Derek Hyra Professor Public Administration and Policy
- Additional Positions at AU
- Degrees
- PhD, The University of Chicago
BA, Colgate University - Bio
-
Derek Hyra is a professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy within the School of Public Affairs at American University. His research focuses on processes of neighborhood change, with an emphasis on housing, urban politics, and race. Dr. Hyra is author of (University of California Press, 2024), (University of Chicago Press 2017), and (University of Chicago Press 2008). He is also co-editor of (Routledge 2016).
Dr. Hyra’s research has been showcased in both academic journals, such as City & Community, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Review, and Urban Studies, and popular media outlets, including the British Broadcasting Corporation, Chicago Public Radio, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He has also received several important grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He had been an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Academic Fellow, and an American Council of Learned Societies Fellow. In 2023, he received the Publicly Engaged Scholar Award from the American Sociological Association’s Community and Urban Sociology Section. In 2024, he received the Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award from the Urban Affairs Association.
Dr. Hyra strongly believes in professional and public service. He has served in several positions including board chair of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, member of the Alexandria (Virginia) Planning Commission, Obama appointee on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Council on Underserved Communities, and chair of the American Sociological Association’s Community and Urban Sociology Section. He currently serves as the President of the , , Editorial Advisory Board Member of , and External Advisory Board Member of . He also co-edits a with PENN Press. Dr. Hyra received his B.A. from Colgate University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Personal website:
Twitter:
Facebook:
- See Also
- SPA Department of Public Administration and Policy
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Fall 2024
-
PUAD-685 Topics in Policy Analysis/Mgmt: Urban Policy & Community Devel
Spring 2025
-
PUAD-685 Topics in Policy Analysis/Mgmt: Housing Policy
AU Experts
Area of Expertise
Gentrification, urban renewal, neighborhood change, inner city, metropolitan politics
Additional Information
Prof. Derek Hyra is a national expert on gentrification, housing, race, and urban politics, and he regularly contributes to national urban policy conversations. He has several noteworthy books on these important topics including Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City; Capital Dilemma: Growth and Inequality in Washington, DC; and The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville. He is currently working on his next book about urban renewal and unrest in Ferguson, Baltimore and Charlotte. Prof. Hyra’s research has been featured in print, online, and broadcast media outlets, including The Atlanta Black Star, Bloomberg News, BBC, CBS, Chicago Public Radio, C-SPAN, Fox5DC News, HuffPost, RFI, Slate Magazine, USA Today, Citylab, Nextcity, Governing Magazine, Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Crain’s New York, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Tribune, Voice of America, The Washington Post, The Washington Business Journal, The Washington City Paper, The Washingtonian, WAMU, WPFW, and WHUR. You can listen to Prof. Hyra discuss some of his research here: https://www.derekhyra.com/video-archive
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.