About Dr. Downey

Davia Downey is the director of the Ph.D. in Urban Affairs program in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Memphis. Before this position, she served as the MPA Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Public Administration at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in research methods, emergency management, urban theory, local politics and governance, public policy, and public administration.

Recent publications appear in the American Review of Public Administration, Urban Affairs Review, the DuBois Review: Social Science Research on Race, Wayne State Law Review,  Public Integrity, and Law and Policy. She authored an edited book, Cities and Disasters (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press), published in 2015. She has also published work in Economic Development Quarterly, Perspectives on Federalism, and Risk, Hazards, & Crisis in Public Policy. She published a book entitled,” Economic Development and Disasters (Routledge) in Spring 2021 and has a forthcoming book, Local Governments at Court: How Cities Helped the Supreme Court Define American Federalism over Time.

In addition to her academic research, she has sat on several community boards, including the Non-Conforming Use Committee, Community Development Advisory Committee, and Housing Commission for East Lansing, Michigan.  Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors for BLDG Memphis and previously served as a board member and treasurer of Count MI Vote, the sister organization to the Voters Not Politicians Ballot Committee, which successfully reformed the Michigan state constitution in 2018 by changing the redistricting process in the state. She also served as the co-chair for the Scholars Strategy Network (Michigan state chapter) from 2019-2021.

Professor Downey holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Michigan State University, a Master of Public Administration from Eastern Michigan University, and a BA in Music Performance with a concentration in Human Services from Albion College.

 

Education

2001 - PhD Michigan State University: East Lansing, Michigan Examination Fields: American Politics and Public Policy Dissertation Title: “Wade in the Water: Race, Class and Hurricane Katrina.”

2004 - MPA Eastern Michigan University: Ypsilanti, Michigan Concentration: Public Management Capstone Project: Arts in Education: A Program Analysis

1999 - BA Albion College: Albion, Michigan Major: Music Performance Concentration: Human Services

 

Research Interests

Disaster and emergency management policy, comparative federalism, minority politics, public administration, state and local government management, and urban policy making

 

Current Publications

“Local Governments at Court” with William M. Myers (University of Tampa). Under review at Publius: The Journal of Federalism.  

Downey, D.C. & Myers, W.M. (forthcoming). “Diffusion in Times of Political Polarization: An Analysis of Face Mask Policy Adoption in the United States” Accepted for publication in the Routledge Handbook on Crisis in the Public Sector (edited by Tonya Thornton and Kimberly Moloney)

Downey, D.C. & Myers, W.M. (forthcoming) “The Impact of Tort Reform Liability Shields During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Hyper-Preemption in the States” in Metropolitics. 

Downey, D. C. & Myers, W. (2024). Effective communication in times of crisis: The case of face mask mandates in the United States. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 32, e12522. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12522

Downey, D.C., Wehde, W., & Harris, K. (2023). A Pedagogical Exploration of Horror as a Teaching Tool for Ethics Using the Case of Saw IV, Public Integrity, doi:10.1080/10999922.2023.227886

Myers, W. M., and Downey, D. C. (2023). Face Mask Mandates: Unilateral Authority and Gubernatorial Leadership in US States.” Law & Policy 45(3): 353–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/lapo.12229

 

Books

Downey, D. C. (2021). Disasters and Economic Recovery. London: Routledge Publishing

Downey, D. C. (Ed.). (2015). Cities and Disasters, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

 

Refereed Journal Articles

Myers, W. M. & Downey, D. C. (2021). Covid-19 Policy Executive (In)Action in Florida and Michigan. Wayne State Law Review, 67(1).

Downey, D. C., & Myers, W. M. (2020). Federalism, Intergovernmental Relationships, and Emergency Response: A Comparison of Australia and the United States. The American Review of Public Administration. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941696.

 

Other Publications

Governing Without Government. Urban Affairs Review, Urban Affairs Forum. (April 24, 2020).