Graduate Students

I have been fortunate to have worked with amazing graduate students. Below you can read about the lab and see a list of current and previous students whose graduate committees I have chaired in both Geography and Sustainable Communities.

Graduate Student Lab

I have greatly enjoyed mentoring graduate students and am always looking to take on new students. Our program does not have core courses in geography so I have created a lab with my students that focuses on critical geography and related social science. We read widely in a way that supplements their course work but also relates to their theses. My students have undertaken successful thesis research projects on varied topics, all with a strong theoretical framework and robust social science methods, usually interview and survey based. I am also on the steering committee for the Sustainable Communities Program and have chaired graduate student committees from that program, as well.

If you are a prospective graduate student, look over my teaching and research pages and reach out to me if you feel like my research interests align with yours and if this program seems like a good fit for you.

Regarding the lab, we typically meet weekly, checking in on classes and thesis work. We always read something, usually articles and books, but the students also distribute their work for peer feedback. Books we have read include As Long as Grass Grows, The Progress Illusion, Seeking Spatial Justice, The Metabolic Rift, the Conservation Revolution, and the Great Transformation. The articles we read focus on social theory, critical geography, political ecology, critical GIS and countermapping, spatiality, as well as topical areas related to climate change, adaptation, energy, conservation, and public land management.

The students have written exceptional theses. See below for who I have had the great pleasure of working with and their thesis titles.

Current Graduate Students

Sustainable Communities Graduate Student

Sydney Rittershaus

Thesis Title: Allegiance to Each Other: Fostering Accountable Community Organizations

Sustainable Communities Graduate Student

Kaya Foss

Areas of Interest: Work Time Reduction

Geography Graduate Student

Sara O'Donnell

Thesis Title: Diminishing Water Levels, the State of the Hydrosocial Cycle, and the Potential for Transformative Change in the Colorado River Basin

Geography Graduate Student

Griffin Franklin

Thesis Title: Community Land Trusts and Social Transformation

Geography Graduate Student

Hannah Kenyon

Areas of Interest: Social-ecological systems, local governments, degrowth and AI

Geography Graduate Student

Kaeli Wells

Areas of Interest: Beaver Reintroduction, Political Ecology

Sustainable Communities Graduate Student

Jamie Larson

Areas of Interest: Local planning, multimodal transportation, spatial justice

Geography Geography Student

Connor Scott

Areas of Interest: Disaster preparedness and response, city planning

Former Graduate Students

Geography

Sydney Andersen

Thesis Title: Pathways to transformation: A cultural analysis of worker cooperatives in the United States and their current potential in a degrowth movement

Sustainable Communities

Kayla Gundrup

Thesis Title: Growth and climate adaptation in the American Southwest - can cities do both at the same time? Case studies from Flagstaff, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico

Geography

Anna Vaughn

Thesis Title: Learning from the past and planning for the future: Experience-driven insight into climate adaptation and land management strategies on the Colorado Plateau

Geography

Ailin McCullough

Thesis Title: Protected and Extractive Spaces:

An Analysis of the Convergence of Conservation and Mining in the Junín National Reserve, Peru

Sustainable Communities

Reilly Caldwell

Thesis Title: Understanding Limited Food Access in Mohave County, Arizona:

influencing factors, current realities, and potential solutions

Sustainable Communities

Ashley Conger

Thesis Title: Motherhood according to the state: analyzing the impact of incarceration on narratives of motherhood

Sustainable Communities

Madison Casselman

Thesis Title: Tiny Homes: Empowering Communities Through Accessibility and Sustainability

Geography

Will Cannon

Thesis Title: The mother range: investigating the power dynamics of climate change adaptation in an Arizona fire-prone contested landscape

Sustainable Communities

Heather White

Thesis Title: “Whiteness” and relationship to land: an exploration of culture and belonging with settler-farmers in Northern Arizona

Sustainable Communities

Molly Carney

Thesis Title: The Power of Maps: Utilizing Mapping as an Emergent Method for Food System Assessments

Geography

Patrick Sweatt

Thesis Title: Reclaiming the Mountains: A Lefebvrian Analysis of National Park Space during a Federal Shutdown

Geography

Weldon Ryckman

Thesis Title: Understanding Place in Sedona, Arizona, through Tourism, Spirituality, and Planning

Geography

Brendan O'Brien

Thesis Title: The frontier next door: how short-term rentals affect housing in western mountain towns

Sustainable Communities

Richard Maguire

Thesis Title: Addressing Poverty in Malawi Through Social Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of Mango Fruit Farming in Chipampha Village, Lilongwe, Malawi

Sustainable Communities

Kelly Slutz

Thesis Title: A Critical Analysis of Sustainability Strategies in Outdoor Industry Companies

Sustainable Communities

Fran Alvarado

Thesis Title: Tensions in Plastic Waste Reduction Policies: Recommendations for Flagstaff, Arizona

Geography

Olivia Rodee

Thesis Title: Analysis of Soil Organic Carbon Storage Responses to Juniper Encroachment into Grasslands in Semi-Arid Northern Arizona