Joshua Uebelherr

I began a new role in 2026 at the Arizona State University School of Public Affairs as an Assistant Teaching Professor, a full-time faculty appointment within the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. In this role, I teach a 4/4/2 course load — ten courses per year — in public administration, public policy, and emergency management across undergraduate and graduate programs in multiple modalities, including in-person, online, and hybrid instruction on the Downtown Phoenix and Tempe campuses. I also mentor students and adjunct instructors, contribute to program assessment and curriculum development, and dedicate 20% of my effort to service through committee work, program events, and collaborative initiatives at the school, college, university, and professional levels.

After completing my doctorate, I balanced faculty teaching, research, and public sector leadership. From 2018 to 2022, I served as Senior Air Quality Planner at the Maricopa County Air Quality Department (2018-2022, where I directed emissions inventory development and managed special initiatives to reduce air pollution across the region. I then transitioned to the City of Phoenix as Climate Program Manager (2022–2025), where I spearheaded the creation and implementation of Phoenix’s Climate Action Plan. In this role, I prioritized emissions reduction, climate resilience, and adaptation strategies while ensuring that environmental justice principles were integrated throughout the planning and execution process.

I earned a BA with dual majors in Biology and Environmental Conservation: Climatology in 1997, followed by an MS in Ecology from Duke University in 2008, and a PhD in Public Administration and Policy in 2017. My doctoral work at Arizona State University's School of Public Affairs culminated in my dissertation, Examining Hazard Governance from a Complex Systems Perspective, which investigated how cooling centers within the Maricopa County Heat Relief Network reduce extreme heat risk. I combined qualitative interviews with network managers and practitioners alongside quantitative agent-based modeling to understand both the operational dynamics and governance structures that drive system effectiveness.