Virginia Tech professor awarded HUD Urban Scholars Fellowship to study racial differences in first-time homeownership

9 Apr 2004

Casey Dawkins of Blacksburg, assistant professor in Virginia Tech's urban affairs and planning program in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), has been awarded a 2004 U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Urban Scholars Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Dawkins, a native of Gainesville, Ga., joined Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies in 2003. His research examines the causes and consequences of residential segregation by race and the implications of residential segregation for the design of regional governance structures.

Dawkins plans to use the $53,000 HUD award to examine factors contributing to homeownership transitions among first-time homebuyers and to examine the effect of residential segregation on racial differences in homeownership rates. He will be working with project mentor Ted Koebel, professor and director of the Virginia Tech Center for Housing Research.

Dawkins received his bachelor's degree, master's degree and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology.

As part of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, SPIA helps communities across the world understand their most critical problems and most promising solutions. SPIA addresses issues in urban and metropolitan development, environmental policy and planning, community and economic development, housing, non-profit organizations and civil society, international relations, information technology and society, globalization and international development, transportation policy, e-governance, equity and human diversity.

For information about the School of Public and International Affairs, visit www.arch.vt.edu/CAUS/RESEARCH/vchr/VCHR.html. For information about the Virginia Tech Center for Housing Research, visit www.arch.vt.edu/CAUS/RESEARCH/vchr/VCHR.html. For information about the HUD Urban Scholars program, visit HUD at www.oup.org/about/hudusfp.html.

The College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech is comprised of two schools, the School of Architecture + Design and the School of Public and International Affairs, and includes programs in architecture, art and art history, building construction, public administration and policy, interior design, industrial design, landscape architecture, government and international affairs, and urban affairs and planning. All programs strive to promote an understanding of the complexity of our environment and ways to improve that environment through thoughtful teaching and research in the design, planning, and construction fields. The college enrolls more than 2,200 students, offering 22 degrees programs taught by 130 faculty members.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.