STAFF

WILLIAM M. ROHE
Director

Phone: (919) 962-3077
Email: Brohe@unc.edu




Dr. William M. Rohe assumed the Directorship of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at UNC-CH in July 1994. He received his Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University in 1978. He is the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of City and Regional Planning at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is co-author of "Planning with Neighborhoods" (University of North Carolina Press) and co-editor of "Chasing the American Dream: New Perspectives on Affordable Homeownership" (Cornell University Press). He has also published over 50 journal articles on the topics of housing and community development policy and practice. Dr. Rohe has received best article awards from both the "Journal of Planning Education and Research" and the "Journal of the American Planning Association." He has conducted sponsored research for a variety of federal, state and local governments and foundations including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Ford Foundation, the Mac Arthur Foundation, and the Fannie Mae Foundation. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the "Journal of Urban Affairs" and "Journal of Planning Literature" and is an Associate Editor for the journal "Housing Policy Debate." Dr. Rohe's current projects include: an assessment of the Weatherization, Rehabilitation and Asset Preservation Program funded by the Ford Foundation; a long-term analysis of the impacts of Individual Development Accounts on program participants funded by the Mac Arthur Foundation; and a service project to assist in the recovery of New Orleans (UNC-CH’s New Orleans Recovery Initiative project). .

TODD OWEN
Associate Director

Phone: (919) 962-3076
Email: towen@email.unc.edu




Todd Owen joined the CURS staff in April 2005 after working for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management for over six years. He served in a variety of capacities there, most recently overseeing several grant programs focused on natural hazards mitigation. Todd has also coordinated outreach efforts for the Massachusetts Low Level Radioactive Waste Management Board. He co-authored numerous reports on family policy issues when he was the program coordinator for the Family Impact Seminar, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group. Todd received his MRP in land-use and environmental planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998.

As the Associate Director, Todd is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Center, including helping researchers seek and secure research funding, assisting faculty in managing research projects, and facilitating interdiciplinary dialogue on issues of interest to the Center staff and Faculty Fellows. He is currently working on a project to develop a hazard mitigation plan for UNC-CH.

SPENCER COWAN
Senior Research Associate

Phone: (919) 962-0122
Email: spencer2@email.unc.edu

Spencer M. Cowan is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies where he is project director for three studies: 1) a project to develop post-Katrina rebuilding scenarios for the Gentilly neighborhoods in New Orleans; 2) an evaluation of a Ford Foundation pilot project to assist low-income households use weatherization and rehab funding to build assets; and 3) a housing needs assessment for Brunswick County, North Carolina. In addition, he is principal investigator for an evaluation of a state initiative to provide housing for individuals with disabilities in low-income housing tax credit developments. Cowan has researched broadly on programs and organizations that assist lower-income households and promote economically and racially integrated communities. His research has examined the impact of state laws promoting affordable housing in affluent suburbs, efforts to bring the middle class back to inner-city neighborhoods, the impact of regulation on the cost of new housing development, a program to securitize non-conforming mortgages, the effectiveness of community-based mortgage foreclosure prevention programs, and efforts to bank the unbanked. Funding for his research has come from the Ford Foundation, Fannie Mae Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; the Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity, and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

BRIAN MORTON
Senior Research Associate

Phone: (919) 962-8847
Email: bjmorton@email.unc.edu

Brian's research interests center on landscapes, transportation, air quality, and the effects of corporations on communities. His specialization is public policy toward regional and urban air pollution.

He is the Project Director for an Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored project that will investigate the extent to which regional development patterns can reduce air pollutant emissions from cars, trucks, and transit vehicles in the Charlotte area of North Carolina. The project’s Web site may be reached via the URL http://epastar.unc.edu/index.htm.

With colleagues at UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley, he is conducting a review of impact assessments of supercenters, huge big-box stores that combine a supermarket and discount department store under one roof. We will describe the state of the practice of forecasting economic and community impacts and determine how well current methodologies answer the questions that local elected officials and citizens typically raise about new supercenters during the development review process.

Over the past 20 years, Brian has worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Defense Fund, and several consulting firms. He holds the Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

DANIELLE SPURLOCK
Research Associate

Phone: (919) 966-9642
Email: dspurloc@email.unc.edu

Danielle Spurlock is a Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies where she is a project manager for the FEMA-funded Emergency Preparedness Demonstration Project. This project investigates the barriers to increasing emergency awareness and preparedness in disadvantaged communities.

Spurlock received her A.B. from Stanford University in Human Biology. After working in the Community Assessment, Planning and Education division of the Alameda County Department of Public Health in Oakland, California, she returned to school. Spurlock received her Master’s in Public Health (Health Behavior and Health Education) and her Master’s in Regional Planning (Housing and Community Development) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005. Her master’s paper investigated the role of health and planning boards and staff in the siting of potentially hazardous land uses.

PETER ZAMBITO
Research Associate

Phone: (919) 966-9642
Email: peterzambito@earthlink.net




Peter Zambito, MRP, is a Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies. His work at CURS is mostly related to land use and has included conducting neighborhood assessments for redevelopment authorities, analyzing the impact of floodplain buyout programs in North Carolina, and conducting GIS analysis of development trends in flood hazard areas along the Gulf Coast.

He is a recent graduate of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he specialized in land use and sustainability with an emphasis on smart growth regulatory techniques and tools. His master’s paper was a thorough latitudinal and longitudinal analysis of the quality of the cluster ordinance provisions in the Charlotte, NC /Mecklenburg County region and the resulting land-use patterns that developed under them.

HOLLY MCPHERSON
Grants Manager

Phone: (919) 962-5302
Email: Holly_McPherson@unc.edu




Assists faculty fellows and students with the preparation and submission of research proposals. Oversees and routes various pieces of the grant proposal packet to the appropriate Center staff members and offices external to CURS (IRB, Dean's Office, Contracts & Grants, Research Services). Serves as primary point of contact for principal investigators for administrative matters regarding contract administration. Maintains and revises Center's marketing materials. Serves as the Center's primary E-mail administrator, Web Page Coordinator and Human Resources Facilitator.

DEBRA HILL
Executive Assistant

Phone: (919) 843-9708
Email: dmhill@email.unc.edu




Provides administrative assistance to Center Director, Assistant Director and Center Research Associates. Facilitates communication with the Center's Faculty Fellows through the issuance of funding alerts, the Center's seminar series, and other communique. Assists with various crucial aspects of the grant proposal preparation. Manages Center publications, edits bi-annual Center newsletter, the CURS Update, and provides editorial support for Center research projects and reports.

JUDITH BUKENYA
Accounting Technician

Phone: (919) 962-3075
Email: bukenya@email.unc.edu

Provides accounting, financial and budgeting assistance to the principal investigators of Center research projects. This includes preparing budgets in both UNC and funding agency format and financial tracking and reporting throughout the lifetime of the research project. Also manages Center's state account, trust fund and overhead receipts accounts.

LINDA COMER
Processing Assistant

Phone: (919) 962-3074 (main line)
Email: lcomer@email.unc.edu




Prepares all payroll, travel, personnel and purchasing transactions for staff, students, and faculty fellows. Shepherds grant proposals through the University system. Answers main telephone line and routes requests for information to appropriate Center staff members. Serves as editor of CURS Update the Center's bi-annual newsletter.