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May 5, 2010
Biweekly News

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A roundup of recent successes and plans

 
As an interdisciplinary research and outreach unit at the University of Arizona, we are privileged to have a staff that comprises graduate and undergraduate students from diverse fields of study.

During the past year, we were able to support from our research grants and other sources 20 graduate research assistants and associates seeking degrees in academic units across the university.

The principal sources of support for these students were the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation, Archibald Bush Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, WateReuse Foundation, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Geological Survey.

The Center also supports three undergraduate students and seven staff members who are seeking degrees.



We salute here the many achievements and contributions of our degree-seeking colleagues (listed by academic discipline or home unit):

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American Indian Studies


TARISSA SPOONHUNTER, a doctoral student in American Indian studies, is working under the supervision of Ian Record to develop the "Rebuilding Native Nations" distance-learning course. Spoonhunter, a recipient of a UA Excellence Graduate Fellowship in the Social Sciences, is completing her dissertation, "The Blackfoot Confederacy: Keepers of the Rocky Mountains."
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Arid Lands Resource Sciences

ARIN HAVERLAND, a doctoral student in arid lands resource sciences, completed her preliminary examinations this year and is collaborating with Robert Varady and Andrea Gerlak to prepare and submit for publication a research article on "hydrosolidarity."
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Atmospheric Sciences

JULIAN BILLY, NNI office specialist, is continuing studies toward completion of a bachelor's degree in applied sciences in meteorology.

JASON CRISCIO, a master's degree student in atmospheric sciences, helps produce the binational, bilingual Border Climate Summary (Resumen del Clima de la Frontera) under the supervision of Gregg Garfin of the UA Institute of the Environment with support from a NOAA-funded project based at the Udall Center.
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Business Administration (Pima Community College)


NORMA MONTANO, NNI administrative assistant, is completing an associate's degree in business administration at Pima Community College, with plans to continue studies toward a bachelor's degree at the UA.
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Computer Science

BEN DICKEN, a student assistant on the Udall Center's information technology team, is continuing studies toward completion of a bachelor's degree in computer science.
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Creative Writing

DENISE LUM, senior receptionist for the Udall Center, is working toward completion of a bachelor's degree in creative writing.
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Economics
 
KARINA CORDOVA-GONZALEZ, a doctoral student in economics specializing in applied micro-econometrics and the economics of immigration, recently passed her written comprehensive examinations and soon will begin work on her dissertation, a collection of three essays on development economics. Cordova-Gonzalez has worked at the Udall Center on immigration policy under the supervision of Judith Gans.
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Geography and Development
 
ASHLEY COLES, a doctoral student in geography and development who completed work last summer with Christopher Scott on a project funded by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, is co-author with Scott and others of an article that appeared last fall in Natural Resources Forum.
 
MAJED AKHTER, a doctoral student in geography and development, received a Social Science Research Council Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship and will visit Pakistan and London to conduct research this summer. Akhter, who has worked with Christopher Scott on a project funded by the International Water Management Institute, is co-author with Scott and others of an article submitted to Critical Planning.
 
JOSEPH HOOVER, who completed his master's degree in geography and development in August 2009 and is presently a doctoral student at the University of Denver, is co-author of articles submitted to the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and to the Journal of Environmental Management based on research he and his supervisor, Christopher Scott, and others conducted on the water-energy nexus in Arizona.
 
JASON JURJEVICH, a doctoral student in geography and development, recently successfully defended his dissertation, "Compositional and Contextual Effects: Case Studies of Migration and Same-Sex Marriage," and has accepted a position at Portland State University as an assistant professor in the College of Urban Studies and Planning. Jurjevich worked under the supervision of Judith Gans on U.S. immigration policy with support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
 
JEN McCORMACK, an NNI research analyst and doctoral student in geography and development, will present a paper, "'Flipping the Script' or Changing Legal-Spatial Discourse in Indigenous Court Cases," at the upcoming Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference. McCormack also presented a paper, "The 'Right of Discovery': Using Spectacle to Map Contests in Federal Indian Law," at the Association of American Geographers conference in April.
 
JAMIE McEVOY, a doctoral student in geography and development, recently received a Water Sustainability Program Fellowship from the UA Technology and Research Initiative Fund and a UA Social and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Summer Research Grant Development Award for research on desalination in Mexico. McEvoy is co-author, with her supervisor, Margaret Wilder, and others, of a forthcoming article in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
 
KERRI JEAN ORMEROD, a master's degree student (and soon-to-be doctoral student) in geography and development, recently defended her thesis, "Drinking Highly Treated Wastewater: Public Trust in the Next Water Frontier," based on research she has conducted under the supervision of Christopher Scott and funded by the WateReuse Foundation. Ormerod is co-author of articles submitted to the Journal of Environmental Planning and Policy and to Critical Planning.
 
