Paul Jargowsky, associate professor of political economy at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), has been chosen as the new director of the university’s Bruton Center.
Dr. Jim Murdoch, who recently was named dean of UTD’s School of Social Sciences, previously held the position.
Established in 1989 with a gift from the David Bruton Jr. Charitable Trust and housed in the School of Social Sciences, the center conducts basic and applied research about the trends and public policies related to urban and regional development. Studies are carried out in such areas as concentration of poverty, land use patterns, neighborhood quality, racial segregation and spatial aspects of environmental and health issues.
Known as a leader in utilizing Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, a technology that provides information about the Earth’s surface via digital maps, the center performs grant and contract research with local, national and international organizations, has partnership arrangements with UTD faculty and creates learning opportunities for UTD graduate students.
“The School of Social Sciences is committed to maintaining the tradition of exposing scientists, policy makers and the world to important social issues,” said Murdoch. “I believe Paul’s appointment as director will continue that tradition and will help propel the Bruton Center to the next level as a premier research facility of its kind.”
Jargowsky received his Ph.D. in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and conducts research on racial and economic segregation, metropolitan development patterns and economic inequality. Jargowsky has been a visiting professor at Harvard and a visiting scholar at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His widely cited book, Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City, is a comprehensive examination of the growing concentration of poverty in U.S. metropolitan areas.
“I am honored to lead the Bruton Center,” Jargowsky said. “Through interdisciplinary investigations that link theory and advanced research methods, I believe we can continue to conduct both basic research that contributes to knowledge and applied research that has important implications for public policy at the local, state and national levels.”
For additional information about the Bruton Center, please visit www.bruton.utdallas.edu or call (972) 883-2280.