Elliot Stoller is an assistant professor of leadership and governance at the School of Government. In the role, he serves municipal, county, and state officials in areas of leadership, management, and governance. Stoller’s academic research uses organizational behavior to study executive branch governance and public sector learning processes. His applied work focuses on gauging and improving respect and trust between public officials.

Stoller is the faculty lead for Advanced Leadership Corps and Essentials of Municipal Government. Stoller joined the School’s faculty in December 2023.

Previously, Stoller has worked in state government as an assistant project manager for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as well as in legislative and constituent affairs for an Illinois state senator. He also has experience as a substitute teacher and as the co-founder and co-president of AMENDS.

Stoller earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s degree in sociology from Harv

Colt Jensen is an assistant professor of public administration and government at the School of Government. His expertise and research on local government management, rural governance, trust in government and public service motivation have been published in Public Administration Review, The American Review of Public Administration, and other journals.

As a member of the Center for Public Leadership and Governance, he conducts training and provides advice on leadership and management topics. 

Previously, Colt Jensen served as a faculty member at Georgia Southern University.

Jensen received an MPA from Appalachian State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. 

Kimalee Dickerson joined the School of Government in October 2021 as a faculty member in the management, administration, and leadership division and Master of Public Administration program. Her work will focus on advising on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She is an established researcher and presenter on on many aspects of equity in public administration, including organizational climate for diversity, antiracism and equity policies in public schools, and equity in water quality. In addition to her expertise in DEI issues, Dickerson specializes in community- engaged and participatory action research and adolescent and adult development.

Prior to joining the School, she served as a postdoctoral researcher with the UVA School of Education and Human Development and Equity Center. Dickerson earned an undergraduate degree in psychology & sociology and Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Virginia. In addition, she holds a Juris Doctor degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Dylan Russell is the executive director of Lead for North Carolina at the UNC School of Government and a co-founder of Lead for America. Lead for North Carolina has placed 28 students in high-impact fellowships in local government across the state. He has secured over $2.5 million in private support to advance Lead for North Carolina’s mission. Prior to serving as executive director, Dylan was a development officer at the School of Government, a policy analyst at the NC Department of Public Instruction, a fifth-grade public school teacher, a White House intern during the Obama Administration, and a member of the Board of Trustees at Appalachian State University. Dylan served as president of the Graduate Student Body at UNC and president of the Student Body at Appalachian. Dylan was awarded the Robert E. Bryan Public Service Award from the UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor and the Plemmons Leadership Medallion by the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees. Dylan earned a B.S. in education from Appalachian State University and is a graduate of the UNC Master of Public Administration program.

Russell currently instructs UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate students interested in public service, teaching the PUBA 401 – State and Local Governance course.

Anita Brown-Graham is the founder and director of the ncIMPACT Initiative at the UNC School of Government. This initiative seeks to expand the School’s capacity to work with public officials on complex policy issues including economic mobility, the expansion of prekindergarten, and extending the labor pool. In 2020, she was named the Gladys Hall Coates Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government at the School.

Anita previously taught at the School from 1994 to 2006, specializing in governmental liability and economic development aimed at revitalizing communities. Anita served as director of the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at NC State University from 2007-2016, where she led efforts to build North Carolina’s capacity for economic development and prosperity, working with business, government, and higher education leaders from across the state.

Anita began her career as a law clerk in the Eastern District of California. She is a William C. Friday Fellow, an American Marshall Fellow, and was named Distinguished Global Fellow by the Eisenhower Fellowships in 2021. The White House named her a 2013 Champion of Change for her work at IEI, and the Triangle Business Journal awarded her the inaugural 2021 Andrea Harris Trailblazer Award and named her a 2017 CEO of the year. Anita serves on the boards of several organizations, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. She earned an undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Obed Pasha joined the School of Government in 2020 as an Assistant Professor of Public Management. Prior to that, he taught at the Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s School of Public Policy, and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. His research into the adoption, implementation, and effectiveness of performance management systems has appeared in leading public administration journals including the Public Administration Review, Public Budgeting & Finance, Public Administration, and American Review of Public Administration. He has presented his work at annual conferences of the Public Management Research Association, American Society for Public Administration, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. His article, “Transformational Leadership and Mission Valence of Employees: The Varying Effects by Organizational Level,” received the Best Article Award for 2017 from the Public Performance & Management Review. Some of Pasha’s other areas of expertise include organizational behavior, policy/public evaluation, social justice, and strategic planning. Pasha earned a B.E. in electrical engineering from the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan; MSc Project Management and Business Development, SKEMA Business School, France, and a joint Ph.D. in public policy from the Georgia State University and Georgia Tech.

