[geogu-l] New Geography faculty member

[RICHARD ROTH]

We are very pleased to welcome our new faculty member, Sarah Elwood

Sarah will be joining our faculty beginning in Autumn, 2006. Professor 
Elwood  earned her BA (Geography) at  Macalester College in  1994; her MA 
(Geography) at the  University of Minnesota in 1996, and her PhD (Geography) at 
the University of Minnesota in 2000. She has recently been teaching at the 
University of Arizona. Her research foci include GIS, urban geography, and 
qualitative and participatory research methods. Other interests include 
community-based GIS and cultural and feminist theory & methods.

By way of introduction, here is her brief autobiographical sketch:

My main areas of interest as a geographer intersect critical and participatory 
GIS, urban and political geography, and qualitative and participatory  research 
methods. My current research examines the social and political impacts of GIS 
technologies and the significance of community-based planning and local 
activism in shaping urban social and political geographies. I am now involved 
in a participatory research project with two Chicago community-based 
organizations in which we are studying the use and impacts of GIS in 
neighborhood planning and redevelopment, and trying to develop strategies for 
sustaining GIS capacities in small non profit and grassroots groups. I was an 
undergraduate in Geography at Macalester College, and then did my MA and PhD in 
Geography at the University of Minnesota. At all three places I was fortunate 
enough to work with faculty who provided great mentoring, intellectual support, 
and freedom, so that I could create some unusual intersections in my research, 
teaching, and service agendas. At UW, I will be teaching in both GIS and urban 
geography, at undergraduate and graduate levels. My teaching is strongly 
guided by a commitment to university-community collaboration as a key to 
fostering critically informed and socially significant scholarship, so my 
classes tend to include active learning and out-of-classroom activities, and 
'real world' research/outreach projects that collaborate with local partners in 
the community.


=================================
Richard Roth				Assistant to the Chair
rroth at u.washington.edu 			Department of Geography
voice: (206) 543-3246			Box 35-3550   fax: (206) 543-3313 
University of Washington
			Seattle, WA  98195


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 15:19:04 -0700
From: selwood at email.arizona.edu
To: RICHARD ROTH <rroth at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: courses for next year

Hi Rick,
Thanks for helping me sort this out, and for the answers to my other questions.
I opted to use the currext 360 text for next year, and Darian helped me get the
order done. Thanks for helping me protect the Wed mid-day time. I'll actually
need it protected in all quarters if possible. Don't worry...I'm prepared to
compensate for that inconvenience by doing 8 a.m. lectures :-)

We're off to a great start on teaching tasks, and I appreciate your help. As 
you
can probably tell, I block these things out pretty far in advance, and you've
given me the information to get going on those longer term items.

best,
Sarah

Quoting RICHARD ROTH <rroth at u.washington.edu>:

