar)
Introduction to Community Development, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Spring 2016
Race and Ethnicity in U.S. Politics, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
Adjunct, Fall 2015
Introduction to Planning, Public Policy, Public Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Instructor,Spring 2014
Introduction to Planning, Public Policy, Public Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Teaching Assistant,Fall 2013 (Dr. Michael R. Greenberg, Professor)
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, and AWARDS
2020
National Science Foundation, CIVIC INNOVATION, Co-PI with M. Ryerson, K. Steif, V. Reina, $50,000
Knight Foundation, “Let’sPlan.Org,” Co-PI with Ken Steif/UrbanSpatial, $40,000
Mellon Humanities, Urbanism, and Design Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, Member
Hedgebrook Writing Residency, Future Book Project, In-Residence July 2020 – Rescheduled Summer 2022
Spencer Foundation, Small Research Grant, “Critical Participatory Approaches to Inclusionary and Equitable School Facility Planning Processes,” July 2020, $49,508
2019
Antipode Foundation, “AntiPod: A Radical Podcast” Season 1 Funding, 3000£
2018
Antipode Foundation, “AntiPod: A Radical Podcast” Pilot Funding, 1000£
Rutgers University, “Comparative Gentrification in Newark and Sao Paolo” Research Working Group Member, $10,000
2015
Planners of Color Interest Group Scholarship, Planners of Color Interest Group, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, 2015-2016
Scholarship for one year membership to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
2012
Special Study Support, The Graduate School at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Summer 2012
The Political Implications of the Demolition of Public Housing (Site Selection Research)
2011
Special Study Support, The Graduate School at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Summer 2011
Public Places, Private Spaces: An Examination of the Effects of Institutionalized Community on Public Housing Residents’ Perception and Definition of Community (Phase I)
INVITED TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
2020
Penn State Coffee Colloquium, Department of Geography, Invited Speaker, February 2020
Temple University Graduate Group, Geography and Urban Studies, Invited Speaker, March 2020 - Cancelled
Princeton University Faculty Colloquium, Department of African American Studies, Invited Speaker, April 2020 - Cancelled
2019
Graduate Group, Geography Department Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, Invited Speaker “The Conservative Turn in Public Housing Politics,” March 2019
Social Justice Research Academy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Invited Speaker “Spatial Justice,” July 2019
2018
(anti)Blackness in the American Metropolis, Urban Geography Journal workshop, Baltimore, MD, Speaker, “Limits to Black Feminist Representation in Public Housing Politics,” November 2018
2017
US Housing Policy: The Future of What Works, PennDesign Housing Conference, Philadelphia, PA, Chair and Speaker, “Housing Preservation as Social Justice,” September 2017
2016
Introduction to City Planning, Past and Present, PennDesign Graduate Course, Philadelphia, PA, Invited Guest Speaker, “Race and Inequality in Metropolitan America,” November 2016
2015
Clemson University, Planning, Design, and Built Environment Program, Clemson, SC, PhD Colloquium,“Planning for Political Opportunity: Lessons from Public Housing in Atlanta”, May 2015
PRESENTATIONS
2019
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 58thAnnual Conference, Greenville, SC
Presenter/Co-Organizer:Roundtable on Emotions and Planning Pedagogy
Co-Organizer: Emerging Scholars Workshop: Emotions and Planning Pedagogy (October 2019)
American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
Organizer and Presenter: “A Conversation on Atlanta” (April 2019)
Presenter: “Methodologies of Racial Capitalism”
Presenter:“Creating a Soundscape of Radical Imagination: Podcasts as Scholarship”
Friends of Neighborhood Education Summit, Philadelphia, PA
Presenter:“State of the Movement” (April 2019)\
Urban Affairs Association, Los Angeles, CA
Organizer and Presenter: The Politics, Economics, and Policies of the Gentrification Debates”(April 2019)
2018
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 57thAnnual Conference, Buffalo, NY
Presenter/Co-Organizer:Roundtable on Emotions and Planning
Co-Organizer: Emerging Scholars Workshop: Emotions and Planning (October 2018)
