Andrea K. Gerlak named director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy

After a comprehensive national search that attracted more than 100 applicants, Senior Vice President Betsy Cantwell named Andrea Gerlak as the next director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona. After serving as interim director since May 2021, Andrea assumed the directorship on November 1. You can see the official announcement from RII, and the announcement from the Udall Foundation.

Andrea is a research professor at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and a tenured full professor in the School of Geography, Development and Environment. She holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Arizona, and studies cooperation and conflict around water, equity issues in water governance, and the role of knowledge and learning in environmental decision-making. She has authored and coauthored some 100 peer-reviewed journal articles on those topics and co-edited two books. We are so excited to have Andrea’s leadership to guide us through this next chapter as we continue to implement the Udall Center’s mission.