Graduate Assistant, Center for the Study of Diversity
doctoral student, Urban Affairs and Public Policy
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
Biography
April Davison is a doctoral student in the Urban Affairs and Public Policy program in the School of Public Policy & Administration. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Williams College and subsequently completed her masters of public administration from the University of North Texas. April tries to incorporate social justice into her scholarship, as well as utilizing a local perspective to policy and administrative decisions. Her research areas include studying housing policy, residential mobility patterns, and how neighborhood conditions and succession impact vulnerable populations. Her previous research projects included analyzing housing for aging individuals in Delaware, studying how community development can be used to lessen health disparities, and employing asset based community development to neighborhood revitalization. Her interests in diversity from a policy lens include understanding what are some the opportunities and challenges faced by government in planning for/ and accommodating changing population and social ideals. She is excited to contribute to the Center for the Study of Diversity where her she can help generate and transmit scholarship that drives diversity in practice. Her current research projects for CSD include working on a storytelling project that seeks to understand how socially significant categories shape experiences of inclusion and student success at the University of Delaware. Additionally, April is working on a ‘mapping diversity’ initiative that seeks to understand what physical spaces on campus foster inclusion and/or inadvertent silos.
April serves as an officer for the University Of Delaware’s Black Graduate Student Association, an organization dedicated to improving the status of people of African descent in higher education. She is also a BAF fellow, an organization dedicated to promoting diversity in the hazard and disasters field.