Announcements

2021 AAG Diversity & Inclusion Award awarded to Professor Jovan Lewis

December 17, 2020

Jovan Lewis, assistant professor of Geography and co-lead of the Economic Disparities research cluster in the Othering and Belonging Institute, is awarded the 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Award, from the American Association of Geographers (AAG).

Per the press release: "Within the AAG, Lewis is a key leader leveraging and amplifying Black Geographies, helping to lead the Black Geographies Specialty Group and successfully advocating for the inclusion of Black Geographies as a theme of the 2018 AAG Annual Meeting. Notably, Dr. Lewis is still only in the first decade of his career as a...

Italian newspaper ranks sociology professor and Geography alum Camilla Hawthorne (PhD 2018) among top women of the year

January 22, 2021

Italian newspaper ranks sociology professor and Geography alum Camilla Hawthorne (PhD 2018) among top women of the year

Italy’s most widely read newspaper, Corriere della Sera, released its year-end list of the world’s top women of 2020, and UC Santa Cruz assistant professor of sociology Camilla Hawthorne made the list at number 20 for her highly influential research into the Black diaspora across Italy and the Mediterranean.

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Two Berkeley Geography community members named to AAG Black Geographies Specialty Group Executive Team

February 9, 2021

Two Berkeley Geography community members named to the AAG Black Geographies Specialty Group executive team.

Dr. Camilla Hawthorne, Assistant Professor at UC Santa Cruz and a Berkeley Geography PhD, was appointed as Chair April L. Graham-Jackson, current PhD candidate in Berkeley Geography, was appointed as Graduate Student Representative

The BLACK GEOGRAPHIES SPECIALTY GROUP strives to create a global platform for: (a) promoting study of the social, political, cultural, economic,...

Graduate Student Erin Torkelson receives Best Dissertation award from AAG Economic Geography Specialty Group

April 10, 2021
Erin Torkelson has received the Best Dissertation award from the Economic Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers for her dissertation “Taken for Granted: Geographies of Social Welfare in South Africa.”

Geography Department Statement on Anti-Asian Violence and Racism

March 25, 2021

March 22, 2021

We are appalled by the spread of anti-Asian violence and racism this past year. This week saw the killing of 6 Asian women in the Atlanta area, as part of a murderous rampage that claimed 8 lives. Since the pandemic started, Asian Americans have increasingly been attacked and harassed with racial slurs, getting coughed and spat upon, and subjected to physical and deadly violence. From March 2020 to February 2021, nearly 3800 incidents of racism and hate against Asian Americans have been logged, and over 700 anti-Asian hate incidents in...

Geography Professor Jake Kosek awarded 2021 AC Excellence in Teaching Award

July 15, 2021

Professor Jake Kosek was selected as one of 2021's American Cultures Excellence in Teaching Award recipients, and is now featured on the AC Center website.

The American Cultures Center will also recognize Professor Kosek as a recipient of the 2021 AC Excellence in Teaching Award during the AC 30th Anniversary celebration on November 16, 4-6 pm at Doe Library in the Morrison Reading Room.

2021 AC Excellence in Teaching Award

Jake Kosek Geography 10AC...

Geography Professor Laurel Larsen explains how Data Science can help California's Drought in Q&A

July 29, 2021

Geography Professor Laurel Larsen explains how Data Science can help California's Drought in Q&A

California’s Drought is Getting Worse. In a Q&A, Laurel Larsen Explains How Data Science Can Help.

Rachel Leven

California is amidst a period of intensifying drought. As of July 8, Governor Gavin Newsrom (D-Calif.) had issued drought emergency declarations for 50 of the state...

Extraordinary Teaching Awards for Desiree Fields, Diana Negrín and Emily Weiss

April 22, 2021

Three Geography Department instructors -- Dr. Diana Negrín, Emily Weiss, and Prof. Desiree Fields – were honored with this year’s Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times award. The award recognizes UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and student instructors who embraced the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and engaged in or supported excellent teaching in 2020. These instructors and staff used innovative methods and worked beyond their traditional roles to ensure that students...

Geography Alum Kaily Heitz (PhD 2021) interviewed on how concepts of Blackness and Black culture are deployed in the making and marketing of Oakland, California

September 12, 2021

Social Science Matrix interviews Kaily Heitz on her work on Black Oakland.

https://matrix.berkeley.edu/research-article/a-photographic-interview-ka...

Faculty member Desiree Fields testifies before the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

October 26, 2021

Faculty member Desiree Fields testified before the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee this week.

Fields testified on the ways that private equity landlords are impacting the U.S. housing market.

For more, including a transcript of the testimony, see here.

https://www.banking.senate.gov/...