Director, Center for Economic Development
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

z.austrian@csuohio.edu

Ziona Austrian is the Director of the Center for Economic Development and a College Fellow at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs of Cleveland State University. She is responsible for overall vision, direction, planning, administration, and budgetary functions of the Center for Economic Development. Dr. Austrian has over 20 years of experience in applied research, project management, and technical assistance. She works with policy makers, civic leaders, and funders at the local, regional, state, and federal levels on projects and policy issues focusing on urban and regional economics, economic development, industrial clusters, high-tech sector, regional indicators, and economic impact. She also manages a statewide network of urban and rural universities that are collaborating to develop, maintain, and use for research and analysis the Ohio Economic Development Information (ES202) Database.

Dr. Austrian has been teaching a graduate-level course on economic development: plans and strategies, which includes economic impact modeling. Dr. Austrian has published several articles in refereed journals as well as book chapters. She is the author of numerous reports and working papers. She hold an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. in Economics from Tel Aviv University.

Areas of Expertise:

• Economic Development
• Regional and urban economics
• Industry clusters
• Industrial restructuring
• Economic impact analysis
• Role of urban universities in regional economies
• Strategic planning