Deserai Anderson Crow, PhD
Professor
Program Director, Doctor of Philosophy in Public Affairs
Co-Director, Center for Community Safety and Resilience
Email Address: deserai.crow@ucdenver.edu
Primary Phone: 303-315-0146
Office Hours: By appointment
Bio
Dr. Deserai Anderson Crow is a Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. She researches community resilience in the face of climate risks and disasters, with specific focus on inequities, vulnerabilities, and cross-sector collaborative engagement in decision-making.
Within this body of scholarship, she specializes in local and state-level policy, including stakeholder participation and influence, information sources used, and policy outcomes. Dr. Anderson Crow’s crisis and disaster work includes National Science Foundation funded studies of community flood recovery and policy learning in the aftermath of the 2013 floods in Colorado, COVID-19 risk perceptions and behaviors as influenced by state-level policies, and recovery after Colorado’s 2021 Marshall Fire. Her ongoing research includes a study of statewide building codes for wildfire mitigation in Colorado as well as assessments of stakeholder needs in communicating complex climate, drought, and disaster data.
She earned her PhD from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in Environmental Policy. She also holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver’s School of Public Affairs and a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Areas of Expertise
environmental policy, disaster policy, environmental justice, public health policy, natural hazards, state policymaking, local government
Education, Licensure & Certifications
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Policy
Duke University
Master of Public Administration
University of Colorado Denver
Bachelor of Science in Journalism
University of Colorado Boulder
Awards
- 2021 Distinguished Honor Award for the faculty or staff member whose pandemic efforts led to outstanding service or research achievements of marked statewide or national significance, University of Colorado Denver
- 2021 Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Work Award, University of Colorado Denver
- 2021 Excellence in Faculty Research Award, University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs