Associate Instructional Professor, Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization (CEGU)
rlodato@uchicago.edu↗

Raymond Lodato is a Lecturer in the Environmental and Urban Studies and Public Policy Studies programs at the University of Chicago.  Dr. Lodato teaches courses on environmental policy, law, and politics, as well as urban sustainability. He has presented at numerous conferences and given talks to a wide variety of academic and general audiences, addressing topics ranging from Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si, comparative urban sustainability policy, and money in politics.  He is the Principal Investigator of the Study of Non-Voters in America, a study of why eligible Americans in swing states choose not to participate in high-profile elections.  The pilot project for this study was sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation and received generous support from the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.   Additionally,  Lodato is currently completing a study by the late Dr. William J. Grimshaw on the obstacles to political and socioeconomic mobility faced by African-Americans in Chicago in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Possessing an extensive background in survey research, Dr. Lodato has conducted research projects for the NAACP, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  For ten years, he served as Project Director for the Washington State Achievers Longitudinal Survey and Tracking Study, a survey of low-income scholarship recipients and applicants, that examined their career and life outcomes.  He has served on the selection committee of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship at the University of Chicago, and worked closely with the University’s Office of Civic Engagement when serving as an aide to three Chicago aldermen.

Dr. Lodato received his Ph.D. and A.M. degrees in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He earned his B.A. at Manhattan College in Government and Peace Studies and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.