Mary Finley-Brook, PhD

I have taught Geography, Sustainability, Environmental Studies and Global Studies at the University of Richmond since 2006 (faculty profile). For decades my research focused on Central America, South America and the Caribbean. My forthcoming textbook “Climate Crisis, Energy Violence: Fossil Energy’s Grasp on Our Precarious Future” delves into fossil fuel policy and projects in more than twenty countries as my comparative research on the energy sector reaches globally.

 

My community-based partipatory action research, predominately carried out in Virginia where I reside, receives on-going media coverage. As a community-engaged teacher-scholar, I worked with the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative (VEJC) as academic liasion and researcher from 2015 until 2023. In 2017, I represented the VEJC when we advised then-Governor Northam the creation of the Virginia Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice and I served as a member during its inaugural year in 2018. 

 

Education

 

2005. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph D) in Geography, Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin. Dissertation: “Re-scaling the Commons.” A number of faculty mentors guided and supported my graduate education at the University of Texas. In particular I would like to thank Greg Knapp, Ken Young, Charlie Hale, Karl Offen, Rodrigo Sierra, Peter Dana, Diane Davis, and Julie Tuason.

 

1999. Master of Arts (MA) in Latin American Studies, Concentrations in Natural Resource Management and Development Sociology, Tulane University. Thesis title: “Decentralization, Forest Use, and Indigenous Land Tenure in Nicaragua’s Northern Autonomous Region.” At Tulane University I was fortunate to work with J. Timmons Roberts and Alex Coles.

 

1996. Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Environmental Studies, Concentration in Latin American Studies, University of Vermont. Honors thesis title: “Organizational and Survival Strategies of the Indigenous Widows of Guatemala’s Civil War.” Thanks to Jean Richardson, Leslie King, Carl Reidel, Ian Whorley, Stephanie Kaza, Laura McArthur, and Tom Hudspeth for starting me on this path.

 

About Me

 

Growing up in Vermont, the natural environment was always of central importance to me. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of wandering in the woods catching newts and sitting among the ferns whittling willow whistles. Today I am hugely appreciative of being brought up largely without television, which nurtured my love of reading. An enormous family garden, where I learned self-sufficiency skills, and my parents’ commitment to education, community, and international peace were important childhood influences.

 

I fell in love with Central America in the 1980s when I first visited Guatemala. Awe for the passionate faculty members in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Vermont and an affinity for community service defined my undergraduate years. I am thankful to Volunteers for Peace, the Burlington-Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas) Sister City Program, and the Nicaragua Network for the experiential education and organizational training I garnered in the 1990s. I deeply appreciate all the knowledged shared with me from Nicaragua’s North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. I met my husband in eastern Nicaragua in 1996. We live in Virginia with our children.