Introducing dynamic educators, scholars, and researchers to the RISE.
The Research Institute for Social Equity is proud to announce the newest addition to our team, Dr. Luisa Nazareno. She is joining the Wilder School faculty as an assistant professor with a research focus on development, inequality, and social/urban policy in Latin America and the United States.
Get to know Luisa Nazareno, PhD!
What brought you to VCU?
I was hoping to be in a place that was known for research excellence, but also that was mission-driven. I wanted to be in an institution committed to increasing equality of opportunity. VCU, and the Wilder School especially, perfectly fit all that I envisioned.
What classes are you currently teaching?
I am currently teaching a Seminar in Urban Policy (PPAD 750) for Wilder doctoral students. Coming next year, I will also teach Economics and Public Policy (PPAD 716), Survey of Data Analysis Techniques in Public Policy (PPAD 722), and Seminar in Advanced Analytical Methods (PPAD 724).
What are your research areas of interest? How did you begin researching this/these topics, what initially piqued your interest?
My research touches on various aspects associated with employment, including employment trends and changes, emerging working arrangements, technology impacts on the workforce, and earnings inequality.
I was always interested in learning about employment because jobs are central to our lives. Not only do we spend significant parts of our time dedicated to our jobs, but the job outcomes (including wages and benefits) have numerous implications for our well-being and what kind of opportunities we can offer ourselves and our families.
However, employment became the center of my research agenda as I started to dig into the recent changes and learned about increased precariousness and insecurity trends in the labor markets. These trends are extremely concerning because employment is so central to our lives. I decided to dedicate myself to understanding these trends better and (hopefully) contribute to identifying ways to make jobs better.
What do you want the public to know about your research? Why is your topic important?
I would like people to know that there is nothing inevitable about these employment trends. Since the 1970s, we have been going through a deregulation trend and technological advancements that impact work. In that period, we did not observe changes in employment regulations to capture the reorganization of work adequately. This led to growing insecurity, flattening of wages, higher inequality, and less access to employment benefits.
We are now seeing more changes that may contribute to the increased precariousness of work, such as the expansion of the platform economy and new technologies (e.g., AI), for example. And, once again, there needs to be more done regulation-wise. One point I would like to bring to the public is that we must update labor regulations to ensure good jobs and not just any jobs. Precarious jobs are not unavoidable but are consequences of choices.
What is the most helpful advice you’ve received?
The most important advice I received was to build my own support team. Academic life is challenging, and it is extremely important to have people to talk to about these challenges. However, different people are best to talk about different topics, so having a team extends the support network.
Of course, because I have such a generous support network, I also make an effort to be present and helpful to others as much as possible. It is about empathy and building community. Academic life can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be.
If you didn’t work in research, what field would you be most interested in working in?
This is a tricky question because I am working on the career I envisioned for so long. If I didn’t do academic research, I probably would still be working on a research-related job.
However, if I had to choose something other than research, I could see myself working in an international organization on the implementation of development projects in other countries. Indeed, I had some experience working on that before pursuing a PhD, and it was certainly a job that brought me a sense of purpose, meaningfulness, and satisfaction.