Charles Szypszak joined the School of Government in 2005. Prior to that, he was a director of a general practice firm in New Hampshire, where he provided counsel and advocacy for real estate and business matters. He provides counsel to state, national, and international institutions, organizations, and public officials on real property registration and conveyance laws. In the School’s master of public administration program, he teaches the introduction to law course and an elective on military leadership and public service, and he teaches an introduction to legal thinking course in the University’s undergraduate curriculum. He also teaches internationally, including in Poland and Lithuania, twice on a Fulbright award. He has been awarded the University’s J. Carlysle Sitterson Freshman Teaching Award and the School’s Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Teaching Excellence Award. He was an adjunct professor of law at Franklin Pierce Law Center, a law clerk for Circuit Judge Hugh Bownes on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and a captain in the US Marine Corps. Szypszak earned a BA from the University of Southern California, an MA from San Diego State University, and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Selected Publications

Books

The Law of Municipal Streets and Utility Easements in North Carolina (School of Government, UNC Chapel Hill 2019)

North Carolina Guidebook for Registers of Deeds (School of Government, UNC Chapel Hill, 2016 and supplements)

Military Leadership Lessons for Public Service (McFarland 2016)

Real Estate and North Carolina Law: A Resident’s Primer (School of Government, UNC Chapel Hill 2012)

Understanding Law for Public Administration (Jones & Bartlett 2009)

Eminent Domain for North Carolina Local Governments, Law and Practice (School of Government, UNC Chapel Hill 2008)

Real Estate (NH Practice Series) (LexisNexis, 2003 and annual supplements)

Articles

Privacy and Public Real Estate Records: Preserving Legacy System Reliability Against Modem Threats, 49 Urban Lawyer 355 (2017) (with E. Roscoe)

Local Government Registers of Deeds and the Enduring Reliance on Common Sense Judgment in a Technocratic Tide, 44 Real Estate Law Journal 351 (2015)

Socratic Method for the Right Reasons in the Right Way: Lessons from Teaching Legal Analysis Beyond the American Law School, 11 Journal of Political Science Education 358 (2015)

Property Rights, Public Records, and Risk of Loss in the United States Real Estate Recording System, 14 Ukrainian Commercial Law 88 (2015)

Teaching Law in Public Affairs Education: Synthesizing Political Theory, Decision Making, and Responsibility, 17 Journal of Public Affairs Education 483 (2011)

Just Compensation, Claims for Lost Business Profits, and Income Valuation of Real Property, Journal of the Polish Real Estate Scientific Society 81 (2010)

Ten Common Misconceptions about Eminent Domain, 71 Popular Government 43 (2009)

Real Estate Records, the Captive Public, and Opportunities for the Public Good, 43 Gonzaga Law Review 5 (2008)

North Carolina’s Real Estate Recording Laws: The Ghost of 1885, 28 North Carolina Central Law Journal 199 (2006)

Public Registries and Private Solutions: An Evolving American Real Estate Conveyance Regime, 24 Whittier Law Review 663 (2003)

Beyond the Rule of Law, 45 New Hampshire Bar Journal (Winter 2005), at 46

Property Law Reform in Russia, 44 New Hampshire Bar Journal (June 2003), at 13

Trying the Real Estate Case, 14 Practical Real Estate Lawyer 69 (1998)

Uncertainty in War and Litigation, Trial Magazine (May 1996), at 73

The Protection, Salvage, and Preservation of Underwater Cultural Resources in the Chesapeake Bay, 4 Virginia Journal of Natural Resources Law 373 (1985)

Tyler Mulligan joined the School of Government in 2007, where he counsels state and local government officials and their partner organizations regarding community economic development, affordable housing, public-private partnerships for development, and revitalization efforts. Mulligan launched the School’s Development Finance Initiative, which assists local governments with attracting private investment for transformative development projects, and has served as its director since 2017. Prior to joining the School of Government, he practiced law in Raleigh with Womble Carlyle in the capital markets group. Prior to private practice, Mulligan served as a Navy diver and JAG Corps officer. He is a member of the North Carolina State Bar. He earned a BA in public policy studies, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Duke University and a JD from Yale Law School.

