I am the dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and before that I was the associate dean, so I've been involved in leadership roles at the School for about the past 6 years.

Even on the hard days I love my job a lot, probably because I have both a research interest and a leadership interest in how high performing schools operate, which makes my job continually interesting to me.

When I'm not working, my absolute favorite summertime passion is doing anything on or in Minnesota lakes....especially swimming, canoeing, sailing and water skiing.

I am the associate dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. My job involves supporting our faculty and staff in providing innovative educational experiences. Before joining the Humphrey School last August, I was a professor of communication studies in the College of Liberal Arts. My research focuses on the interactions between social identities, media, and the public, and I’ve written several books and articles on these topics.

For the past several years I’ve collaborated on a variety of civic media and history projects at Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul, and in support of the Hallie Q. Brown Center Community Archive, to expand the understanding of Black history in Minnesota.

In my free time, I’m always on the outlook for interesting birds.

I joined the Humphrey family as Director of Admissions in November of 2016. Before then, I worked for five years as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the UMN School of Public Health.I have worked in Higher Education for 15 years. As a highly dedicated student affairs professional, I have worked with students at Rutgers University and North Carolina State University as a housing administrator.

I hold a B.A. degree from James Madison University in Mass Communications and a M.S. degree from The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

Serving as Director of the JSI is a great honor. I feel very privileged to work with such dynamic leaders.

After attending the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities as a student in the Theater Arts program years ago, I find myself back on the West Bank at UMN, now as a staff member at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. This is my second year working with the JSI Program, as I am also the primary coordinator for the Humphrey Conference Center.

When I’m not busy seeking out innovative ways to handle event coordination and venue management, I can usually be found at a local music venue catching a show, or out on a long walk with my husband and our dog. My passions include live music, visiting both new and beloved bars/restaurants, and continually trying to find empathetic ways to serve others.

I am the Admissions Operations Coordinator at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. I have lived in the Twin Cities area most of my life. I attended the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. After graduating, I came back to the Minneapolis area. I made a career change after a few years in Engineering and wanted to work in an academic environment. I was attracted to this position because I enjoy helping students navigate the admissions process and transition into graduate school. my goal is to do what I can to impact the world around me for the better.

In my free time I enjoy traveling, biking, and spending time with my family. Living in Minnesota, I try to spend as much time as I can outdoors when the weather is nice. I am excited to be a part of the PPIA JSI program this summer.

I am the Director and Professor of the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice. I am a pioneer in the use of applied econometric techniques to examine racial disparities in crime and to detect disparities and discrimination in government contracting.

This summer I encourage JSI participants to become critical and analytical observers of public policies that contribute to racial and ethnic economic inequalities.

I am a PhD student at Humphrey School of Public Affairs specializing in social policy. I am originally from southern China and grew up speaking Cantonese. I came to the US for my Master degree in Public Policy from University of Maryland, College Park. Before I started my PhD program, I worked as a researcher at the Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology.

My research interests lie at the intersection of racial justice and nonprofit governance. My previous and ongoing research include disinvestment in Twin Cities nonprofits of color, the Kerner Commission and its legacies, and foundation giving to HBCUs. I am currently working on my dissertation to study race neutrality in the nonprofit sector. I am excited to bring my experiences into the symposium and show the future public policy/affairs analysts how fun policy research could be!

I'm a doctoral candidate at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. My research focuses on institutional processes with a particular emphasis on diversity and inclusion policies and practices in higher education. Prior to beginning my PhD program I worked as a research associate at a Latinx focused research non-profit organization in the Twin Cities. I also worked as a faculty member at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, teaching sociolinguistics and English language practice. I received my master's degree from Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain and my undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in Maine. I hail from the state of Texas and outside of my work and studies, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends as well as painting and reading.

I am thrilled to continue to be a part of PPIA JSI and I hope to contribute to making JSI a positive learning experience for students pursuing higher education and opportunities in public service and public policy.