American Political Science Association 114thAnnual Meeting, Boston, MA
Presenter: Resilience MiniCourse
American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA
Organizer and Presenter: “Mentoring in the Black Geographies, A Survey of the Climate” (April 2018)
Urban Affairs Association 48thAnnual Conference, Toronto, ON
Panelist: “Women and Children First: Response to Ed Goetz’s The One-Way Street to Integration” (April 2018)
2017
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 56thAnnual Conference, Denver, CO
Presentation: “Black Feminist Politics and Atlanta’s Public Housing Demolition” (October 2017)
American Political Science Association 113thAnnual Meeting, San Francisco, CA
Co-Author/Co-Presenter:“Let’s Get Ready to Crumble: Black Municipal Empowerment and the Demolition of Public Housing” (August 2017)
Urban Affairs Association 47thAnnual Conference,Minneapolis, MN
Presentation/Co-Organizer: “Comparing Black Tenant Activism in and out of Atlanta’s Public Housing.” (April 2017)
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, MA
Presentation:“Demobilization by Demolition: State Suppression of Marginalized Political Spaces in Atlanta” (March 2017)
2016
Urban Affairs Association 46th Annual Conference,San Diego, CA
Presentation: “Revisiting the Black and Puerto Rican Political Convention: Tracking Black and Latino Political Empowerment in Newark, NJ” (March 2016)
2015
Third Atlanta Studies Symposium, Atlanta, GA
“Public Housing Tenant Activism and the Decline of Atlanta’s Public Housing: Alliances, Divisions, and the Reclamation of Space” (May 2015)
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
Presentation, “Whatever Happened to Tenant Activism?” (April 2015)
Co-Organizer, “Governing from Below” (Multiple Sessions, April 2015)
Urban Affairs Association 45th Annual Conference,“Transnationalism from Above and Below: The Dynamics of Place-Making in the Global City,” Miami, FL
Co-Author & Co-Presenter,“Black Municipal Empowerment and the Destruction of Public Housing” (April 2015)
2014
The Seventh Biennial Conference of the Urban History Association, “Metropolitics,” Philadelphia, PA
Presentation,“Racializing Space in Postwar Atlanta” (October 2014)
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning 54thAnnual Conference, “Big Ideas, Global Impacts,” Philadelphia, PA
Presentation, “Perry Homes: Tenant Responses to Racialized Planning in Postwar Atlanta” (October 2014)
Urban Affairs Association 44th Annual Conference,“Borders and Boundaries in an Age of Global Urbanization,” San Antonio, TX
Presentation,“Perry Homes: The Northwest Advocates” (March 2014)
2013
Urban Affairs Association 43rdAnnual Conference,“Building the 21st Century City: Inclusion, Innovation, and Globalization,” San Francisco, CA
Presentation,“Public Housing Developments as Political Opportunity Structures: Black Political Forums in Postwar Atlanta: 1945-1974” (April 2013)
2012
Urban Affairs Association 42ndAnnual Conference, “Rethinking the Future of Urbanism: Cities and Regions in a Post-Industrial Era”, Pittsburgh, PA
Presentation,“The Changing Geography and Demographics of Poverty: The Rise of Foreign-Born Poverty Rates in the Suburbs, 2000-2009” (April 2012)
Urban Affairs Association 42ndAnnual Conference, “Rethinking the Future of Urbanism: Cities and Regions in a Post-Industrial Era”, Pittsburgh, PA
Co-Author,“Innovations in Economic Development: Collaboration and Networking in Developing People and Place” (April 2012)
2011
Graduate Forum on Race and Ethnicity, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Presentation,“Intra-Racial Tensions and Community Development: A Literature Review” (January 2011)
Urban Lands Conference: Ag in the City, Bordentown, NJ
Poster Session, “Greensgrow Farms, Philadelphia, PA” (March 2011)
MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
Association of American Geographers, Member, 2012-Present
Urban Affairs Association, Member, 2012-Present
Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Member, 2015-Present
Black Geographies Specialty Group Mentor Committee Co-Chair, 2017-2018
Editorial Board Member, Metropolitics, 2017-Present
Black Geographies Specialty Group Executive Board, Communications Co-Chair, 2019-2021
Antipod Sound Collective, Founding Member, 2018-Present
Urban Affairs Association Governing Board, Member, 2020-2023; Secretary 2021-2023
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Urban Affairs, 2021-2024
Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Housing Policy, 2021-2025