Assistant Professor Kira Villa received an appointment in the Department of Economics at The University of New Mexico in 2014. Villa teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses that explore sustainable development concepts, models, and policy issues and theories of development and growth. Her research largely focuses on understanding determinants of human capital as well as its importance to economic well-being in the context of economic development and poverty, with an emphasis on child poverty. Villa is an applied microeconomist and specializes in microeconomics, development economics, and Econometrics.

Education

• PhD in Development Economics, Nutrition Economics, Applied Econometrics, Cornell University (2014)
• MS in Development Economics, Nutrition Economics, Cornell University (2008)
• BA in International Relations—Africa Area Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2002)