Jones Professor of Southwestern Studies

As part of a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant, the Houston Endowment funded the Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Southwestern Studies. The Jones Professor of Southwestern Studies team-teaches the Southwestern Studies courses with the faculty of the Center for the Study of the Southwest, helps organize and present symposia, and assists the Center with other regional projects related to the professor's discipline.

Sarah Blue is the Jones Professor of Southwestern Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University. She has maintained an ongoing interest in the political geography of migration, gender, and development studies, even as the place, location and focus of the projects have changed. Dr. Blue graduated from the University of Denver with undergraduate majors in geography and philosophy. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Minnesota, focusing the mobilization of Guatemalan refugee women. Her dissertation from the University of California, Los Angeles emphasized the shaping of socio-economic inequality in Cuba. 

During her three-year appointment, Dr. Blue will focus on strengthening the scholarly, educational, and academic infrastructure for understanding migration and immigration in the Southwest. Building off several externally funded grants, Dr. Blue’s project will help develop student research initiatives, translate research into manuscripts, research presentations, symposia and policy briefs, and increase connections with universities, organizations and scholars working on related projects.