Assistant Professor

Ph.D., Urban & Regional Planning,
  University of California, Irvine
M.A., Sociology,
  The Pennsylvania State University
B.A., Sociology & Administrative Studies,
  University of California, Riverside

Office: 309 New East
Phone: 919-962-4762
Fax: 919-962-5206
Email: nguyen@unc.edu



Courses:
PLAN 704  Planning Theory
PLAN 799 (64)  Diversity & Inequality in Cities


Research and Practice
Dr. Nguyen’s research interests center on issues relating to housing and community development.
Within this specialization area, her research examines planning processes and outcomes that affect
underserved and disadvantaged populations.  Her body of work includes research on: the relationship
between affordable housing siting and property values, the mobility of Section 8 voucher recipients,
residential preferences and segregation, and ballot-box planning in California, urban sprawl, and the
relationship between urban design and mobility.

In 2006-2007, Dr. Nguyen was a GlaxoSmithKline Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Emerging
Issues (IEI) and grappled with immigration dilemmas facing the state of North Carolina.  She is
working on a project that examines the consequences of local anti-immigration ordinances to
North Carolina communities.

In the Spring of 2008, Dr. Nguyen was selected to be a faculty engaged scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill.
In this role, she will work on an engaged research project with the Department of Community
Development in Durham to help revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods.  Currently, she is working
on an evaluation of various neighborhood improvement and targeted crime prevention programs in
the most dangerous neighborhood in the city.  This three-year project will enable city departments
to better understand how their policies and programs are transforming the lives of those living in
low-income, high-crime neighborhoods.

Dr. Nguyen has held appointments as a dissertation fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California
and a Senior Research Associate at the Solimar Research Group.


Professional Activities
• Paper Presentation: “Local Anti-Immigration Ordinances in North Carolina: Implications for Local
  Governance and Planning.”  Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2007.

• Reviewer - Journal of Urban Affairs


Selected publications:
• Nguyen, Mai Thi. (2007)  “Five Myths about Illegal Immigration in North Carolina.”
  Institute for Emerging Issues, NC State.

• Nguyen, Mai Thi. (2007). “Local Growth Control at the Ballot Box: Real Effects or Symbolic Politics?"
  Journal of Urban Affairs 29(2): 129-147.

• Basolo, Victoria and Mai Thi Nguyen. (2005).  “Does Mobility Matter? An Analysis of Housing Voucher
  Holders’ Neighborhood Conditions by Race and Ethnicity.” Housing Policy Debate 16(3/4): 297-324.

• Nguyen, Mai Thi. (2005).  “Does Affordable Housing Detrimentally Impact Property Values?  
  A Review of the Literature.”  Journal of Planning Literature 20(1): 15-26.

• Nguyen, Mai Thi. (2004).  “The Self-Segregation of Asians and Hispanics:
  The Role of Assimilation and Racial Prejudice.”  Race and Society 7(2): 131-151.

• Fulton, William, Rolf Pendall, Mai Thi Nguyen, and Alicia Harrison. (2001).  “Who Sprawls Most?
  How Growth Patterns Differ Across the U.S.”  Washington, DC: The Brookings Institute.