Staff

Cache is currently serving as the Director of the Beauregard Center for Equity, Justice and Freedom at the University of New Hampshire.

Dr. Hannah Partridge completed her PhD in Geography in 2024. Her research examined how vulture populations are associated with urban areas in the southeastern United States with additional interests in human-wildlife conflicts common with raptor populations. Her current projects focus on roost site selection, nesting success, and diet composition of vultures on an urban-to-rural gradient […]

Jamese is the Senior Associate Program Officer for Pre-K-8th Grade Education at the Renaissance West Community Initiative.

Barbara Pinson Lash is a PhD Student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She joined the Geography PhD program in 2016 after a seasoned career as a News Broadcaster, Professional Speaker, Media & Communications Coach, and Entrepreneur. Spending 20 years working for news stations across the country, taking to the stage in various […]

Heather Smith (she/her/hers) is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at UNC Charlotte where she serves as the Director of the Urban Studies Minor and the Graduate Program Director for the Geography PhD and MA. She is also Faculty Fellow with the Levine Scholars Program where a primary responsibility is oversight […]

Dr. Janni Sorensen founded CHARP while she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at UNC Charlotte. Her research is about neighborhood planning processes in low-income, minority neighborhoods, and much of her work experience centers on university-community partnerships. In particular, she worked for 10 years in the East St. Louis, […]

Erick is a student in the Geography PhD program and completed his Masters in the Latin American Studies program at UNCC. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from North Carolina State University. He has worked on projects with Hidden Valley Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) to develop leadership within the community. His research […]

Sara completed her PhD in Geography with a concentration in Urban Planning in 2023. She holds a masters degree in Architectural-Engineering with a concentration in Urban Planning from Italy (her home country). Her master thesis titled “The Video as a Tool in Participatory Action-Research Processes in Planning. The Case of the Campaign ‘Improve Don’t Remove […]

Dylan is a second year student in the Master’s in Ethics and Applied Philosophy program here at UNCC. He is currently serving as a research assistant for 2020 State of the Plate assessment conducted by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council. The study seeks to understand the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the […]