James Carr has been named the Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair and professor of research in Wayne State University's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, effective August 2015.

"We have looked long and hard for the Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair, and we think we found the ideal person to be part of our increasingly strong and deep relationship with the city of Detroit," said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Margaret E. Winters. "I want to thank the Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair search committee and Labor@Wayne Director Marick Masters for their excellent work in concluding this search."

The Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair in Urban Affairs was endowed by former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, who served as the city's mayor for 20 years. It was established to recognize faculty scholarly achievement and promote the field of urban affairs at WSU.

As chair, Carr will teach and conduct research in urban-related areas; continue scholarly publication and research; and enhance interaction between the university, Detroit, the Coleman A. Young Foundation and the diverse communities throughout the metropolitan region.

Currently, Carr is a housing finance, banking and urban policy consultant and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He previously worked as the chief business officer for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, where he launched and managed women- and minority-owned business centers that assisted their clients to access more than $1.8 billion in capital and $350 million in contracts during his tenure.

As senior vice president of the Fannie Mae Foundation, Carr also developed and managed an urban policy research center, a research working paper series, and policy and practitioner newsletters that attracted subscribers from more than 30 countries.

He also was assistant director for tax policy and federal credit with the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and a research associate with the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University. Carr has been a visiting professor at Columbia University, an advisor to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Urban Affairs Project Group in Paris, and a consultant to The World Bank and International Finance Corporation.

Carr holds a bachelor of architecture with honors from Hampton University, a master of urban planning from Columbia University, and a master of city and regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania.