Deirdre A. Oakley is a Professor of Sociology and an affiliated faculty member of the Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. She was born in New Haven, CT and spent most of her growing up years in Williamstown, MA. Her research focuses on how urban social and racial disadvantages are often compounded by geographic spatial arrangements, much of which are embedded in historical legacies. She recently completed a successful three-year term as the Editor in Chief of City & Community, the flagship journal of Urban Sociology. Dr. Oakley has provided Congressional Testimony about public housing to the Financial Services Committee. She received her B.A. in American History from Bowdoin College, M.A. in Urban Geography and Ph.D. in Sociology from University at Albany, State University of New York.