I am currently a Ph.D. student at the Humphrey School studying urban planning. Before that I completed a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree, also at the Humphrey school. I am interested in the intersections of sustainable development, environmental justice, and environmental review processes. Specifically, my research explores how communities engage in the environmental review process and how they can shape development and planning outcomes.

In addition, for the past two years I've worked part time for the Minnesota Department of Human Services Licensing Division doing data analytics and visualization to help improve state services. I also serve as the Ph.D. representative on the Public Affairs Student Association (PASA). Outside of work and academics I enjoy playing and watching soccer, producing music, and playing video games with friends. I'm very excited to serve as a teaching assistant for JSI and I look forward to learning alongside the cohort!

I am a Ph.D. student in Public Affairs with Management and Governance concentration. My research interests include nonprofit management, organizational theory, and computational social science. I am particularly interested in the impact of the nonprofit sector on society and how to measure it.

Prior to joining the Humphrey School’s Ph.D. program, I earned my bachelor's and master's degrees in Public Administration, both in South Korea. During my years as a master’s student, I have engaged in various research projects collaborated with the Government of South Korea.

I am excited to bring my research experience and skills to JSI. Let's have some fun learning statistics!

Born in a picturesque coastal town in western India, I am a development professional turned research scholar. An alumni of the Master’s in Development Practice program, I am currently pursuing a PhD in Public Affairs from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. My research interests include policy analysis, caste and race discrimination, and development programs in the Global South.

A graduate in Chemical Engineering, I have over 15 years of experience working with corporate and nonprofit organizations in India. During this time, I led projects in Economic Development and Social Justice in remote and conflict-ridden areas of rural India. Amongst various responsibilities, I worked as a National Resource Person to the Government of India on land-based livelihood interventions.

In my free time, I enjoy watching movies, cooking, and travelling. I am passionate about mentoring young minds and look forward to my association with the Junior Summer Institute.

I'm a rising third year PhD student at the Humphrey School, where my research focuses on urban and labor economics. Specifically, I specialize in using applied econometrics and causal inference to examine how public policies and institutions affect marginalized groups. Recently, I've been studying anti-union "right-to-work" laws and their effects on wages and mortality. I'm originally from Broward County, Florida and before coming to Minnesota I received bachelors degrees in economics and international affairs from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. During and after undergrad, I worked in an after-school youth center as a "jack of all trades," cooking snacks, keeping attendance, running billiards tournaments, and teaching music production classes. In my free time, I enjoy biking and producing music and I'm involved in local community organizing.

This is my first summer as a JSI instructor and I'm excited to delve into applied economics with this year's JSI cohort! I hope to contribute to a fun and intellectually stimulating learning environment here at JSI.

Sarah Wahby is a PhD student of Public Policy at Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. She worked with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Middle East and North Africa on randomized evaluations in Egypt in the areas of microcredit and job training. She also worked on agricultural development projects in Upper Egypt with El Nidaa Foundation. In her research she’s interested in questions of policy evaluation, resource management and distribution and measurement. Sarah holds a Master’s in Development Economics from Paris 1 University Panthéon Sorbonne and a BA in Economics from Cairo University.

I’m an associate professor at the School of Nursing, as well as affiliated faculty at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and University of Minnesota’s Urban Research Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC).

I do action research using qualitative and mixed-methods on a variety of community identified topics. My main research is on sex trading, sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. I lead UROC’s sex trading, trafficking and community wellbeing initiative https://uroc.umn.edu/sextrafficking. This research started with community partners on the Northside in 2005. Since then I have done work across Minnesota with marginalized communities, people involved in sex trading and many other stakeholders. My PhD is in anthropology from the New School for Social Research in New York City.

My personal research mission is to co-create empirical knowledge in service of effective social change for justice and equity. In class we are going to explore qualitative research methods by looking at research on sex trading and trafficking. This will help us dig in and dig deep to understand qualitative methods. We will be doing a short module, so this will be an introduction to qualitative methods. I look forward to meeting you and learning together.