Jason Reece is an associate professor of city and regional planning at the Knowlton School and Vice Provost for Urban Research & Community Engagement in the Office of Academic Affairs. His research seeks to understand the role of planning in fostering a built and social environment which supports a just city and healthy communities. He is a community engaged scholar, collaborating directly with local community leaders in in co-creating knowledge that serves our community.

His work on planning history and civil rights has focused on the historical and contemporary role of exclusionary land use policy and its impact on contemporary urban inequality. His work in health equity seeks to understand the role of housing and community development in supporting both physical and mental health in marginalized communities. At the Knowlton School I teach courses in equity planning, community development, land use law, planning theory and planning history.

His role as Vice Provost focuses on building support systems and relationships to support community engaged scholarship in Central Ohio’s urban communities. Working on behalf of the office of academic affairs, he collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to create a strategic vision for academic partnership with Ohio State’s local communities. He contributes to the university’s strategic focus area in external engagement, which seeks to forge strong, mutually beneficial connections with external communities. In this capacity, he manage Ohio State’s Office of Outreach and Engagement, which includes our seed grant program, symposia, professional development programming and awards.

Prior to joining the faculty in the Knowlton School, he worked in both academic and public sector roles. Most recently he was the interim executive director, senior associate director and director of research for the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. In addition to leading the Institute’s research portfolio, he acted as an advisor and capacity builder to foundations, non-profits, community organizations and government agencies in more than thirty states. He has also worked at a regional planner for the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments and as a planning and GIS specialist for Ohio State University extension.

Jason has managed more than $10 million in research initiatives. He is the co-editor of the book Community Development and Schools: Conflict, Power and Promise published by Taylor and Francis. He has 25 peer reviewed publications in the Journal of Planning Literature, Housing Policy Debate, Cityscape, Community Development, Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development, International Journal of Community Well-Being,  Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Health Affairs and the Journal of the American Medical Association – Pediatrics and other journals. He has also authored 13 media/web based publications, 95 technical research publications and was an invited speaker for more than 400 engagements.