According to some web sites devoted to the derivation of names, the name “Hallie” has a Greek origin and means “thinking of the sea.” True or not, all of us in Geography hope that Hallie Eakin will think of us at “UCSB by the Sea” after she leaves. Hallie has accepted a faculty position at Arizona State University, and everyone in the department is sad to see her go. The following comments about Hallie are only a small sample of tributes to her that your editor received.
“After three years in our Department, Hallie Eakin has accepted a position at Arizona State University. She will be leaving us this summer along with her husband, Luis Bojorquez of ICESS. Hallie’s arrival followed a flowering of human-environment relations teaching and research in our department. She introduced new courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels: World Regions, a popular course among majors and Global Studies students, Society and Hazards, and several popular graduate seminars, including Global Environmental Change, and Food, Agriculture and Global Change. She remains lead advisor for three UCSB Geography students: Felipe Murtinho (Community watershed management and capacities for adaptation in Columbia, Amy Lerner (Food production, globalization, and urbanization in Mexico, and Elisa Frank (Coffee farming and sustainable development in Mexico. She was a popular and involved committee member for many students in the department in human-environment relations and human geography writ large. Hallie’s research centers on human adaptation at local scales to global environmental change. Her broader research involves governance, globalization, within the institutional context of vulnerability and adaptation, rural development, food security, agricultural change and food sovereignty, and social-ecological resilience and integration of hazard risk into development planning. Her overarching research question, applied to small-scale coffee and maize farmers in Mexico and throughout Latin America, centered on the question: How do households cope with various sources of uncertainty and adapt livelihoods to accommodate evolving environmental, political, and economic change? Her 2006 book (Weathering Risk in Rural Mexico: Climatic, Economic and Institutional Change. University of Arizona Press) is a mainstay in the emerging canon on human adaptation to climate change. To quote from the book: ‘From floods and droughts to tsunamis and hurricanes, recent years have seen a distressing and often devastating increase in extreme climatic events. While it is possible to study these disasters from a purely scientific perspective, a growing preponderance of evidence suggests that changes in the environment are related to both a shift in global economic relations and these weather-related disasters.’ We thank Hallie for all the support she provided us. We enjoyed working with her and we will miss her. We wish her the very best in her new position.” (Professor David Carr)
“We will miss her and wish her the best of luck in her upcoming change. Hallie will be finishing students here for several years and we appreciate her help and commitment to her (our) students.” (Professor Oliver Chadwick)
“Hallie was a tremendous asset to the department in her teaching and research on integrating climate change impacts with such issues as food security, human welfare, and development. I co-taught a graduate seminar, Carbon, Climate, and Society, with Hallie in Spring 2008. For this course, Hallie led discussions on carbon credits, deforestation, carbon markets, and carbon offsets. Her work provided a forum for the department to integrate biophysical aspects of climate change research with social science aspects, and I hope we can build upon these efforts to bridge physical and human geography research around these critical topics.” (Professor Chris Still)
“I feel extremely lucky to have Hallie as my adviser. She possesses a contagious curiosity for the subjects she researches and a lucid perspective which is balanced with sincere compassion for and interest in the marginalized populations she studies. Not to mention she’s a great travel buddy! I am so fortunate to have had the chance to accompany her in the field earlier this summer—I’m currently still in Mexico conducting my fieldwork in Chiapas. I was impressed by her confidence and flexibility in the face of the uncertainties and challenges we encountered in the field. I am so sad that she is leaving UCSB, but I know many great opportunities await her and I wish her all the best and look forward to continuing to work with her although from afar.” (Grad student Elisa Frank)
“Hallie is an amazing adviser, mentor, and friend. She not only motivates her students but also inspires curiosity about the ways humans interact with and respond to their environment. Her dedication to learning and teaching is endless and is reflected in the energy and passion she brings to her work. She provides an amazing example of someone who has their heart entrenched in their research because of her interest in understanding and bettering the lives of disadvantaged people globally. I feel honored to have her as my adviser!” (Grad student Amy Lerner)
“I used to call her “Hallie Berry” as a nickname (you know the beautiful, talented, compassionate actress?). I would compliment her on her stylish shoes, jewelry or outfits (hoping I could pick out a similar thing here)….but, wouldn’t you know it, her answer was always…I got it in Mexico (darn). Hallie has a calm, reserved manner about her, but such underlying passion about her work; I was so impressed by the research presentation that she did for one of the colloquiums that this prompted me to suggest to faculty that we should have a special research section on our website to highlight their respective research so that others could benefit from learning what our gifted faculty (like Hallie) were doing. I felt that she was also a strong mentor to her graduate students by providing them with the opportunity and financial support to travel to Mexico to do research. She is passionate about helping others (not only through her research here, but by also offering support to further educate students in Mexico)…..the consummate professional….a true role model. Hallie made the effort to be present and participate in departmental functions (Graduate Student and Staff Appreciation receptions, department holiday parties, BBQ’s, and even a graduate student’s Baby shower). If she could not physically be here, she would be thoughtful enough to bring something for us to take (she even donated a couple of native Mexican piñatas for one of our BBQ’s). She was always so thoughtful to research staff by bringing back some token of thanks from her trips…..I put all of them together on my shelf and it reminds me of how considerate and appreciative she was of our support for her work. I was so proud to have her as a faculty here; I will truly miss her.” (Staff member Connie Padilla)
“Hallie is one of the most wonderful young professors I’ve had the opportunity to work with. Here are a few words that came to my mind. They are so appropriate for Hallie: inteligente, joven y bonita, amable, divertida. Buena suerte, Hallie! Vamos a añorarla muchísimo.” (Staff member Beilei Zhang)
It’s obvious that the UCSB Department of Geography is unanimous in its praise of Holly and in its reluctance to see her go. Vaya con Dios, Hallie. Keep thinking of the sea and keep in touch.
Editor’s note: Special thanks to staff member José Saleta for correcting our Spanish!
