Faculty and Staff Directory

Introduction

Dr. Knopp is retired, but can be reached at knoppl@uw.edu.

I am a geographer by training whose interests are fundamentally interdisciplinary. My research concerns questions of power and place, especially as they pertain to issues of sexuality, gender, class, and other axes of difference. I also study feminist and queer theories; the theory, politics and practice of mapping queer populations and cultures; the politics of sexual health; and North American cultural and political geographies. Before retiring from UWT in 2019 I served four years (2009-2013) as Director of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (IAS) and taught courses and advised students on both the Tacoma and Seattle campuses of the University. These included undergraduate courses on gender and space, urban geography, political geography, and graduate seminars on cultural geography and critical place studies (among others).

Current Research

Although I am a geographer by training, my interests are fundamentally interdisciplinary and cross many of geography's subfields. These coalesce around questions of power and place, especially as they relate to sexuality, gender, class, and other axes of difference. I have explored links in the U.S., U.K., and Australia between urban land, housing and labor markets, as well as regional economic change and the construction of place based gay identities, communities and political movements. I have also studied cultural transformations and conflicts associated with these processes. In addition, I have written about the theoretical connections between feminist and queer geographies; the theory, politics and practice of mapping queer populations and cultures; the politics of sexual health in post-War/pre-AIDS Seattle (conducted in collaboration with UW Professor of Geography Michael Brown and funded by the National Science Foundation); and changing geographies of LGBTQ life in the U.S. The latter includes an ongoing project conducted in collaboration with Professors Brown and Bo Zho from the UW Geography Department that is also funded by the National Science Foundation, with administrative and technical support from the UW’s Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE). Finally, I have a long-standing interest in North American cultural and political geographies, especially as they relate to local political cultures, cultural politics, and electoral geography. My cultural and electoral geography work includes published collaborations and conference presentations with UW Professor Emeritus of Geography Richard Morrill, Professor Brown, and various graduate and undergraduate students.

Scholarly Interests

Critical social/cultural/political geographies, sexuality and space, queer studies, critical place studies, electoral geography

Teaching

NOTE: I came to UWT in 2009 as an administrator, serving in that capacity until 2013. So until then I had limited teaching obligations.
Prior to retirement I taught and advised undergraduate and graduate students on both the Tacoma and Seattle campuses, with a primary appointment in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (SIAS) at UW Tacoma and Adjunct appointments in Geography and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at UW Seattle. My teaching was in SIAS at UW Tacoma, Geography at UW Seattle, and Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) program at UW Tacoma, the Masters and PhD programs in Geography at UW Seattle, and Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) at UW Seattle. I continue to advise and/or sit on committees of select graduate students in the MAIS program at UW Tacoma and the MA and PhD programs in Geography at UW Seattle. I have also chaired and/or served on graduate committees of students in History at UW Seattle, the MA and PhD programs in Geography at the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the PhD program in Political Science at the University of Minnesota, the Interdisciplinary PhD program at the Union Institute (Cincinnati, OH), and the Master of Liberal Studies program at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Finally, I have served as an external examiner of theses for PhD students at the University of New South Wales and Monash University (both in Australia).


Taught at UW Tacoma:
T EGL 110: Introduction to Diversity
T GEOG 420: Gender, Space and Culture
T GEOG 440: Political Geography
TIAS 305: Seminar in IAS
TIAS 505: MAIS Capstone
TIAS 590: Independent Study
TIAS 596: Internship
TIAS 598: Directed Readings
TIAS 599: Directed Research
TIAS 605: Degree Project
TIAS 700: Thesis


Taught at UW Seattle:
GEOG 277: The Geography of Cities
GEOG 301: Cultural Geography
GEOG 496: Internship in Geography
GEOG 499: Special Studies
GEOG 553: Research Seminar: Advanced Topics in Cultural Geography: Rural and Non-Metropolitan Critical Place Studies
GEOG 555: Research Seminar: Culture, Place, and Politics
GEOG 572: Research Seminar: Queer Geographies
GEOG 600: Independent Study/Research
GEOG 700: Masters Thesis
CHID 493: Senior Thesis


Previously taught elsewhere:
World Regional Geography
Urban Geography and Planning
Urban Geography
Political Geography
Economic Geography
Feminist Geographies
Gender, Space and Culture
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies

Affiliations

American Association of Geographers
Association of Pacific Coast Geographers
Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project
Queering the Museum Project
Tacoma Rainbow Center
Museum of History and Industry

Academic Service

Editorial Board, Political Geography
Member, Queer Studies Graduate Certificate Governing Board, University of Washington
Reviewer for multiple academic journals
Steering Committee, Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project
Community Advisory Board, "Revealing Queer", exhibit project of Queering the Museum Project for Museum of History and Industry
Former Book Review Editor, Gender, Place and Culture
Founding Member, Editorial Board, Gender, Place and Culture
Former Trustee, Museum of Glass
Former Editorial Advisory Board Member, Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation (book series), University of Georgia Press
Former Editorial Board Member, The Professional Geographer

Honors and Awards

National Science Foundation Research Award (with Professors Michael P. Brown and Bo Zhao): “Shifting Geographies of LGBTQ Life”, 2020-24. ($400,000).
National Science Foundation Research Award (with Professor Michael P. Brown): "Biopolitical Geographies: Urban Governmentalities in Local-State Relations with a Marginalized Population”, 2011-15. ($250,000).
Albert Tezla Teacher/Scholar Award, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 2005-2006.
ARCUS Endowment Award, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, 2003 (with Dr. Michael P. Brown, on behalf of Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project).
Martin Duberman Fellowship, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, City University of New York, 1999-2000.
McKnight-Land Grant Professorship, McKnight Foundation and University of Minnesota: "The Spatial Constitution of Gay Identities and Communities in Australia and Great Britain", 1992-94.
Award for “Significant achievement in, and contributions to, the study of Geography and Sexuality”. Awarded by Sexuality and Space Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers, Boston, March 28, 1998.