JR DeShazo Appointed Dean of Sanford School of Public Policy

JR DeShazo has been named the Joel L. Fleishman Dean of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, effective July 1, Provost Alec D. Gallimore announced Monday. 

DeShazo comes to Duke from the University of Texas at Austin, where he has served as dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs since 2021. He holds faculty appointments as the J. J. “Jake” Pickle Regents Chair in Public Affairs and the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy. 

A distinguished scholar and public policy expert, DeShazo specializes in clean technology policy, environmental equity and environmental economics. He has been an advisor to the World Bank and the United Nations, as well as U.S. federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

DeShazo (pronounced de-SHAY-zo) will be the first to hold Sanford’s endowed deanship honoring the school’s founding director. He will succeed Judith Kelley, who stepped down and returned to the faculty at the end of the 2023-24 academic year. Manoj Mohanan, the Creed C. Black Professor and a professor of economics and research professor of global health, has served as interim dean since July 1, 2024.

“I am thrilled to welcome JR DeShazo to Duke as the inaugural Joel L. Fleishman Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy,” Provost Alec D. Gallimore said. “This was an extraordinarily competitive national search, with a high level of interest from a strong pool of candidates. I am confident that JR brings the right combination of leadership, scholarly depth, and energy to lead Sanford into a new and exciting chapter, and I look forward to seeing his vision implemented for public policy teaching, research, and impact. My deepest appreciation goes to Manoj Mohanan for his thoughtful leadership and dedicated service as interim dean.” 

Under DeShazo’s leadership, the LBJ School at UT Austin has grown its enrollment, increased research grants and expanded research output. He led the school to launch a new Master of National Security degree as well as the school’s first undergraduate program. A $10 million gift to the school in 2023 created the Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement, which provides experiential learning opportunities for students focused on leadership and citizenship.

Before joining the University of Texas, DeShazo spent two decades at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was the founding director of the Luskin Center for Innovation, which became part of the Luskin School of Public Affairs in 2009. The center is dedicated to environmental policy research that supports healthy communities and a sustainable world, with a particular focus in California, the world’s fifth-largest economy. 

Previously at UCLA, DeShazo served as chair of the Department of Public Policy and director of the Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. He was a five-time winner of the Professor of the Year award in UCLA’s Master of Public Policy program. 

“With its world-class faculty, talented students, dedicated staff and accomplished alumni, the Sanford School is well positioned to tackle the most pressing policy challenges of the 21st century,” DeShazo said. “I am honored to lead this extraordinary community as we work together collaboratively to elevate Sanford’s educational, research and policy impacts even further.”

DeShazo grew up in rural Virginia as the oldest of seven children and earned his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, where he competed on the varsity cross country team. He was the college’s first Rhodes Scholar, earning a Master of Development Economics at Oxford University. His Ph.D. in urban planning is from Harvard University. 

DeShazo’s appointment follows a nationwide search by a committee chaired by Kate Bundorf, J. Alexander McMahon Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Sanford School.

“The committee had the privilege of interviewing an extremely impressive and accomplished set of candidates for this important position,” Bundorf said. “JR stood out for his transformative leadership experience and his deep commitment to excellence in public policy research, training and engagement. I am looking forward to welcoming him to Sanford as the inaugural Joel L. Fleishman Dean!”   

Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy is among the nation’s leading public policy schools, and offers undergraduate, master’s and doctoral-level degrees in public policy, national security policy, public affairs, and international development policy. Launched in 1971 as the Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs by Terry Sanford — President of Duke, former Governor of North Carolina, and later a U.S. Senator — it is one of the oldest and largest public policy programs in the nation. It became Duke’s tenth school in 2009.