Mary Donegan

Associate Professor-in-Residence

Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies

Mary Donegan joined the UCS faculty in the fall of 2017. She holds BAs from Wellesley College in Economics and Russian Area Studies, and earned her MRP and Ph.D. from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to UConn, Mary worked in research in the financial services industry, as a research associate evaluating housing policy at UNC’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies, and as a research assistant and visiting scholar at UNC’s Center for Community Capital.

Areas of Specialty

Local & regional economic development policy; economic development institutions; sustainable development; socio-economic inequality and economic justice; workforce development policy; entrepreneurship

Current Research Interests

Mary’s work is driven by questions of how local governments and institutions can leverage scarce resources to foster just economic and community development. Much of her research evaluates economic and community development policies and programs that state and local governments have enacted. Current research focuses on the efficacy of economic development incentives, the complexity of entrepreneurial ecosystems, the importance of policies that support “green” labor and industrial development, and the evolving relationships between research universities and regional development. To view Prof. Donegan’s publications and ongoing research projects, please visit her profile at researchgate.edu.

Twitter

@Dr_Donegan