Dr. J. Rosie Tighe, Associate Professor at the Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar. The Fulbright Scholar Program offers diverse opportunities for US academics, administrators, and professionals to teach, research, do professional projects, and attend seminars abroad. Dr. Tighe will spend six months in the United Kingdom at the University of Sheffield's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. "During my stay, I intend to pursue a cross-country analysis of public housing, focusing on shared and divergent policy approaches and how they have affected public attitudes about public housing," she shares. Through her research, she aspires to provide important information on how people in different countries think about urban planning, social housing, government subsidy, and ethnic and racial segregation and discrimination. "There is a rich history of comparative study across the US and the UK, and I anticipate being able to add to this literature by delving into housing attitudes,” she adds.

Dr. Tighe has spent the past decade researching and teaching concepts, policies, and attitudes related to government-sponsored housing in the US, with a particular emphasis on how communities view and treat "public neighbors.” Through her work, she has focused on how stigmas and stereotypes of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds interact with attitudes about government dependence, work ethic, and ideology. Since receiving her PhD in 2009 and having recently receiving tenure, she has sought to explore international study and engage in comparative work on these subjects in order to tease out the commonalities and differences across cultures.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Tighe will advance her interests in identifying varying opinions and international perspectives about the design, financing, location, and resident characteristics of social/public housing and the factors influencing those opinions. She is particularly interested in studying facets of minority stereotyping, class attitudes, opinions about immigrants, and ideological stances regarding government involvement in the housing market, and intends to further knowledge about these topics by comparing US attitudes to those in other countries.