ANDREA PRICHARD, a master's degree student in geography and development, will be in Paris, France, for a six-week exchange with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), funded by the Partner University Fund, to study urban sprawl and water. Then, with support from the Tinker Foundation, Prichard will spend the remainder of the summer in Nogales, Sonora, conducting fieldwork for her master's thesis, supervised by Christopher Scott, on flood detention features.
 
JEREMY SLACK, admitted recently into the doctoral program in geography and development, worked this past year under the supervision of Margaret Wilder on NOAA-funded research to assess the vulnerability of access to water in colonias of Nogales, Sonora.

TABITHA SPENCE, a master's degree student in geography and development, will spend the summer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to study ways that farmers mitigate health risks from highly polluted water they use to irrigate crops. Spence's work, supervised by Christopher Scott, is supported by a grant from the International Water Management Institute.
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Government and Public Policy
 
ANNE CAMPBELL, a master's degree student in government and public policy with a concentration in natural resources management, is conducting research under the supervision of Christopher Scott on the perceptions of existing users of reclaimed water in selected neighborhoods in Tucson. Campbell also is completing a graduate certificate in water policy, concentrating on Tucson residential exterior water use and reclaimed water.
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Graphic Information Technology (Arizona State University)
 
CHRYS GAKOPOULOS, Udall Center graphic designer, is continuing studies toward completion of a master's degree in graphic information technology, with a focus on commercial photography, at Arizona State University.
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Information Resources and Library Science
 
EMILY McGOVERN, environmental policy research analyst and editorial associate at the Udall Center, is continuing work toward a master's degree in information resources and library science. McGovern is co-editor of the recently published University of Arizona Press book, Conservation of Shared Environments: Learning from the United States and Mexico.
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Journalism

 
ZOHRA YAQUB, a dual-degree master's student in journalism and Near Eastern studies, recently presented a paper on the opium trade in Afghanistan at the Southwest Graduate Conference in Middle East Studies. Yaqub is continuing work under the supervision of Judith Gans on U.S. immigration policy with support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Latin American Studies
 
AARON BANAS, a master's degree student in Latin American studies, assists in the production of the binational, bilingual Border Climate Summary (Resumen del Clima de la Frontera) under the supervision of Gregg Garfin of the UA Institute of the Environment supported by a NOAA-funded project based at the Udall Center.
 
OSCAR LAI, a dual-degree master's student in Latin American studies and public administration, will be a summer intern with the U.S. State Department Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science, in Washington, DC. Lai has worked under the supervision of Margaret Wilder on a NOAA-funded project looking at urban water use and climate change in Ambos Nogales in the Arizona-Sonora border region.
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Molecular and Cellular Biology
 
JOHN DICKEN, a student assistant on the Udall Center's information technology team, is continuing studies toward completion of a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology, with an eye toward attending medical school.
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Natural Resources and the Environment
 
KIMBERLY BAEZA, a master's degree student in natural resources and the environment supervised by Laura Lopez-Hoffman, is conducting research on the Cienega de Santa Clara in Sonora, Mexico, the largest remaining wetland in the Colorado River delta system, and will help develop decision-support models to simulate the vegetation responses to various amounts of water inflow and salinity.
 
CARRIE PRESNALL, a master's degree student in natural resources and the environment, is the lead co-author with her advisor, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, and others of an article invited for submission to Conservation Biology on sustaining working landscapes of the West with diversified revenue streams from ecosystem services.
 
MATT SKROCH, a master's degree student in natural resources and the environment, has received a three-year Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation to integrate ecosystem service conservation with smart-growth urban planning. Skroch and his supervisor, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, are authors of a recent comment published in Conservation Biology.
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Public Health
 
STEPHANIE CARROLL RAINIE, senior researcher for NNI, operations manager at the Udall Center, and a doctoral student in public health, will present the paper, "Tribal Community Management of Health Care: What Are the Lessons?" at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference in May. The research is based on findings Rainie and her colleagues have gathered from work supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
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Speech, Language, and Hearing Science
 
LINDSEY ROTHE, an office and logistics assistant at the Udall Center, is continuing her studies for a bachelor's degree in speech, language, and hearing science with a minor in family studies and human development.




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UDALL CENTER PUBLICATIONS
(520) 626-4393

Robert Merideth
Editor in Chief
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Chrys Gakopoulos
Graphic Designer (Udall Center)
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Ariel Mack
Graphic Designer (NNI)
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Emily McGovern
Editorial Associate and Research Analyst
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UDALL CENTER

Established in 1987, the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy sponsors policy-relevant, interdisciplinary research and forums that link scholarship and education with decision-making. The Center specializes in issues concerning: (1) environmental policy, primarily in the Southwest and U.S.-Mexico border region; (2) immigration policy of the United States; and (3) Indigenous nations policy.


NATIVE NATIONS INSTITUTE

The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI), founded in 2001 by the Morris K. Udall Foundation (now Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation) and The University of Arizona and housed at the Udall Center, serves as a self-determination, governance, and development resource for Indigenous nations in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.

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