Biography

Evan is a doctoral candidate in Public Affairs focusing on Urban and Regional Planning. Through his work and collaboration with community groups, he explores the practical ways that research can elevate local knowledge. His current focus is on the areas of environmental justice, community development, and social movements. For his master’s thesis, Evan researched brownfield redevelopment and its potential for transforming contaminated urban land into community spaces. His dissertation, drawing on archival documents, GIS mapping, interviews, and participant observation, documents how environmental planning and policy has created and disrupted urban neighborhoods. He also analyzes the ways environmental justice and community redevelopment movements work to repair their neighborhoods from enduring environmental and socioeconomic injustices. In doing so, communities keep intact collective memories, maintain community resources, and build sustained political power in their neighborhoods.

He currently teaches Environmental Policy & Regulation at St. Olaf College and served as an instructor at the University of Minnesota’s Junior Summer Institute, organized by the Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Program. He is also a research assistant with the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) where he studies renter protections, tenant experiences, and other housing initiatives. Evan’s teaching and research brings together environmental planning and housing policy to find pathways to more sustainable urban development and create more environmentally just futures.

Education

Master of Public Policy (University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 2020)

BA in Sociology/Anthropology & Political Science (St. Olaf College, 2015)