MARGARET PUGH O’MARA

University of Washington
Department of History
315 Smith Hall
Box 353560
Seattle, WA  98195-3560
(206) 543-2993
momara@u.washington.edu

EDUCATION

University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., History, May 2002. 

Northwestern University
B.A., June 1992.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

2007 to Present           University of Washington
Assistant Professor, Department of History

2004 to Present           Stanford University
Affiliated Scholar, Bill Lane Center for the North American West (2007-)
Acting Assistant Professor, Department of History (2004-2006)
Associate Director, Bill Lane Center (2004-2007)

2002 to 2004               Stanford University
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Study of the North American West

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1998 and 1999            The Brookings Institution
Guest Scholar, Urban and Metropolitan Policy

• Research on metropolitan growth management; urban economic development; regional governance; economic equity and spatial mismatch; welfare reform and the welfare-to-work transition.

1996 to 1997               U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Special Assistant, Administration for Children and Families

• Policy specialist handling institutional change after welfare reform; applicability of labor laws to welfare recipients; privatization; tribal welfare reform. 

1995 to 1996               The White House
Domestic Policy Analyst

• Policy specialist handling Empowerment Zones; community and regional economic development.

1993 to 1995               U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist

• Collaborated with state and local governments in Medicaid and AFDC reform; worked on health care and welfare reform legislation; child and family policy.

1992 to 1993               Clinton-Gore 1992 Presidential Campaign and Transition

PUBLICATIONS

Book:

Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley.  Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Chapters and Articles:

“The influence of foreign direct investment on land use changes and regional planning in developing-world megacities:  a Bangalore case study,” with Karen C. Seto, in Megacities: Action Models and Strategic Solutions, ed. Frauke Kraas, Günter Dill, Günther Mertins and Ulrich Nitschke.  Forthcoming 2008.

“Landscapes of Knowledge: History and the Evolving Geography of High Technology,” Places 19:1 (Spring 2007).

“Cold War Politics and Scientific Communities: The Case of Silicon Valley,” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, May 2006.

“Uncovering the City in the Suburb,” in The New Suburban History, edited by Kevin Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, May 2006.

“Suburbia Reconsidered: Race, Politics, and Property in the Twentieth-Century Metropolis,” Journal of Social History (September 2005).

“Learning from History: How State and Local Policy Choices Have Shaped Philadelphia’s Growth.” Greater Philadelphia Regional Review, March 2002.

“Moving Beyond Sprawl: The Challenge for Metropolitan Atlanta.”  Washington: The Brookings Institution, 2000.

“Barriers to Work: the Spatial Divide between Jobs and Welfare Recipients in Metropolitan Areas.” Washington: The Brookings Institution, 1998.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Silicon Valley Goes Global: the History and Future of Knowledge Economies.  Monograph exploring the role of U.S. policy in the development of high-tech regions worldwide, from the early Cold War to the present.

From Bangalore to the Bay Area:  Comparative Urban Growth across the Pacific Rim.  Analysis and modeling of urban growth patterns in rapidly growing metropolitan regions of China, India, and the U.S.  With Karen C. Seto.

TEACHING

Interests:   politics and policy; cities and suburbs; technology; higher education; sustainable development; globalization; the US West

Graduate Fields: United States History; Urban History; History of Science and Technology; U.S. Political History; The American West

Courses:                     

University of Washington
Left, Right, and Center: Party Politics in the 20th Century
Graduate Seminar: Comparative Welfare States
The City
The United States since 1877

Stanford University
Graduate Colloquium: The U.S. in the Progressive Era
California and the West in National Politics
Readings in Environmental History
Readings in Urban History
Cities in the North American West
Building Silicon Valley
The Suburban West

University of Pennsylvania
Can Cities Survive?
The Science of Politics: Who Gets Elected and Why
Urban Studies Fieldwork Seminar                               

INVITED TALKS

Include:          
University of Michigan Seminar on Metropolitan History
Knight Professional Journalism Program, Stanford University
College of Environmental Design, University of California at Berkeley
Miller Center Forum on Public Affairs, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
The University of Pennsylvania Urban Research Institute
Stanford Law School Environmental Policy Seminar
The Johns Hopkins University Seminar on the History of Technology
Shelby Cullum Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University
Newberry Library Seminar in Technology, Politics, & Culture
Commercialization of Knowledge Workshop, Stanford University
Social Science History Workshop, Stanford University
Center for Globalization and Information Technology, University of California at Berkeley
Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle

CONFERENCES

Include:
Policy History Conference (panel organizer, presenter, chair and comment)
Urban History Conference (plenary organizer; chair and comment; presenter)
Organization of American Historians (panel organizer and chair; presenter)
Social Science History Association (book roundtable subject; panel organizer; presenter)
Society for the History of Technology Annual Meeting (presenter)
Conference on American Planning History (presenter)

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

University committees

• International Regions Benchmarking Group (University of Washington)

• SR 520 Bridge Replacement Internal Working Group (University of Washington)

• Mentor, Haas Institute for Public Service (Stanford University)

• Environmental Faculty Group (Stanford University)

• Urban Studies Faculty Group (Stanford University)

• Faculty Advisor, Technical Women in Silicon Valley (Stanford University)

• Historic Values Index Group, Office of the University Architect (Stanford University)

• Program on Nonprofits, Universities, Communities, and Schools (University of Pennsylvania)

Conference organizer

• Direct Democracy in the West: Historical Roots and Political Realities, Stanford University, March 2005

• Starting West: The Region’s Image and Identity in National Media and Culture, Stanford University, February 2005

• On the Edge: Metropolitan Growth and Western Environments, Stanford University, April 2004

• Land Use Planning Then and Now: Learning from History, Stanford University, May 2003

Manuscript reviewer

• Stanford University Press; Island Press; University of Chicago Press; Routledge; Pacific Historical Review; MINERVA

Book reviewer

• Journal of American History; Journal of Economic History; Journal of Social History; Urban History; H-Net

Editor

• Electronic Classrooms on “The Cold War” and “Toward the 21st Century,” American Political Development Web Portal, sponsored by the Miller Center for Public Affairs and the American Political History Initiative (www.americanpoliticaldevelopment.org)

Teacher educator

• Visiting Professor, Era 9, Standard I (Postwar economic transformation of US), Tri-State History Consortium (MT, UT, WA)

ADDITIONAL FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS

2007                            UPS Endowment Faculty Research Grant

2006                            Environmental Venture Project Grant for Interdisciplinary Faculty Research, Woods Institute for the Environment

2002                            Urban History Association Prize for Best Dissertation in Urban History (without geographic restriction).

2002                            Visiting Scholar, Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley

2002                            Research Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects

2001-2002                   Miller Center Fellowship in Public Affairs, University of Virginia

Last updated September 2007.