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Dissertation: “Re-Creating the American West: An Examination of the Impacts of Creative District Policy in Rural Colorado.”

Jennifer Shelby is originally from Boise, Idaho, where she lived until 2015, when she moved to Colorado to study at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, with a minor in visual art in 2012 from Boise State University. As an undergraduate, she was introduced to community issues at both local and global scales through the humanities and economics studies. In 2013, her research on the cultural and economic value of farmers markets appeared as a chapter in the “Investigate Boise” book, "Local, Simple, Fresh: Sustainable Food in the Boise Valley." She again wrote for the “Investigate Boise” project in 2014, "Becoming Basque: Ethnic Heritage on Boise’s Grove Street," this time telling the story of public-private partnerships that shaped the development of the Basque Block in Boise, Idaho. In 2014, she received a master’s degree in community and regional planning. Her graduate research focused on the unique context of the American West and how that influences planning at urban, rural and regional scales. Jennifer’s current research focuses on economic and community development through creative industries in the context of rural western communities.