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Our research centers cover a broad spectrum of civic policy and social innovation. Faculty, students and community partners work collaboratively on complex issues to find solutions that have impact locally, and globally.
Click the name of each unit below to view a short description and reveal a link to their website
College academic centers
A partnership of The Innovation Groups, ICMA, and Arizona State University, the Alliance for Innovation has created the widest and deepest innovation based network serving local government. The Alliance brings professionals, local governments, academics, and private sector partners together to discover and apply the best ideas, practices and solutions to the challenges confronting local government and communities.
WebsiteHector Zelaya Center Director
Center Director
Bob Ramsey Executive Education is dedicated to improving the effectiveness of the people and organizations that serve communities. Through the center's programs and seminars, public service professionals can enhance their management and leadership competencies and can earn the Certified Public Manager®, Certified Municipal Clerk, or Master Municipal Clerk credential. The center also assists state, local, and tribal governments with the implementation of their staff development initiatives.
WebsiteNatasha Mendoza Interim Center Director and Associate Professor
Interim Center Director and Associate Professor
The Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy is a research and training unit within the Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions at Arizona State University, and a resource for government agencies and organizations that seek to improve policies, practices, and implementation of programs that support people affected by behavioral health disorders.
WebsiteJudy Krysik Center Director and Associate Professor
Center Director and Associate Professor
The Center provides an integrated and comprehensive approach to the continuous improvement of permanency, safety and services to vulnerable children and families and to the optimal functioning of child welfare systems.
WebsiteKevin Wright Center Director and Associate Professor
Center Director and Associate Professor
The Center enhances the lives of those living and working in the correctional system. It spans the boundary between those who serve in corrections and those who are served. The goal: a just and fair approach to corrections that repairs harm, restores people and promotes public safety.
WebsiteMelanie Gall Co-Director and Senior Sustainability Scientist
Brian Gerber Co-Director and Associate Professor
Co-Director and Senior Sustainability Scientist
Co-Director and Associate Professor
Arizona State University’s Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security brings together the vast knowledge and capacity available throughout the entire ASU enterprise to create innovative solutions for the mitigation, preparation, response, recovery and management of significant incidents or disasters – whether natural or man-made.
WebsiteKristin Ferguson Center Director and Associate Professor
Center Director and Associate Professor
The Center is a space in which faculty, students, community partners, youth and policymakers can work together on research, practice and policy initiatives for youth to enhance their educational, employment and leadership opportunities.
WebsiteBarry Bozeman Center Director and Regents Professor
Center Director and Regents Professor
The Center for Organization Research and Design (CORD) promotes, supports and conducts fundamental research on public, nonprofit, and hybrid organizations and their design, focusing particularly, though not exclusively, on knowledge-based and science intensive-organizations.
WebsiteThe Center for Policy Informatics is a translational research hub at Arizona State University that advances the study, teaching, and practice of the nebulous field of policy informatics to address complex public policy and administration problems.
WebsiteMichael Scott Center Director and Clinical Professor
Center Director and Clinical Professor
The Center works to advance the concept and practice of problem-oriented policing in open and democratic societies by making readily available information about ways in which police can more effectively address specific crime and disorder problems.
WebsiteEric Welch Center Director and Professor
Center Director and Professor
The Center for Science, Technology, and Environment Policy Studies (CSTEPS) serves as an international focal point for interaction among faculty, researchers, students and practitioners on ideas, problems and promises at the nexus of science, technology and the environment. Their work focuses on the study of science as a social phenomenon--science as the core of things that happen technologically, environmentally and through policy.
WebsiteAnthony Grubesic Professor and Center Director
Professor and Center Director
CSRPA promotes transdisciplinary approaches to problem solving, leveraging spatial analytics, geodesign and geovisualization techniques for enhancing decision making and improving public policy. CSRPA is structured to cross traditional academic boundaries, interface with the community and engage both the public and private sectors in promoting innovation.
WebsiteChristine Vogt Center Director
Center Director
The Center for Sustainable Tourism (CST) is devoted to studying the role of tourism in community development in order to strengthen its contribution to viable economic, social, and environmental systems.
WebsiteDavid Swindell Center Director and Associate Professor
Center Director and Associate Professor
A focal point for research on urban affairs, the Center for Urban Innovation is working to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods, cities and urban regions by promoting innovation in governance, policy and management. The Center also leads ASU's partnership in the Alliance for Innovation, an international network of progressive governments and partners committed to transforming local government by accelerating the development and dissemination of innovations.
WebsiteCharles Katz Center Director and Professor
Center Director and Professor
The Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety specifically evaluates policies and programs, analyzes and evaluates patterns and causes of violence, develops strategies and programs, develops a clearinghouse of research reports and 'best practice' models, educates, trains and provides technical assistance, and facilitates the development of and construction of databases.
WebsiteAlberto Reyes-Olivas Executive Director
Executive Director
The Pastor Center honors Congressman Ed Pastor and his legacy of service in Arizona and the nation—and serves as an inspiration for the future generation of leaders. Located in the ASU Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, the Center serves as a dynamic, student-centric hub of activity that promotes, publicizes, and encourages political engagement and public service among ASU students and the broader community.
WebsiteFlavio Marsiglia Center Director and Regents Professor
Center Director and Regents Professor
Institutions of higher education such ASU are generating scientific knowledge and evidence-based interventions that can produce lasting solutions to mitigate and address the root causes of unmet social needs. The Center serves as a bridge for universities locally and globally to help communities apply science-based interventions to solve pressing health and social problems.
