Administrators and Program Directors

Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Professor of Public Policy

Professor Ivanova is the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She focuses on international environmental institutions, environmental sustainability, and the science-policy interface. The author of The …

Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Associate Director, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director, Master of Public Administration

Linda Kowalcky teaches public policy, public administration, and works with the school’s internship programs. Her career includes senior positions in government as well as academia. Most recently, Linda served as liaison to higher education to former…

Director and Teaching Professor of Human Services; Senior Research Associate, Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy

Lori Gardinier has practiced in the area of antipoverty/social justice work in community-based settings and as a counselor in organizations addressing intimate partner violence. In her role at Northeastern, she is a leader in experiential education p…

Graduate Program Director, Master of Arts in International Affairs; Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science

Dr. Julie Garey specializes in international relations, US foreign policy and national security, and international organizations. Her courses offer extensive experiential learning opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom. All courses ar…

Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Associate Director, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director, Master of Public Administration

Linda Kowalcky teaches public policy, public administration, and works with the school’s internship programs. Her career includes senior positions in government as well as academia. Most recently, Linda served as liaison to higher education to former…

Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, Master of Public Policy Program; Director, MS in Engineering and Public Policy

Associate Teaching Professor, Director of M.S. Enviornmental Science and Policy program

Ben Dittbrenner is the director of the M.S. Environmental Science and Policy program. He is interested in exploring non-traditional approaches to promote habitat enhancement and maintenance, increase ecosystem resilience, and reduced effects of clima…

Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director of Participatory Modeling and Data Science; Director, MS in Urban Informatics Program; Co-Director of NULab for Digital Humanities and Computational Social Science

Moira Zellner’s academic background lies at the intersection of Urban and Regional Planning, Environmental Science, and Complexity. She has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in interdisciplinary projects examining how specifi…

Director, MS in Urban Planning and Policy & MA in International Affairs; Professor of Public Policy & Architecture

Gavin Shatkin’s research focuses on globalization, social equity, and sustainability in the rapidly urbanizing societies of Asia. His recent research includes a National Science Foundation funded project investigating the impacts of climate change-in…

Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Criminology and Criminal Justice; Director, Boston Area Research Initiative; Director, PhD in Public Policy Program

Dr. Daniel T. O’Brien is a leader of the burgeoning field of “urban informatics”, which uses modern digital data to better understand and serve local communities. He is Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Scho…