Dr. Jeffrey Lowe, PhD ’01 and Dr. Laura Solitare, PhD ’01, faculty members in the Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, will lead TSU’s new Center of Excellence for Housing and Community Development Research (CEHCDR), as Director and Associate Director, respectively.
TSU recently received a $1 million award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish CEHCDR. The new center will advance transdisciplinary academic and empirical research and debate on affordable housing and community development policy.
Professor Lowe’s research interests focus on social justice and racial equity outcomes within the context of housing and community development planning processes and policies affecting lower-income communities of color. According to Lowe, CEHCDR aims to transform both urban research and urban policy by “supporting innovative research projects that will expand the legacies of these two schools at TSU, stimulate essential policy debate, and foster partnerships and collaboration with philanthropic and other research entities as well as other institutions of higher learning, including HBCUs.”
Dr. Solitare’s research focus and specializations lie within the arena of sustainable communities, environmental justice, healthy communities, health impact assessment, environmental planning, land use, and community development.