Manuel Pastor
Professor of Geography and American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California

This Could Be the Start of Something Big

Dr. Manuel Pastor is on leave from his position as Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is currently a Professor of Geography and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California where he directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and co-directs the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. Professor Pastor has received grants and fellowships from the Irvine Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and many others.

Dr. Pastor's most recent book, co-authored with Chris Benner, and Martha Matsuoka, is This Could Be the Start of Something Big: How Social Movements for Regional Equity are Transforming Metropolitan America (Cornell University Press 2009). He has also co-authored, with Chris Benner and Laura Leete, Staircases or Treadmills: Labor Market Intermediaries and Economic Opportunity in a Changing Economy (Russell Sage, 2007). He co-authored with Angela Glover Blackwell and Stewart Kwoh Searching for the Uncommon Common Ground: New Dimensions on Race in America (W.W. Norton, 2002). He also co-authored with Peter Dreier, Eugene Grigsby, and Marta Lopez-Garza Regions That Work: How Cities and Suburbs Can Grow Together (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), a book that has become a reference for those seeking to better link community and regional development.

Dr. Pastor speaks frequently on issues of demographic change, economic inequality, and community empowerment and has contributed opinion pieces to such outlets as the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Christian Science Monitor. He served as a member of the Commission on Regions appointed by California's Speaker of the State Assembly, and in January 2002 was awarded a Civic Entrepreneur of the Year award from the California Center for Regional Leadership.

This event is part of the 2009-10 CED Lecture Series. The lectures are free, and all are welcome to attend.