Keith Ihlanfeldt, PhD
DeVoe Moore Eminent Scholar and Professor of Economics
(850) 645–0075 | kihlanfeldt@fsu.edu
Keith Ihlandfeldt is an internationally recognized scholar in urban and regional science, having been elected a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International in 2009. He has contributed foundational work on housing segregation, job accessibility, residential mobility, growth management, impact fees, and state and local public finance. In addition to his academic work, he has conducted research for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Commerce, the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Federal Transit Administration, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and others. He has served on the editorial boards of leading research journals, including the Review of Regional Studies, Economic Development Quarterly, Journal of Urban Economics, and the Journal of Regional Science. He earned his PhD and MA in economics from Washington University and his BA from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Randall G. Holcombe, PhD
DeVoe L. Moore Professor of Economics
(850) 644-7095 | holcombe@fsu.edu
Randall Holcombe is a leading scholar on public finance and public policy. He is the author of more than fifteen books, including Political Capitalism (Cambridge University Press), Entrepreneurship and Economic Progress (Routledge), and Producing Prosperity: An Inquiry into the Operation of the Market Process (Routledge). He is a former member of Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, former president of the Public Choice Society, former president of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, and a Senior Fellow with the James Madison Institute. His scholarly articles have appeared in the economics profession’s leading journals, including the American Economic Review, National Tax Journal, the Journal of Public Economics, Public Finance Quarterly, and Public Choice, among others. Writing his dissertation under Nobel Prize-winning economist James M. Buchanan, Dr. Holcombe earned his PhD and MA in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his BSBA in economics with honors from the University of Florida.
Samuel R. Staley, PhD
Director
(850) 645-9694 | sstaley@fsu.edu
Sam Staley became director of the DeVoe Moore Center in January 2014 after serving as Managing Director from September 2011 to December 2013. In addition to his responsibilities providing strategic direction and supervision of center operations and programs, he teaches advanced undergraduate and professional master’s courses in social entrepreneurship, economic development, land use and regulation, urban policy, and research methods.
Prior to joining Florida State, Dr. Staley was the Robert W. Galvin Fellow at Reason Foundation, an internationally recognized public policy think tank based in Los Angeles where he worked on issues such as transportation system management and performance, public-private partnerships, growth management, and regulatory reform. While at Reason Foundation, he managed the China Mobility Project, traveling to China more than 30 times as supervisor of academic research projects on transportation policy and finance.
He has more than 25 years of experience in urban policy and is the author, co-author, or editor of five books on public policy and more than 100 professional articles and reports. His research has appeared in leading academic journals, including the Journal of the American Planning Association, Housing Policy Debate, Town Planning Review, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, and the Journal of Transportation Engineering. He earned his PhD in public administration from The Ohio State University, his MS in applied economics from Wright State University, and BA in economics & public policy from Colby College. He also studied economics as a Bradley Fellow in the Center for Study of Public Choice at George Mason University from 1989-90.
Crystal Taylor, PhD, AICP
Director of Research
Crystal Taylor joined the DeVoe L. Moore Center in 2019 as Director of Public Policy. Dr. Taylor brings practical and classroom experience into her role at the center. An award-winning instructor, she has taught a wide range of courses on megacities, urban development, land-use planning, sustainable development, infrastructure planning, and collective decisions. An expert on environmental and healthy communities planning, she has conducted greenway research with a focus on Safe Routes to School policy. Dr. Taylor has also conducted program evaluations and collaborated on plans for the Department of Education and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. She has studied in Japan and conducted field research in Ghana. Her academic research has appeared in professional journals such as Cities and Health, the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, the Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, and the Journal of Environmental Health. Dr. Taylor earned her PhD in urban planning from Florida State University, MS in geography from the University of Alabama, and BS in management from Missouri State University.
Monica Laughlin
Business Manager
(850) 644-9333| mlaughlin@fsu.edu
Monica Laughlin has been on the campus of Florida State University since the endowment of the Claude Pepper Center in the 1990’s. Prior to that time she served on staff with the foundation that endowed the Center at FSU and assisted in its transition to the university. She has served as Business Manager of the Pepper Center since 2005 providing support in the areas of project management, financial management, human resources and other activities and initiatives of the Center. In 2022 she assumed serving as the Business Manager of DeVoe L. Moore Center to provide the same means of support to the Center.
Shawntia Nicholson
Manager, Public Affairs
Email: snicholson2@fsu.edu
Shawntia (Tia) Nicholson joined the DeVoe L. Moore Center as the Editorial and Public Affairs Manager in the fall of 2021. Prior to this position, Tia worked as a legislative writing assistant with Gray Robinson, P.A., and as an editorial and marketing intern for Dzanc Books. She is an editorial assistant for The Kudzu Review at FSU, where she has worked with both Nonfiction and Fiction content. During the summer of 2021, she completed an internship with the U.S. Department of the Interior, where she focused on communicating about environmental sustainability and conservation. She hopes to continue this work with the USFWS office of External Affairs after graduation. She is currently pursuing her BA with a double major in Media and Communications Studies and English: Editing, Writing, and Media at Florida State University.