Selected Publications

“The Power of Local Government to Address Problem-Property Issues” (Chapter 1) in Vacant and Problem Properties: A Guide to Legal Strategies and Remedies (Mallach, Bacher, & Williams, eds., American Bar Association, 2019). Fully annotated chapter available here.

“Economic Development Incentives Must Be “Necessary”: A Framework for Evaluating the Constitutionality of Public Aid for Private Development Projects,” Harvard Law & Policy Review, Vol. 11 (2017).

“Financing and Public-Private Partnerships for Community Economic Development” in Introduction to Local Government Finance (Kara A. Millonzi, ed., 4th ed., Chapel Hill: School of Government, 2018)

“Economic Development Incentives and North Carolina Local Governments: A Framework for Analysis,” North Carolina Law Review , Vol 91, No. 6 (2013)

Housing Codes for Repair and Maintenance: Using the General Police Power and Minimum Housing Statutes to Prevent Dwelling Deterioration, with Jennifer L. Ma (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011)

Inclusionary Zoning: A Guide to Ordinances and the Law, with James L. Joyce (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010)

“Toward a Comprehensive Program for Regulating Vacant or Abandoned Dwellings in North Carolina: The General Police Power, Minimum Housing Standards, and Vacant Property Registration,” Campbell Law Review, Vol. 32, No. 1 (2009)

Additional Publications

Chapters

Community Development and Affordable Housing in County And Municipal Government In North Carolina, 2d. ed. (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2015).

Local Government Community Development Finance in Introduction to Local Government Finance (Kara A. Millonzi, ed., UNC School of Government, 2013).

Local Government Economic Development Finance in Introduction to Local Government Finance (Kara A. Millonzi, ed., UNC School of Government, 2013) (with Jonathan Morgan)

Economic and Community Development in N.C. Legislation 2008 (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008).

Law Review and Journal Articles

New Periodic Inspections Law Brings New Requirements and Legal Risks, in The Public Servant, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Feb. 2012).

Local Innovation in Community and Economic Development: Stories from Asheville, Edenton, Kannapolis, Wilson and Winston-Salem, 34 Carolina Planning Journal 16 (2009) (with Will Lambe).

Monographs and Reports

Residential Rental Property Inspections, Permits, and Registration: Questions and Answers, Community and Economic Development Bulletin No. 8 (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011).

Asset-Building Strategies for Low-income Families (N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, February 2011) (with Yolanda Burwell, Jason Gray, Elaine Matthews, and Lisa Stifler).

Building Assets for the Rural Future: A Guide to Promising Asset-Building Programs for Communities and Individuals on the Economic Margin, (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010) (with Lisa Stifler)

2008 Legislative Action in Community and Economic Development, Community and Economic Development Bulletin No. 6 (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008).

Commerce in Governor-elect Transition Advisory Group Sessions. (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008) (with Will Lambe).

Military in Governor-elect Transition Advisory Group Sessions. (School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008) (with Robert P. Joyce).

Community and Economic Development in North Carolina and Beyond (UNC School of Government blog, administrator and contributor since 2009). See https://ced.sog.unc.edu/?author=3.

Teshanee Williams joined the School of Government faculty in 2021. Prior to that, she received a UNC-Chapel Hill Carolina Postdoctoral Program Faculty Diversity Fellowship and served as a research fellow with the UNC School of Government from 2019–2021. Her research interests include the application of mixed-method approaches for inquiries related to strategic alliances between nonprofits and the public sector as well as public participation in decision-making processes. Her career goal is to produce research that helps to bridge the divide between theory and practice. In her role at the school, in addition to advising on nonprofit and local government relations, Williams instructs in the UNC MPA program—teaching courses on nonprofit management, research methods, and program evaluation—and continue research on nonprofit-local government relations and issues of social equity. She earned her MPA and PhD from North Carolina State University.