News and Media CenterThe Clark College Faculty Speaker Series showcases recent experiences that have enriched both the life and teaching of a Clark faculty member.
Faculty members share their developmental experiences with the college community – and members of the community at large – while addressing some of today’s most intriguing issues.
Established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, the series honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence.
Spring 2013 – The Why of Where:
Living, Researching and Teaching Geography Here and Now!
May 7, 2013
In her teaching, Geography instructor Heather McAfee strives to get students excited about unpacking the "why of where" and how they see themselves in the world. She brings her own experiences traveling around the globe into discussions in order to personalize an understanding of foreign locations. In her presentation of the spring quarter installment of the Faculty Speaker Series, she describes how her own identity as a geographer helps her instill an awareness in her students of how geography affects them on a day-to-day basis.
McAfee, who joined the Geography department of Clark College in the 2012, holds degrees from Pikes Peak Community College, the University of Oregon, and the University of Colorado. She serves as a board member on the American Association of Geographers' Community College Affinity Group and is a volunteer with the Immigration & Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) in Portland.
McAfee identifies as a cultural feminist geographer with a focus on migration studies. Her research interests include identity, belonging, and the sense of place possessed by refugees living in the United States. Central to this research has been the exploration of how Iraqis construct and reconstruct concepts of home following their displacement to American cities by the 2003 U.S. military action in Iraq. Other directions in her studies include wetland-and-water conflict and gendered spaces in the national parks of southern African countries following agrarian reforms.
McAfee will share her passion for people and places, illustrating her approach to bringing the far corners of the world into the hearts and minds of students.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 4:00 p.m. in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213) on Clark's main campus.
Watch Heather McAfee preview her lecture on YouTube: