Rate My Professor Deserai Crow

Deserai Crow is a Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, where she also serves as PhD Program Director and Interim Co-Director of the Center for Community Safety and Resilience. She earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Policy from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in 2008, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver in 2002, and a B.S. with honors in Journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1997. Her career trajectory includes Associate Professor at UC Denver from 2016 to 2022, and Assistant Professor positions in the Environmental Studies Program (2012-2016) and Journalism and Mass Communication (2008-2012) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Additional appointments encompass Faculty Research Associate at the Natural Hazards Center, affiliate faculty in the College of Architecture and Planning, and Concentration Director for Disasters, Hazards, and Emergency Management in the MPA program.

Crow’s research examines community resilience to climate risks and disasters, local and state policymaking processes, stakeholder participation and influence, environmental policy, natural hazards, and crisis responses, including Colorado’s 2013 floods, 2021 Marshall Fire, and COVID-19 policy variations across states. She co-authored the book Community Disaster Recovery: Moving from Vulnerability to Resilience (Cambridge University Press, 2021, with Elizabeth A. Albright) and edited Culture, Politics & Climate Change: How Information Shapes our Common Future (Routledge, 2014, with Maxwell T. Boykoff). Prominent articles include those in Policy Sciences, PNAS Nexus, Public Administration Review, and Review of Policy Research on policy learning during crises, visual narrative messaging for vaccine uptake, coalitions in disaster policymaking, and federalism in pandemic responses (2021-2024). Her scholarship has garnered the University of Colorado Denver Distinguished Honor Award (2021), Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Work Award (2021), School of Public Affairs Excellence in Faculty Research Awards (2021, 2023 honorable mention), Charles Redd Award from the Western Political Science Association (2016), and Paul A. Sabatier Best Conference Paper Award from the American Political Science Association (2015). Crow has obtained NSF grants and contributes to editorial boards and professional service in policy and political science fields.