John C. Arroyo, PhD, AICP is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California San Diego. He is also affiliated with the Chicanx and Latinx Studies program, Latin American Studies program, The Design Lab, and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies. Prior to his appointment at UC San Diego he was an Assistant Professor in Engaging Diverse Communities (with affiliations in the departments of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies and Historic Preservation) at the University of Oregon (UO), where he was also Founder and Director of the Pacific Northwest Just Futures Institute for Racial and Climate Justice – the largest social science and humanities grant awarded in UO’s history. Previously, Dr. Arroyo was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow in Latino Studies at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Arroyo received his doctorate in Urban Planning, Policy, and Design from MIT. He is a national expert on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of immigrant-centered built and natural environments, urban design practices in emerging newcomer gateways, and arts and cultural planning and production. His scholarly and applied research has been published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Urban Affairs Review, Planning Theory and Practice, Cityscape, The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, and featured on national media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, NPR, and U.S. News and World Report. He has raised nearly $5 million through competitive grants and prestigious fellowships supported by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, American Planning Association, Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Research Council/Ford Foundation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Whiting Foundation. Dr. Arroyo currently serves on the board for the School for Advanced Research (SAR). Previously he was a governor-appointed member of the Oregon State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (2020-2023) and has served on boards of the Public Humanities Network of the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders Council, Highland Park Heritage Trust (Los Angeles), Southern California Planning Congress, and the Latino Urban Forum. A certified planner (American Institute of Certified Planners, AICP), he has over 27 years of experience working with various arts and urbanism-related nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies (municipal, state, and federal) in research, grantmaking, cultural resource management, and technical assistance capacities across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The son of Mexican immigrants, his commitment to social justice and equity is rooted in being born and raised in East Los Angeles.