In 2009, Thomas J. Vicino joined the faculty of the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He teaches at the graduate level in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program as well as the Master of Urban and Regional Policy (MURP) Program. At the undergraduate level, he teaches in the Urban Studies minor.

His research and teaching interests focus on the political economy of metropolitan regions; suburbanization and its environmental impacts; and globalization and the city. He is the author of the book Transforming Race and Class in Suburbia (2008) and co-author (with Bernadette Hanlon and John Rennie Short) of the recent book Cities and Suburbs: New Metropolitan Realities in the US (2009). He has also published numerous book chapters and research articles in top peer-reviewed journals.

Previously, Professor Vicino was Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. From 2006 to 2008, Professor Vicino was a member of the faculty of the School of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. From 2002 to 2006, Professor Vicino was affiliated with the UMBC Center for Urban Environmental Education and Research as a graduate student. At the Center, he pursued a research agenda that focused on examining the consequences of urban decentralization, including the social, economic, and environmental changes to the metropolitan landscape. In 2004, Professor Vicino and collaborators were awarded a research grant under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 Program to develop sustainable solutions for urban development.

Professor Vicino also worked for a large urban government when he participated in the Washington Semester Program – “the oldest, most prestigious, and well-known experiential education program in the nation.” In 2001, he served as a Legal Research Assistant for the Attorney General of the District of Columbia.

In 2005, Professor Vicino was appointed President Emeritus of the Graduate Student Association, a lifetime honorary appointment that recognizes his outstanding service to university governance in the University System of Maryland. In 2002, he was honored with the Frazer D. White Award for Excellence in Communication Studies at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.

Global education and international outreach are also important issues for Professor Vicino. In 2010, He will lead a group of Northeastern University students on a short-term, faculty led program to Brazil through the Dialogue of Civilizations program. The focus of the program is Brazil in the 21st Century: Portuguese Language, Globalization, and Sustainability. In 1996, he participated as a foreign exchange student in The Experiment in International Living program, in Xalapa, Mexico. In 2008, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Fort Worth Chapter of Sister Cities International.

Professor Vicino is near-fluent in Portuguese. In his spare time, he enjoys world travel, playing the trumpet, and photography -- as well as exploring good Italian food. He is a native of Washington, D.C.