WebsiteRobert F. Ashcraft Executive Director and Saguaro Professor of Civic Enterprise
Executive Director and Saguaro Professor of Civic Enterprise
The ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation is a global leader in advancing understanding and effective philanthropic and nonprofit practice as a distinctive community development strategy. Through research, education, technical assistance and convening the center focuses on advancing nonprofit leaders and philanthropists to solve problems, to realize a community’s highest aspirations and to accelerate social impact.
WebsiteAndrea Whitsett Institute Director
Institute Director
Morrison Institute for Public Policy is a statewide leader in examining critical issues for Arizona and the region, and is a catalyst for public dialogue. An Arizona State University resource, Morrison Institute uses nonpartisan research, analysis and public outreach to help improve the state's quality of life.
WebsiteRichard Knopf Institute Director and Professor
Institute Director and Professor
The mission of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Arizona State University is to provide university-quality learning experiences for adults ages 50 and over through diverse short courses and lectures, campus-based learning opportunities, and civic engagement initiatives.
WebsiteDaniel Schugurensky Professor and Initiative Director
Professor and Initiative Director
The Participatory Governance Initiative is a university-wide interdisciplinary space that aims at bringing together academics, students, elected and non-elected government officials, community members and practitioners interested in the theory and practice of participatory governance.
WebsiteRichard Knopf Professor and Partnership Director
Professor and Partnership Director
The Partnership works to build collaborative relationships among public and private community organizations to address critical community needs.
WebsiteJames Herbert Williams Center Director, School Director and Professor
Center Director, School Director and Professor
The Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center's mission is to generate use-inspired knowledge through Community Based Participatory Action Research on the cultural determinants of health in order to prevent and reduce the burden of health disparities in the overall quality of life of communities of the Southwest.
WebsiteOffices in the School of Social Work
Edwin Gonzalez-Santin Instructional Professional and Office Director
Instructional Professional and Office Director
The mission of OAIP includes the development of a site where American Indian research and grant projects can be coordinated and monitored to ensure a focus that is beneficial to the tribes and one that reinforces a government-to-government approach. The mission also includes recruiting American Indian social work students and faculty, mentoring students, and providing American Indian people with a friendly reception within Arizona State University.
WebsiteJose Ashford Professor and Office Director
Professor and Office Director
The primary mission of the office is to promote social work's contributions to the understanding of law and the legal system with a special focus on investigating child welfare, mental health, and criminal justice/law interactions.
WebsiteJill Messing Associate Professor and Office Director
Associate Professor and Office Director
Under the guidance of AmeriCorps mission "to strengthen communities and build leaders through direct, team-based direct national community service." This office's goal is to promote healthy relationships, to help domestic violence survivors stay safe in unsafe situations and ending the epidemic of domestic violence here in Arizona and nationwide.
WebsiteRobin Bonifas Associate Professor and Office Director
Associate Professor and Office Director
The Office of Gerontological and Interprofessional Initiatives (OGII) was established to support and promote the preparation of baccalaureate and graduate social workers for professional practice with older adults and their families.
WebsiteBarbara Klimek Clinical Associate Professor and Office Co-Director
David Androff Associate Professor and Office Co-Director
Clinical Associate Professor and Office Co-Director
Associate Professor and Office Co-Director
The mission of the Office of Global Social Work is to foster global connections and international relations by developing and sharing experiences and opportunities, good practices among social work practitioners, scholars, educators and students in a global environment.
WebsiteDavid Becerra Associate Professor and Office Director
Associate Professor and Office Director
The Office of Latino Projects is a social and economic justice resource center providing information, data, research, and policy analysis about issues affecting the Latino population in the U.S. and Southwest border communities.
WebsiteJose Ashford Professor and Office Director
Professor and Office Director
The Office of Offender Diversion and Sentencing Solutions (OODSS) promotes the use of scientific evidence in designing and evaluating sentencing policies and practices for pre-booking and post-booking diversion programs, pre-sentence and post-conviction proceedings, and offender reentry programs for adult and juvenile offenders.
WebsiteDominique Roe-Sepowitz Associate Professor and Office Director
Associate Professor and Office Director
The goal of the STIR office is to be a central source of research on domestic sex trafficking which will inform the decisions made by those who contact victims and perpetrators of sex trafficking including law enforcement and prosecutors, educators, medical services and social services.
WebsiteDavid Becerra Associate Professor and Collaborative Director
Associate Professor and Collaborative Director
SCIIP is a laboratory for sharing ideas and research projects done in and with the community, with projects falling under one of five divisions. Although “collaborative” is typically used as an adjective, it is used here as a noun, known as the Collaborative.
WebsiteExecutive Director and Saguaro Professor of Civic Enterprise
Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation
Associate Professor and Collaborative Director
Office of Latino Projects; Southwest Collaborative on Immigration, Inequality and Poverty
Center Director and Associate Professor
Center for Human Capital and Youth Development
Co-Director and Senior Sustainability Scientist
Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security
Co-Director and Associate Professor
Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security
Instructional Professional and Office Director
Office of American Indian projects
Institute Director and Professor
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; Partnership for Community Development
Interim Center Director and Associate Professor
Center for Applied Behavioral Health
Executive Director
Congressman Ed Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service
Associate Professor and Office Director
Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research
Center Director and Professor
Center for Science, Technology, and Environment Policy Studies
Center Director, School Director and Professor
Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center; School of Social Work