Nate Ela

Nate Ela is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Law, and a faculty affiliate in the Department of Sociology. He teaches on topics including land use, law and political economy, urban inequality, and judicial politics. Prior to joining the UC faculty he was a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation and taught at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Lasell College, and Harvard Law School.

Professor Ela writes on land use, inequality, and democracy in American cities. He is completing his first book, Fix the City, which explains why urban social reformers have repeatedly sought to address poverty and unemployment by letting people in need use but not own idle property. He also writes on past and present efforts to make voting a duty in municipal elections. In research for his second book, Ela is tracing links between the science of cities and policy projects to bolster urban resilience. His articles have appeared or are forthcoming in the Fordham Urban Law Journal, Howard Law Journal, Law & Social Inquiry, Social Problems, Social Science History, and the Washington University Law Review. Ela's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Social Science Research Council, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the UC Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Advancement Program.

Ela’s practice experience includes work on state and local legislation, as well as international human rights. He was part of a team that founded an online library of model laws for U.S. states and cities, which helped lay the groundwork for the State Innovation Exchange and ProGov21. As a fellow at Harvard’s International Human Rights Clinic, he supervised student work on cases brought under the Alien Tort Statute. He has also worked on projects to foster a robust multi-party democracy in the United States, and to reform food and agriculture policies in the U.S. and Colombia.

Education

• M.S. 2012; Ph.D. 2018 University of Wisconsin-Madison (2010 — 2018)
• J.D., cum laude Harvard Law School (2004 — 2007)
• B.A. Columbia University in the City of New York (1996 — 2000)

Companies

• Asisstant Professor of Political Science and Law University of Cincinnati (2020)
• Visiting Scholar American Bar Foundation (2017 — 2020)
• Instructor Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (2019 — 2019)
• Project Assistant Center on Wisconsin Strategy (2010 — 2016)
• Adjunct Professor of Sociology Lasell College (2015 — 2015)
• Project Assistant American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) (2011 — 2014)
• Researcher Grupo Semillas (2008 — 2009)
• Henigson Human Rights Fellow Harvard Law School (2008 — 2009)
• Clinical Litigation Fellow Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic (2007 — 2008)