School of Planning, Design and Construction

Affiliated Programs/Initiatives/Projects: 

• Global Urban Studies Book Series for Routledge Publications (editor).

Laura A. Reese is a professor of Urban & Regional Planning at MSU. She joined the faculty at MSU in the Fall of 2005 as founding, and as of 2019, former director of Global Urban Studies Program (GUSP), a research and doctoral initiative focusing on urban affairs and public policy, globalization and urban areas, and comparative urban studies. Previously, Reese was a member of the graduate Urban Planning faculty at Wayne State University after teaching in the Master of Public Administration Program in the Department of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University. Her main research and teaching areas are urban politics and public policy, economic development, and local governance and management in both Canada and the U.S. Dr. Reese has conducted large-scale evaluations for the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Her research on sub-state economic development programs includes Tax Increment Finance Authorities and Industrial Tax Abatements. Reese has written several books and numerous articles in these areas, as well as public personnel administration focusing on implementation of sexual harassment policy.