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Myron Orfield
Executive Director
Ph: 612.625.7976
orfield@umn.edu
Myron Orfield has become “the most influential social demographer in America's burgeoning regional movement,” wrote Neal Peirce in a syndicated column in spring 2002. Orfield is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and is the Executive Director of the Institute on Race and Poverty. In 2005-2006, he was named the Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs. He is an authority on civil rights, state and local government, state and local finance, land use, questions of regional governance, and the legislative process. To see his full list of publications or download his CV, please visit Orfield's law school profile.
Orfield’s most recent book, American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality, was published by the Brookings Institution Press in March 2002. This work provides an eye-opening analysis of the economic, racial, environmental, and political trends of the 25 largest metropolitan regions in the United States. Orfield’s groundbreaking first book, Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability (Brookings Institution Press: 1997), redefined the field of regional studies. Orfield and his research have been featured on PBS’ “The Newshour, ABC News’ “Nightline,” National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” and “Morning Edition,” US News and World Report, Business Week, The National Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.
Orfield served five terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and one term in the State Senate, authoring a series of sweeping laws that brought about metropolitan reform that created the nation’s most substantial regional government and reformed land use and fiscal equity laws in the Twin Cities area. He works with local land use organizations across the nation, making the case for regional approaches to metropolitan governance.
Orfield is a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Institution, and serves on the board of the Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. He has served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Improving the Future of U.S. Cities and the Policy Council of the Association of Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM). He served on the directorate of the American Planning Association’s (APA) Growing Smart Project and drafted the APA’s uniform regional tax equity statute. Orfield has written broadly in legal and planning journals in the areas of growth management, state and local finance, and regional governance.
Orfield has a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota, conducted graduate work at Princeton University and earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago, where he served as a member of the law review. After working as a law clerk for a federal appellate judge, Orfield was appointed Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota and appeared in significant cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and state and federal appellate courts. He also has practiced in the private sector. He lives with his family in Minneapolis.
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Thomas Luce
Director of Research
Ph: 612.625.5344
tluce@umn.edu
Thomas Luce, IRP’s Research Director has a 20-year record of research on economic development and fiscal issues in American metropolitan areas. His work includes three (co-authored) books on economic and fiscal issues in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, quantitative analysis of the effects of tax rate disparities on metropolitan growth patterns, research on the Twin Cities Fiscal Disparities Tax-base Sharing Program, and various pieces on other aspects of economic development in metropolitan areas. Luce received his BA from Swarthmore College, has an MS from the University of London, and a PhD in public policy from the University of Pennsylvania.
Luce has contributed substantially to the development of comprehensive measures of local government fiscal capacity, rigorous methods of classifying suburban communities and simulating of the effects of hypothetical tax-base sharing in metropolitan areas. His contributions will strengthen IRP’s efforts to understand the social and fiscal dynamics of metro areas and broaden the scope of IRP’s work.
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Geneva Finn
Research Fellow
Ph: 612-626-1182
finn0068@umn.edu
Geneva graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2007. Previously, she was a law clerk at the federal public defenders office and with Legal Aid of Northeastern Minnesota. Currently, Geneva is focusing on school desegregation work with IRP.
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Baris Gumus-Dawes
Research Fellow
Ph: 612-625-2872
bdawes@umn.edu
Baris develops and conducts research projects with the Institute. She joins IRP after having worked with a number of local Twin Cities organizations. She has served as a Policy Analyst for the Minnesota Housing Partnership and worked with Ameregis, Inc. as a Research Associate. In addition, she has served as a Researcher and Assistant Producer for Minnesota Public Radio. Baris holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University as well as a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
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Eric Myott
Research Fellow
Ph: 612.625.2866
myott001@umn.edu
Eric Myott conducts and develops research at IRP Previously, he worked with the Institute as a GIS Specialist. Before joining IRP Eric worked on Neighborhood Planning for Community Revitalization and Sustainable Lakes Projects, as well as on projects for St. Paul Water Utility Maps and Engineering. He has a bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, and a Masters of Geographic Information Systems (MGIS) from the University of Minnesota.
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