Dr. Prentiss Dantzler (University of Toronto) has been selected to receive the 2026 Best Reviewer for the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City Award. Dr. Dantzler is the first recipient of this new annual award.
The Journal of Urban Affairs and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City publish approximately 130 articles a year. These articles emerge from a rigorous review process of more than 800 submitted manuscripts. This award was created to recognize the contributions of exceptional reviewers, who play the essential role of evaluating the quality and relevance of each manuscript.
AWARD COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT
We are grateful to Dr. Dantzler for his commitment to excellence in urban scholarship through providing numerous and high-quality reviews for articles submitted to the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and the City. His timeliness and valuable comments have enhanced the quality of papers reviewed and published by our journal.
FINALISTS / RUNNERS-UP
The committee has the distinct pleasure of sharing that the following individuals were selected as finalists based on the number of reviews requests and completions as well as low average turnaround times.
- Leslie Martin, University of Mary Washington
- Henry-Louis Taylor, University at Buffalo
- Simone Tulumello, Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa
- Thomas Vicino, Georgia State University
AWARD RECIPIENT BIO
Prentiss Alan Dantzler is Associate Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of the Housing Justice Lab within the School of Cities at the University of Toronto. His research examines poverty, inequality and mobility, housing and community development, neighborhood change, and comparative urban policy in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, he held faculty appointments at Georgia State University and Colorado College and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Toronto. His scholarship on housing policy, urban inequality, and racialized processes shaping cities has appeared in journals such as Urban Studies, City & Community, Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City and Housing Policy Debate. His research has been supported by organizations including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Russell Sage Foundation, and he regularly contributes to public and policy discussions on housing justice, race and racism and urban inequality. He received his Ph.D. in Public Affairs and M.S. in Community Development from Rutgers University–Camden.
FINALIST BIOS
Leslie Martin is Professor of Sociology at the University of Mary Washington. Her work focuses on housing, neighborhoods, homelessness and gentrification. She was the founding director of UMW’s Center for Community Engagement, as well as the founder of the campus food pantry. Her current research is primarily public sociology: community engaged projects connecting undergraduate students and community partners to address local concerns and opportunities.
Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., Ph.D., is a full professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He is the founding director of the UB Center for Urban Studies and associate director of the UB Community Health Equity Research Institute. An urban historian and neighborhood planner, Dr. Taylor’s research examines Black social movements and the interplay among metropolitan city building, health, the underdevelopment of neighborhoods, along with Cuban Studies.
Dr. Taylor has authored or edited five books and more than one hundred articles, essays, and technical reports. His work has been cited in national outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, USA Today, The Atlantic, HuffPost, and Time Magazine, and he has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, CBS Mornings News, CNN, and MSNBC. He is the recipient of awards, including the 2018 Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award (Urban Affairs Association) and the Community Healer Award (National Community Healing Network). He is currently completing From Harlem to Havana: The Nehanda Isoke Abiodun Story (SUNY Press).
Simone Tulumello (PhD in Urban and Regional Planning; University of Palermo) is associate research professor in human geography at the University of Lisbon, Institute of Social Sciences, and president of the Portuguese Association of Political Economy (2025-2027). At the crossroads of human geography, critical urban studies and political economy, Simone is interested in the multi-scalar dimensions of urbanization, with focus on urban security and violence, housing policy and politics, urban imaginaries, with geographic focus on semi-peripheral contexts. Among his books: Urban Violence: Security, Imaginary, Atmosphere (with Andrea Pavoni; 2023, Lexington), Habitação para além da “crise”: políticas, conflito, direito (2024; Tigre de Papel) and Fear, Space and Urban Planning: A Critical Perspective from Southern Europe (2017; Springer).
Thomas Vicino, Ph.D. serves as the Dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, where he is also a professor in the Urban Studies Institute. Previously, he held numerous roles at Northeastern University, Wheaton College, and University of Texas at Arlington.
Dr. Vicino brings a passion for inclusive excellence to institutions of higher education. As dean of the one of the largest comprehensive colleges of public affairs in the nation, his leadership focuses on advancing opportunities through interdisciplinary research, experiential education, innovative programs, global citizenship, and lifelong learning with a record of building collaborative partnerships and civic engagement. He has held numerous service rolls in the Urban Affairs Association, including Chair of the Governing Board, and was inducted into the Distinguished Service Honor Roll.
An internationally recognized scholar of urban affairs, Dr. Vicino specializes in the political economy of cities and suburbs, focusing on issues of metropolitan development, housing and demographic analysis. He is the author or editor of five books, including “Cities and Suburbs: New Metropolitan Realities in the US.” Dr. Vicino holds a PhD and MPP from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as well as a BS from the University of Miami.
AWARD PRESENTATION
The formal presentation of this award will be made at the upcoming International Conference on Urban Affairs in Chicago, Illinois. The theme of this year’s conference is No Little Plans: Realizing Urban Futures in Times of Crisis. The conference will convene 1100+ participants from 55+ countries, representing 20+ fields of study. All award recipients will be formally recognized for their achievements during the Awards and Recognition Program on April 29, 2026; 3:00 – 4:15pm.
AWARD COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Ali Modarres, University of Washington Tacoma and Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City Editor (Committee Chair); Bernadette Hanlon, The Ohio State University and Journal of Urban Affairs Editor; Casey Wagner, Urban Affairs Association and Managing Editor of Journal of Urban Affairs & Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City
ABOUT THE URBAN AFFAIRS ASSOCIATION
The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) is an international professional organization for 1000+ urban scholars, researchers, policy analysts, & public service providers. UAA is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life. Through theoretical, empirical, and action-oriented research, UAA fosters diverse activities to understand and shape a more just and equitable urban world.
In addition to hosting an annual conference, UAA sponsors ongoing professional development opportunities; Upsilon Sigma: The Urban Studies Honor Society; a book series, Rights to the City, and two peer-reviewed journals, the Journal of Urban Affairs and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City. You can find UAA on the web, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Facebook, and X.
