Arnab Chakraborty is the Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning and a professor of city and metropolitan planning. As a leader in higher education, Chakraborty is committed to supporting the next generation of architects, designers, and planners, and works to advance the teaching, research, and public engagement mission of the University of Utah. Previously, Chakraborty was an associate dean and a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Chakraborty’s work as a leader has made considerable impact. For example, as an associate dean at Illinois, Chakraborty was responsible for establishing a college-wide mentoring program for faculty, stewarding seed funding for research, and administering the promotion and tenure process. Chakraborty’s work also helped develop new guidelines for recognizing significant and sustained community engagement as part of a faculty member’s research portfolio. As a program chair, Chakraborty focused on academic success and overall wellness of students, as well as revising curriculum to address current knowledge and discourses as well as professional preparation. Chakraborty’s contributions strive to be both cultural and structural in nature and build from an overall strategy to advance the core missions of the college.

Chakraborty is an internationally recognized researcher, educator, and leader. of urban planning. As a scholar, Chakraborty is interested in impact of land use plans and policies, and in shaping processes that advance just and sustainable communities. Chakraborty’s research has been published in over 50 articles and book chapters, including five articles in the Journal of the American Planning Association, and supported by over $2 million in competitive grants. This work informs several ongoing efforts at national organizations, such as Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s Consortium for Scenario Planning and APA’s Foresight project. His article on scenario planning typology has been credited as the “backbone” of Federal Highway Administration's Next Generation Scenario Planning Guide.