DIRECTOR

Setha Low
Professor of Environmental Psychology, Anthropology and Women's Studies
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Tenure: 1995 - present

Research interests: anthropology of space and place, privatization of public space, the discourse fear and insecurity, exclusion and housing segregation, U.S., Latin America

PSRG project(s): Private Governance In Co-ops and Gated Communities In New York City; Urban Fear in Gated Communities in San Antonio, New York City, and Los Angeles; Ethnographic Overviews of Fire Island on Long Island, the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, New York City; Impact of 9/11 on Battery Park City – New York City Public Space; User Study and Census of Central Park, Prospect Park, Van Cortland Park, and Pelham Bay Park, New York City; Needs Assessment for Gateway National Recreation Area, New York City; General Management Plan for Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia; and the Ellis Island Access Project, New York City

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Babette Audant

Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Tenure: 2008 - present

Research interests: interactions of food, politics and policy in the built environment; public markets as spatialized culture both historically and in the present; New York City 'Latino'; workforce and economic development in New York City.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Rodolfo Hernandez

Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Tenure: 2008 - present

Research interests: Class and state formation in Mexico, transnational Mexican class formation in the U.S, Mexican and indigenous migration to New York, Social and political organization of Mexican migrants. Former contributor for the bi-national monthly magazine MX Sin Fronteras. Current news editor of Huellas Mexicanas, focused on Mexican immigrants in the U.S.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Bree Kessler

Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Tenure: 2008 - present

Research interests: gender and the built environment, reproductive/sexual health, and participatory action research. Her current project studies reality TV show home makeovers, social reproduction, and citizenship. She is a trained birthing doula and a frequent contributor to Bitch: A Feminist Response to Pop Culture on issues related to public health and the media.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Gregory Donovan
Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Center for Place, Culture and Politics Fellow (2007-2008)
Stanton/Heiskell Telecommunications Policy Center Fellow (2005-2007)

Tenure: 2006 - present

Research interests: processes of identity development, education and civic participation within the cybercity; the privatization of public space; interactive technology and pedagogy, the cyborgization of human and environment

PSRG project(s): Private Governance In Co-ops and Gated Communities In New York City

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Jen Gieseking
Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Summer Institute for Geographies of Justice Fellow (2007)
Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Association Fellowship (2005)

Tenure: 2006 - present

Research interests: the development of everyday queer space & place over the 20th century in NYC; geographies of race, class, gender, and sexuality; college campuses; feminist pedagogy; elitism and entitlement in women; economies of queer spaces

PSRG project:Private Governance In Co-ops and Gated Communities In New York City

Publications:
(Re)Constructing Women: Scaled Portrayals of Privilege and Gender Norms on Campus, Area (in press).

“Queer Theory” in Encyclopedia of Social Problems (eds. V.N. Parrillo, M. Andersen, J. Best, W. Kornblum, C.M. Renzetti, and M. Romero).  Sage Publications (in press).

Review of Changing Gender Relations, Changing Families: Tracing the Pace of Change Over Timeby Oriel Sullivan, Contemporary Sociology (in press).

Review of A Postcapitalist Politics by J.K. Gibson-Graham, Environment & Planning A (in press).  Written with Y. Hung.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Bikki Tran
Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Research Analyst, New York City Non-Profits Project

Tenure: 2007 - present

Research interests: intersections of identity, particularly issues of race, class, sexuality, and gender; invisible landscapes; repercussions of colonization; social production of everyday space

Present research project: intersectional analysis of women's fear in public space

PREVIOUS RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Suzanne Scheld (suzanne.scheld@csun.edu)
Yvonne Hung (yhung@gc.cuny.edu)
Dana Taplin (dhtaplin@earthlink.net)
Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani (gabrielle@buscada.com)
Charles Price (jahrule23@yahoo.com)
Michael Lamb (mlamb@gc.cuny.edu)
Mirele Goldsmith (mirele@att.net)
Mara Heppen (maraheppen@hotmail.com)
Andrew Kirby (konakirby@hotmail.com)
Bea Vidacs (beavidacs@earthlink.net)
Jacek Gadecki (jacgadecki@wp.pl)
Nuria Cano (nuria_cano@hotmail.com)