She’s changed the urban landscape!
Professor of Urban Policy and Planning Jill Simone Gross has been selected for the Mary Helen Callahan Distinguished Service Award of the Urban Affairs Association.
The association awards the honor to individuals who have distinguished themselves as urban-affairs practitioners and have created a legacy of research, teaching, service, and mentorship. Five individuals were selected for the award this year.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award,” Gross said. “The Urban Affairs Association has been a home for practitioners, activists, students and scholars like me. A creative and engaged space for those that are curious about all things urban!”
The award shows Hunter’s sway as an anchor institution in New York City, contributing high-impact research that shapes communities and policies.
Hunter’s Urban Policy and Planning Program has been making moves. Last month, it teamed up with Hunter’s Undergraduate Student Government to hold an onstage conversation with "The War on Cars” podcasters and blogger “City Nerd” that was an urbanist, city lover, and cycling advocate’s dream. The event raised more than $24,000 for Urban Policy & Planning scholarships.
Last fall, it sent four graduate students to study in Paris as part of an exchange program with France's leading urbanism school, the École d’Urbanisme de Paris. Meanwhile, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning Nicholas Dagen Bloom co-curated an exhibition on open spaces in the New York City Housing Authority.
Gross serves as the director of Hunter’s graduate program in Urban Policy and Leadership. Her recent research and publications explore urban and regional governance of economic development and migration in North American, European, and Chinese cities. As a community-facing scholar and educator, she has worked collaboratively with students, nonprofits, and local New York governments.
She’s also a student favorite.
“When I was looking for urban policy programs, Professor Gross convinced me within minutes that Hunter had the best program out there — and she was absolutely right,” said student Alexandra Hiniker. “As both her student and advisee, I deeply valued her extensive knowledge of urban affairs and her thoughtful dedication to helping me and my classmates get the most out of the program. I can’t imagine anyone more deserving of this recognition.”
Gross has taught at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York University, Sciences Po Bordeaux, Brooklyn College, and Queens College and has served two terms as governing board chair at the association. She earned her PhD in political science at the CUNY Graduate Center and an MSc in British government from the London School of Economics.
About the Urban Affairs Association
The Urban Affairs Association is an international professional organization for urban scholars, researchers, policy analysts, and public-service providers. The association is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life. Through theoretical, empirical, and action-oriented research, it fosters diverse activities to understand and shape a more just and equitable urban world.
The association sponsors an annual conference; ongoing professional development opportunities; Upsilon Sigma: The Urban Studies Honor Society; and two peer-reviewed journals, the Journal of Urban Affairs and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City.
