Kennedy School Assistant Professor Xavier de Souza Briggs has been appointed deputy assistant secretary in policy development and research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C.

At HUD, Briggs will oversee the annual allocation of $20 million for building knowledge and devising policy to enhance America's metropolitan areas.

Taking leave after a year-and-a-half of research and teaching at KSG, Briggs said, "I'm excited to be called to serve at HUD, an agency in a 'recover-the-mandate' stage under Secretary Andrew Cuomo. There's pain but also promise for a large public institution undergoing such change Ñ and so much to be learned, protected, and pruned. I'm especially interested in the links between housing and job opportunity, the impact of devolution, regionalism, and new roles for 'community building' and faith-based community development."

Commenting on Briggs' departure, Academic Dean Fred Schauer said, "It is the nature of the Kennedy School's mission that our best faculty are likely at various points in their careers to spend some time in public service. The School suffers in the short run from their absence, but its teaching and research profit immeasurably in the long term from this kind of experience." He continued, "For Xav Briggs, this opportunity comes at just the right point in his career, for not only will the country benefit from his being at HUD, but we expect that much of his work after he returns will be informed by the experience."

In November, Briggs received the coveted Association for Public Policy and Management's 1997 award for best dissertation in policy research in any field for his dissertation on "Brown Kids in White Suburbs: Housing Mobility, Neighborhood Effects and the Social Ties of Poor Youth."

An urban planner and sociologist by training, Briggs' research at the Kennedy School focused on community revitalization and the links among housing, local politics, and job opportunity. To give his students a firsthand look at international urban policy in action, he organized a trip last spring to Cuba for Kennedy School students to observe changes taking place in that country since the loss of Soviet aid and how people cope in day-to-day living.

Briggs is co-author of a book on the social effects of community development, From Neighborhood to Community: Evidence on the Social Effects of Community Development, the first major study of the impact of nonprofit community development corporations on residents' lives Òbeyond bricks and mortar.Ó While at the School, he also led several major executive education programs for agents of urban change from across America.

Prior to joining the Kennedy School, Briggs ran a community and development planning project in the South Bronx which won a national award; taught at the New School for Social Research and Stanford University; and was a consultant on planning, public participation, and poverty issues. Previous urban work includes projects in Brazil and Central America.

Briggs holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School, and a B.S. in engineering from Stanford University.