Dr. Greg Schrock explores how economic opportunity is shaped in the labor market. His research investigates regional economic change and its influence on local workforce outcomes and social inequality. He studies the effectiveness of programs and institutions for promoting inclusive and equitable economic development.
Prior to coming to PSU in 2010, Dr. Schrock worked professionally as an economic development policy researcher in Indiana, Minnesota, and Chicago, and taught at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Since coming to Portland, he has engaged with local public officials and stakeholders to evaluate and analyze policy approaches that promote more equitable local economies.
He teaches courses in urban economics, regional economic development, community economic and workforce development. In and out of the classroom, Dr. Schrock strives to help students gain the skills and connections necessary to succeed academically and professionally. He was recognized as the Toulan School’s recipient of the CUPA Teaching Awards in 2012 and 2015.
RECENT PROJECTS:
“Opportunity targeting” and workforce development:
His primary area of research relates to planning and public policy for “opportunity targeting.” This entails efforts to direct the benefits of economic growth and development in ways that directly mitigate social and racial inequities at the community and regional scale, through policy tools like “first source” and local hiring policies. His scholarship examines how workforce development policies and institutions can foster inclusive economic development and social and racial equity.
Inclusive innovation, manufacturing and “working regions”:
His research examines the changing relationship between innovation and manufacturing production within cities, and the resulting opportunities for generating and sustaining middle‐wage, middle‐skill jobs. In particular, his work examines the institutional conditions that support the successful translation of innovation into manufacturing, and ultimately, inclusive economic development.
Human capital and urban distinctiveness:
His research examines how workers – especially younger, college educated workers – are choosing where and how to live and work. These choices shape the economic development of cities and regions through their contribution to places’ stock of human capital and talent, but also reinforce the distinctive economic, social and political character of those places, which is part of what draws people to those places.
RESEARCH AREAS:
Regional economic development, labor market analysis, workforce development policy, innovation and industrial revitalization, equity planning
What Professor Schrock has to say...
BEST PARTS OF JOB: I love being at a university that takes engagement seriously – Let Knowledge Serve the City! I love running into my former students and hearing about the great work they are doing in the community and in the world.
ON TEACHING IN PORTLAND: Planning is taken seriously here. Having lived in Chicago, it’s easy to become cynical because so much is based on politics and power. Those dynamics are here too, but planning in Portland is a very public and deliberative process about what people want their community to be. I think it’s been mostly successful, but we still have more work to do to make Portland a more inclusive and equitable community. I am excited by the opportunity to help with that, both by training future planners and through my own engaged scholarship.
ADVICE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS: To realize that school is a critical time to build networks and experience. Skills are obviously important, but you should choose a school that will help connect you to the network of people with whom (and places where) you want to work.
WHEN NOT TEACHING, I... Watch baseball. I appreciate the subtlety and strategy in the match-up between the pitcher and the hitter.
FAVORITE GRADING TOOL: Adobe Acrobat. I grade electronically, and don’t accept anything on paper.