Alison Mountz is an American political geographer. She is a full professor and

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

at the

Balsillie School of International Affairs The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) is a centre for advanced research and teaching on global governance and international public policy, located in Waterloo, Ontario. As one of the largest social sciences initiatives in Canada, ...

. In 2016, Mountz was elected a member of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.

Early life and education

Mountz was born to Robert and Henrietta Mountz in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

. She attended

Poughkeepsie High School Poughkeepsie High School is the public high school (grades 9-12) in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is categorized as an inner city school district as a result of the high percentage of students living in low-income households. In the 20 ...

and competed on their tennis team. As a senior, she won the 1990 Conference II League B Single Championship. Upon graduating from high school, Mountz completed her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in Latin American and Caribbean studies and sociology at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. Following this, she earned her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in geography from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

and her PhD from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

Career

Upon completing her PhD, Mountz became an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

in geography at the

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 1 ...

. In this role, she said she wished to focus on the "social/cultural geography of transnational migration, feminist geography, urban geography, and qualitative methodology." During the 2008–09 academic year, Mountz was promoted to the role of

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

and earned a five-year National Science Foundation Career Grant for her project "Geographies of Sovereignty: Global Migration, Legality, and the Island Index." This research formed the basis of her book ''Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Borders,'' which received the Meridian Book Award from the

American Association of Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit learned society, scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquar ...

. Prior to joining the

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...

(WLU), Mountz spent two years as the William Lyon Mackenzie King Chair at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Upon joining the faculty at WLU as the

in Global Migration, Mountz was elected a member of the

's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists for being "on the forefront of academic research into vexing questions of human security and enforcement at the border by the nation state." Her Canada Research Chair was renewed in 2017 for an additional five years to allow her to study the global search for asylum among migrants detained on islands off the shores of Australia, Europe and the United States. She and Jennifer Loyd co-authored ''Boats, Borders, and Bases: Race, the Cold War, and the Rise of Migration Detention in the United States'' based on this research. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Mountz's third book was published; ''The Death of Asylum: Hidden Geographies of the Enforcement Archipelago.'' It received the 2020 AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography for being "an important, timely and critical intervention in debates over the deadly curtailment of refugee rights globally."

Selected publications

*''Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Borders'' (2010) *''Boats, Borders, and Bases: Race, the Cold War, and the Rise of Migration Detention in the United States'' (with Jennifer Loyd; 2018) *''The Death of Asylum: Hidden Geographies of the Enforcement Archipelago'' (2020) *''Let Geography Die: Chasing Derwent's Ghost at Harvard'' (with Kira Williams; 2025)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mountz, Alison Living people People from Poughkeepsie, New York University of British Columbia alumni Hunter College alumni Dartmouth College alumni Academic staff of Wilfrid Laurier University Syracuse University faculty Canada Research Chairs Year of birth missing (living people) Political geographers American women geographers