Visiting Fellows - Fall 2009

Lawrence Lokken
International tax expert Lawrence Lokken will be a visiting fellow in our Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in fall 2009. Mr. Lokken is the Hugh Culverhouse Eminent Scholar in Taxation at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He also taught at New York University, Northwestern University, Duke University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Georgia, as well as universities in the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, and Poland.

Mr. Lokken is coauthor of Fundamentals of International Taxation, Federal Taxation of Employee Compensation, and Federal Taxation of Income, Estates & Gifts, now in its third edition. Mr. Lokken has served as editor-in-chief of the Tax Law Review and editor of the Florida Tax Review. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

Sandra J. Newman
Dr. Sandra J. Newman will be joining the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center as a visiting fellow. Dr. Newman is a highly regarded housing policy researcher, who specializes in housing for the elderly and mentally ill. From 2000 through spring 2009, Dr. Newman has been the director of the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where she is a professor of policy studies and sociology. 

Dr. Newman has written numerous journal articles, research reports, reviews, papers, conference publications, and books—including The Home Front: Implications of Welfare Reform on Housing Policy published by the Urban Institute Press. Her coauthored paper “Homeownership for the Poor in Distressed Areas: Does This Make Sense?” received an Association for Public Policy and Management award in 2000.

Kenneth Couch
Dr. Kenneth Couch, a leading expert on disadvantaged groups in the labor market, will be working with the Income and Benefits Policy Center and the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population as a visiting fellow. Dr. Couch is an economics professor at the University of Connecticut, a visiting associate professor at Yale University, a consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Labor’s Office of Research, and coeditor of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. He also has taught Syracuse University and received his Ph.D. in labor economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Couch’s research focuses on displaced workers, economic mobility, and income inequality. He also studies racial and gender disparities in pay and employment and the effectiveness of the earned income tax credit, minimum wage policies, and employment training for welfare recipients.

Brian Holland
Brian Holland has more than 20 years of economic and workforce development experience in local government agencies and the private sector. As an independent consultant, Mr. Holland guides clients through community, economic, workforce, and youth development and education issues. He provides technical assistance on data analysis, partnership building, policy research, program design and coordination, and grant writing. His clients include community colleges, hospital networks, trade associations, foundations, and nonprofits.

Mr. Holland received his Masters in Public Administration and Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University. He has served on the boards of directors of Jobs for Virginia Graduates and NYC Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Holland will be joining the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population as a visiting fellow, and also plans to work with staff in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center.

Opportunities for Visiting Fellows

The Urban Institute invites distinguished scholars, journalists, and senior policy practitioners to join us as a Visiting Fellow for a semester or more.

UI Visiting Fellows may participate in ongoing research projects, collaborate in the development of new research, learn from and advise on Urban Institute work while pursuing independent projects, or play other roles of mutual interest.

Visiting Fellows are expected to spend at least half their time on-site at the Urban Institute for at least one semester. They interact regularly with staff in their host Centers, give at least one seminar or lecture per semester that is open to all Urban Institute staff, and participate in other UI panels and roundtables.

The Urban Institute provides each Visiting Fellow with an office, computer (with internet access and an email account), and telephone. Those who work on funded research projects or formal proposals may be paid as consultants at an agreed upon hourly rate. A very limited number of stipends will be awarded competitively (by the UI President) based on a Visiting Fellow’s qualifications and expected contributions to Center and Institute-wide activities.

Interested applicants should contact the Vice President for Research or Director of the Policy Center within which they are interested in working.

The Urban Institute embraces diversity in its work and workplace and encourages minorities and women to apply.