Jill LindseyHarrison

  • Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies
  • Professor of Geography
  • Research: Environmental Justice; Environmental Politics; Political Ecology; Agriculture and Food Systems
  • Ph.D. from University of California at Santa Cruz, 2006
  • HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • ENVIRONMENT-SOCIETY
Address

Grad Students

Gabriella Chao

Gabriella Chao

Annika Hirmke

Research Interests

My research helps identifythe cultural relations and political economic processes that disproportionatelysituatemembers of racially marginalized, Indigenous, and working-classcommunities in dangerous spaces and precarious conditions thatcontribute toinequalities in life opportunity, illness, and death. I also identify ways thestate, social movements, and other institutions canmore effectively redressthose inequalities. I have done so through various cases of environmental andworkplace inequality in thecontemporary United States.

Currently, my research is focused on helping to create stronger public institutions that better support environmental justice (EJ). Notably, I study state and federal environmental regulatory agencies in the United States, and I am especially interested in how regulatory agency staff respond to critiques from anti-regulatory elites and EJ movements. I evaluate how environmental regulatory agencies’ practices affect overburdened and vulnerable communities, and I identify regulatory reforms that help state institutions better support those communities. I do so by bringing lessons from political ecology and science and technology studies (STS) into EJ studies. One of my current projects analyzes state-level cumulative impact laws and regulations and the conditions under which they help rectify shortcomings of conventional environmental assessment.

This is part of a broader research project examiningthe disappointing pace of environmental regulatory agencies’ “environmentaljustice”(EJ) programs and policies as a case through which to understandwhy, despite reducing environmental hazards for the nationoverall,agencies have not improved conditions in places enduring thegreatest environmental burdens. Other scholars have shown that materialfactors outside the control of agency staff – budget cuts, limits toregulatory authority, industry pressure, and underdeveloped analyticaltools – constrain the possibilities for EJ reforms to regulatory practice. Myresearch builds upon that work by demonstrating howagencies’ EJ reform efforts are also undermined by elements of regulatoryworkplace culture that transcend changesin administration.At the same time,my publicationsandoutreach offer practical suggestions for how agencies can more effectivelyreduce environmentalinequalities that deeply affect the lives of so manyAmericans, and they show how agencies’ EJ staff – those tasked with developingEJreforms – endeavor to change both regulatory practice and regulatory culturefrom the inside out. Youcan read about my research in articles in,TheColoradan, and.

I have advised U.S. government agencies on theirenvironmentaljustice reform efforts through serving on the National EnvironmentalJustice Advisory Council of theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency.I have been invited topresent my research on the challenges facing government agencies’ EJ reformefforts to the executiveleadership and other staff at numerous environmentalregulatory agencies, including atthe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),California EPA, theCalifornia Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the MinnesotaPollution Control Agency, Minnesota’s Environmental Quality Board,theCalifornia Fish and Game Commission, and the California Natural ResourcesAgency.

In another recent project, my colleagues and I identified cultural challenges facing universities’ efforts to address environmental precarity through “engineering-for-development” (EfD) programs that train engineering students to help solve problems in developing communities, including pertaining to shelter, drinking water access, sanitation, and affordable energy. I conducted this NSF-funded research in collaboration with Shawhin Roudbari (Environmental Design, University of Colorado), Jessica Kaminsky (Engineering, North Carolina State University), Santina Contreras (Public Policy, University of Southern California), and Skye Niles (University of Colorado).

My recent research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the AmericanCouncil of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and theUniversityof Colorado.

I also co-founded and have helped direct 鶹ѰBoulder’sGraduate Certificate in Environmental Justice.

Recent Courses Taught

  • Spring 2026 GEOG 5722 Field Methods in Human Geography
  • Spring 2026 GEOG/COMM/ENVS/PSCI 7118 Environmental Justice​
  • Spring 2024 GEOG 3782 Environmentalism, Race, and Justice
  • Fall 2023 GEOG 4772 The Geography of Food and Agriculture
  • Spring 2023 GEOG 3782 Environmentalism, Race, and Justice
  • Spring 2023 GEOG/COMM/ENVS/PSCI 7118 Environmental Justice​
  • Fall 2022 GEOG 4772 The Geography of Food and Agriculture

Selected Publications

Updated January 2023