Welcome New Faculty
Dr. Rachael Cofield graduated with their PhD in Geography from Florida State University. They are a queer
urban geographer writing about gentrification and LGBTQ life in Atlanta, Georgia.
They served as Chair of the AAG’s Graduate Student Affinity Group and are currently
the Secretary for the Study of the American South Specialty Group. Most recently,
they contributed a chapter to Feminist Geography Unbound: Discomfort, Bodies, and
Prefigured Futures published by West Virginia University Press. They are currently
working on a chapter about Atlanta burlesque for Political Messaging in Music and
Entertainment Spaces across the Globe for Vernon Press. At KSU they teach Weather
and Climate and Human Geography.
Dr. Macario Garcia is our new Assistant Professor of Anthropology. They’re a cultural anthropologist
with a focus on mobility, animacy, incarceration, and prison-industrial complex abolition.
They earned their PhD from the University of Virginia and MA degrees from University
of Virginia and American Public University. They are currently partnering with incarcerated
people to create maps of carceral migration in the United States and to document oral
histories across correctional landscapes. They teach Introduction to Anthropology
and Cultural Anthropology, and they are developing new anthropology electives as well.
Dr. Nafiseh Haghtalab is our new Limited Term Assistant Professor of Geography. She’s a physical geographer
interested in land-atmosphere interactions. She teaches physical geography courses
including Weather and Climate, GIS, Cartography, and Resources, Society, and the Environment.
She received her Ph.D. in Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences from Michigan
State University. Her research focuses on the effects of human-induced changes in
the natural environment on the atmospheric cycles and climate change. She is also
interested in food security to understand the extent to which changes in natural processes
can influence food security, especially in lower-income communities.
Dr. Shannon Hall is our new Limited Term Assistant Professor of Geography. She has a B.S. in Geography
from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, an M.S. in Geography from the University
of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Sustainability from the University
of Oklahoma. She is a broadly trained Geographer with a concentration in physical
geography, weather and climate, and conservation. Dr. Hall has 20 years or teaching
experience at 2-year and 4-year institutions, and has taught courses in physical geography,
regional geography, and techniques. At KSU, Dr. Hall teaches courses in Physical Geography,
Environment, Society, and Resources, and GIS. Her research is focused on vegetation
dynamics and tree response to climate change.
Dr. Ranbir Kang is a physical geographer who specializes in different aspects of river science and
GIScience applications. He obtained his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Before
moving to Kennesaw State University, he taught at Oklahoma State University, George
Washington University, and Western Illinois University. His projects focus on urban
hydrology, 3d modeling of riverscapes, river response to human activities, stream
bank erosion, watershed dynamics, terrestrial LiDAR applications, alluvial channels,
effects of dams, field experiments, and bio-geomorphology.
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