Dr. Amy Rock is the Executive Director of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, and a faculty member at Cal Poly Humboldt. A firm believer in using her powers for good, Dr. Rock’s research interests include using GIS to examine economic relationships, community needs, and developing equity and resilience in community-based learning courses. An avid proponent of community leadership, she encourages her students to become engaged in their communities and think critically about spatial politics, community development and the role of nonprofit organizations in our society.
In recent years, she has also focused research and efforts toward identifying and removing barriers to success for women faculty, particularly foreign-born women faculty in geographic disciplines. Several forthcoming publications explore the disparity between the number of women Ph.D. students and the number of women faculty and leaders in GIS and geography.
Dr. Rock has worked on commercial GIS and cartography projects for state, county and local governments, and has also provided geospatial expertise for private and nonprofit organizations. In both her faculty and nonprofit leadership roles, she has experienced firsthand how collaboration is fostered by an understanding of the ways in which geography connects us all.
