Welcome to our newest graduate student cohort! Please find their biographies below.
Danielle Brown
B.A., Political Science, American University. Research interests: place identity; urban studies; feminism and feminist theory; race and ethnicity; social stratification/inequality; migration. Regional focus: United States of America. My 8 years working at Gardening the Community, a non-profit that grows vegetables for the surrounding food insecure community, sparked my initial interest in social justice and inequality. The experience led me to pursue a degree in political science with a concentration on race and gender. Between my second and fourth years at American University I worked as an archival research assistant for two and a half years on a project that investigates how the location of riots in the 1960s affect the racial and economic trajectories of neighborhoods in the subsequent decades. This past summer I have worked as an administrative assistant at U.Group on a Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs contract. My interests include writing, gardening, cooking, and working out at the gym.
Ellie Cleasby
M.A. (Hons) Sustainable Development (with a Geography Pathway), University of Edinburgh; undergraduate non-compulsory year abroad at UW. Research interests: sustainability; tiny houses; social movements; social practice theory; urban geography; sustainable lifestyles; feminist thought; more-than-human politics; mobility. I have participated in community-led sustainability projects in Costa Rica and Ghana which have allowed me to further develop my interests in sustainability and apply my knowledge to real world scenarios. While in Ghana, my team and I worked in collaboration with a local elementary school. This experience prompted me to earn a “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” qualification. My hobbies include: exploring new places; seeing live music; cooking; hiking; swimming.
Tyler McCrea
B.S., Urban Planning, Arizona State. Research interests: land use change, climate and society, landscape ecology, wildland-urban interface GIS, VGI, web mapping, and data visualization. While completing my undergraduate degree I worked with a few non-profits, including a high-speed rail advocacy group and a community planning council. Since graduating my professional experience includes work in permitting and zoning, and most recently, a position with Expedia as a digital geographer. My hobbies include biking, long walks with my dog, cooking and reading about political economy.
Ken Wolkin
B.A., Geography, Vassar College. My research interests include: the cultural politics & law of Native sovereignty; territory & territoriality; governance & citizenship; (post)colonialism; identity & identity politics and their function in social justice work/movement building. I am particularly interested in the experience of the Cayuga Nation & non-Native individuals living in their territory in Central New York. I spent the past 5 years working with the Worker Justice Center of New York in two different capacities - first as an outreach worker, visiting agricultural workers and sharing information about the law & their rights, then as a paralegal, working more closely with WJCNY's attorneys to litigate employment law cases on behalf of farm & other low wage workers. I enjoy cooking, the outdoors, ultimate frisbee, gardening, meditation, & hosting Couch surfers.