Academic

Dr. Melissa Checker (PhD NYU, 2002)’s research focuses on environmental racism,  environmental justice activism, the politics of urban sustainability, and voluntary relocation/managed retreat after technological and environmental disasters. Her book,  The Myth of Sustainability: Environmental Gentrification and the Politics of Justice (NYU Press, 2020) won the 2020-21 Delmos Jones and Jagna Sharff Memorial Book Prize from the Society of the Anthropology of North America. She is also the author of Polluted Promises: Environmental Racism and the Search for Justice in a Southern Town (NYU Press, 2005) which won the 2007 Association for Humanistic Sociology Book Award and was a finalist for the Julian Steward Award. She co-edited two volumes: Sustainability in the Global City: Myth and Practice (with Cynthia Isenhour and Gary McDonogh, Cambridge 2015) and Local Actions: Cultural Activism, Power and Public Life (with Maggie Fishman) Columbia U Press, 2004), In addition, she has authored a number of academic articles and book chapters, as well as articles for popular magazines and newspapers. Checker is the Hagedorn Professor of Urban Studies and directs the Service Learning program along with Scott Larson. She serves as the co-Advisor for the Environmental Studies Major/Minor Program, the Advisor for the Labor Studies Major/Minor Program, and co-Advisor for the MA in Urban Affairs. She teaches Contemporary Urban Theory, Fieldwork in Environmental Studies, Service Learning Practicum, in addition to courses at the CUNY Graduate Center0 Checker CV 2020 Office: Powdermaker Rm. 250M Telephone: (718) 997 5148 Email: mchecker@qc.cuny.edu