Biography

Nisha Botchwey, PhD, began serving as dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in January 2022. 

Previously, Botchwey served as associate dean for academic programs at Georgia Tech Professional Education. In that role she was responsible for developing academic programs, overseeing all academic offerings and curriculum, and leading outreach and student affairs. She played a key role in leading Georgia Tech’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Botchwey was also a tenured associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning, and director of the School’s Healthy Places Lab. She was on the Georgia Tech faculty since 2012, and also served as an adjunct professor at Emory University’s School of Public Health. Botchwey taught at the University of Virginia’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning from 2003 to 2011.

Botchwey's research and teaching have been at the nexus of environmental and health policy and the built environment, with a special focus on youth engagement and health equity. Over her career, she has been awarded more than $16 million from leading agencies and foundations as principal investigator or co-PI on more than 30 grant-funded projects.

Botchwey is co-editor of Making Healthy Places, Second Edition (Island Press, 2022), which brings together scholars and practitioners in fields ranging from public health, planning, and urban design, to sustainability, social work, and public policy. They explain how to design and build places that are beneficial to the physical, mental, and emotional health of humans, while also considering the health of the planet. 

She is co-author of the book Health Impact Assessment in the United States. She is the convener of a national expert panel on interdisciplinary workforce training between the public health and community design fields, and has authored numerous articles, book chapters, scientific presentations, and workshops. 

The impact of Botchwey's public health and social justice work was recognized in 2021 with the prestigious Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning, and in 2016 by the White House Council on Women and Girls. Botchwey also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

She has earned many other distinctions, including an NSF ADVANCE Woman of Excellence Faculty Award, a Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellowship from Georgia Tech, the Georgia Power Professor of Excellence Award, and a Rockefeller-Penn Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. 

Botchwey earned a master’s degree and PhD in urban planning from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in public health from the University of Virginia, and an AB from Harvard University. 

Education

Master of Public Health (University of Virginia, 2011)

PhD in City and Regional Planning (University of Pennsylvania, 2003)

Master of City and Regional Planning (University of Pennsylvania, 1999)

AB in Environmental Science and Public Policy (Harvard University, 1997)