CUPPA's work is vital to the mission of UIC and communities across the globe.

Research programs in CUPPA’s seven interdisciplinary research centers and institutes and two academic departments explore how communities can evolve to meet the needs of residents and improve lives.

Ensuring social justice, promoting access to transportation and services, providing advocacy for underserved populations, creating jobs in economically depressed neighborhoods, and improving government management and performance at all levels are just some of the areas our faculty examine.

The Department of Public Policy, Management, and Analytics is the leading public-sector source of research on critical issues of fiscal condition and financial management, in public administration in Illinois. Its faculty was recently ranked among the 20 most productive in the world.

Our faculty in the Urban Planning and Policy Department influence scholarship on cities and planning with their ideas noted in more than 22 books just this past year.  The faculty produced 10 book chapters and 28 refereed journal articles over the past year as well. Communities’ processes have been shaped by the work of our students and faculty, who are called upon to make recommendations by influential groups such as Chicago aldermen and the Chicago Transit Authority.

Our research has been funded by renowned foundations such as the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Woods Fund, and Chicago Community Trust, as well as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and U.S. Department of Justice.

In the Loop Heading link

In the Loop with CUPPA Research Centers e-newsletter features the ongoing research of centers in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. In the Loop provides a look at center work and projects.

In the Loop Fall 2023

CUPPA Faculty Areas of Research Expertise Heading link

Governance Economic & Racial Disparities Finance
Public Management Planning & Urban Design Property Tax
Intergovernmental Collaboration Labor & Employment Policy Informal/Gig Economy
Contracting and Privatization Immigration Policy Local Fiscal Policy
Networks Workers' Rights Sales Tax
Nonprofit Management Environmental Jusitce Business Tax and Incentives
E-Government Housing Policy Sustainability
Civic Analytics Neighborhood Disinvestment Infrastructure Financing
Transportation Community Organizing Public Pensions
Performance Management Economic Development Debt
Coproduction Consumer Protection Participatory Budgeting
Infrastructure Management Gentrification Banks and Lending
Diversity in Leadership Civic Participation

We're here to help. Contact Kelly LeRoux, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research Heading link