> Sarah,
> 
> I'm quite pleased with how things worked out between you and Tim for next 
> year, and thanks for being so wonderfully responsive and cooperative. Thanks 
> for the AAG listing and the bio. I'll be sure to keep mid-day Wednesdays 
> free for you in Winter--our graduate seminars are ordinarily scheduled 
> 2:30-5:20 anyway. To answer your other questions:
> 
> 
>> 
>> Here are a couple of questions for the future:
>> 
>> 1. How does the department handle textbook orders, and when would I need 
>> to
>> submit an order for Fall 06, when it looks like I might be teaching 360?
> 
> work with Darian on textbook orders. The first Aut 06 deadline was last 
> week, but she says there's still time if you can get it to her in the next 
> couple of weeks. You might consult with Tim & Darian on what he used, or 
> what we used this quarter, because there might used copies locally 
> available.
> 
>> 
>> 2. For the seminar in Winter, how do faculty typically handle the 
>> distribution
>> of readings for graduate seminars ? electronic reserves, paper reserves at
>> the library, course packet, or something else entirely? (Here, we use the 
>> 'mail
>> room' technique...stacks of readings in the mail room that students borrow 
>> to
>> make their own photocopies. Definitely not the most efficient way).
> 
> I'd suggest you consult with the faculty (via geogfac at u.washington.edu)as to 
> the ins and outs of course packets. I think most of them bring originals to 
> an off-campus copy center and they make bound copies for the students to 
> buy. There are also on-campus copy centers who will do that, but they are a 
> lot stickier about permissions--and they usually charge more than the 
> private sector.
> 
> 
>> 
>> 3. If I am doing the seminar in the fall, I will try to work up a short
>> paragraph of description later this summer, so that there is something
>> available to the grads as they are starting to make course plans for the 
>> year
> 
> OK.
> 
> .
>> 
>> 4. In terms of developing a field-based or active-learning urban geog 
>> course as
>> my 4th offering, how do these things come about in the department? Do I 
>> make a
>> formal proposal to the full faculty about a new course, or do I run it by 
>> the
>> urban faculty informally to see if they would welcome the contribution? 
>> Next
>> year, my plan would be to spend some time learning about the undergrad
>> curriculum and scheduling possibilities and university support resources 
>> for
>> such a course, and then start figuring out the structure and content for 
>> it.
>> Might be able to do it as 495 the first time out as a trial, then work 
>> through
>> the process for new course # and approval, etc. What do you think?
> 
> Doing it as 495 the first time through is the preferred route because you 
> can iron out the kinks and head off any very cumbersome title or content 
> changes if it gets set in concrete first. The way we proceed is to talk 
> informally with colleagues, then submit a proposal to the departmental 
> curriculum committee. They vet it and then submit to the entire faculty. 
> Once it leaves the dept, it has to get through the college curriculum 
> committee and then a university-wide curriculum committee. The college 
> committee is usually the sticking point if there is to be one. They are 
> particularly keen to get a signoff from any and all departments inside or 
> outside Arts & Sciences who may get bent of shape if they aren't asked if 
> it's Ok for us to offer the new course. This is largely a courtesy and a 
> safeguard against duplicate courses. We can help you figure out which depts. 
> we'll need signatures from.
> 
>> 
>> Okay, now the information you needed from me:
>> 
>> AAG guide entry:
>> BA (Geography), Macalester College, 1994
>> MA (Geography), University of Minnesota, 1996
>> PhD (Geography), University of Minnesota, 2000
>> Research foci: GIS, urban geography, qualitative and participatory 
>> research
>> methods
>> 
>> And here is a short bio paragraph:
>> My main areas of interest as a geographer intersect critical and 
>> participatory
>> GIS, urban and political geography, and qualitative and participatory 
>> research
>> methods. My current research examines the social and political impacts of 
>> GIS
>> technologies and the significance of community-based planning and local
>> activism in shaping urban social and political geographies. I am now 
>> involved
>> in a participatory research project with two Chicago community-based
>> organizations in which we are studying the use and impacts of GIS in
>> neighborhood planning and redevelopment, and trying to develop strategies 
>> for
>> sustaining GIS capacities in small non profit and grassroots groups. I was 
>> an
>> undergraduate in geography at Macalester College, and then did my MA and 
>> PhD in
>> geography at the University of Minnesota. At all three places I was 
>> fortunate
>> enough to work with faculty who provided great mentoring, intellectual 
>> support,
>> and freedom, so that I could create some unusual intersections in my 
>> research,
>> teaching, and service agendas. At UW, I will be teaching in both GIS and 
>> urban
>> geography, at undergraduate and graduate levels. My teaching is strongly 
>> guided
>> by a commitment to university-community collaboration as a key to 
>> fostering
>> critically informed and socially significant scholarship, so my classes 
>> tend to
>> include active learning and out-of-classroom activities, and 'real world'
>> research/outreach projects that collaborate with local partners in the
>> community.
>> 
>> Thanks, Rick, for all your help with the administrative details of getting
>> started teaching at a new place. I know that coordinating a large group of
>> faculty on these points can be a bit like herding surly sheep, so I'll do 
>> my
>> best to be timely in response, and get you what you need on the first try! 
>> In
>> terms of contact info over the summer, things may get a little 
>> unpredictable as
>> I try to sort out the moving plans. I expect my UW email to be:
>> selwood at u.washington.edu, and hope to start using it promptly in July. And
>> you'll always be able to reach me at 520.404.4268, since I'll be keeping 
>> that
>> number until I'm in Seattle for good. So feel free to call it if needed.
>> 
>> best,
>> Sarah
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> =================================
> Richard Roth				Assistant to the Chair
> rroth at u.washington.edu 			Department of Geography
> voice: (206) 543-3246			Box 35-3550
>   fax: (206) 543-3313			University of Washington
>  			Seattle, WA  98195