UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Patricia Ehrkamp, professor of geography and College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor at the University of Kentucky, will deliver the Penn State Department of Geography’s annual E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Endowed Lecture at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11.
Her talk, “Geopolitics of Disability and the Ablenationalism of Refuge,” will be held in 112 Walker Building at Penn State University Park and also will be accessible via Zoom.
A reception will be held prior to the event beginning at 1:30 p.m. in 319 Walker Building.
Ehrkamp will explore how experiences at the intersection of disability and migration are shaped by institutional processes and public perceptions. Drawing from a collaborative study on Iraqi refugee resettlement in the United States, she will discuss how individuals with disabilities may face added complexity when navigating immigration and naturalization procedures. Her research considers how current systems and policies can affect access to support and influence outcomes for those pursuing long-term residency.
Ehrkamp is a political and feminist geographer whose research focuses on immigration, citizenship, refugee geopolitics and migrant transnationalism. Her work emphasizes the role of everyday spaces in shaping these processes.
She earned her doctorate in geography from the University of Minnesota and her master's degree from the Universität Bonn in Germany. Ehrkamp currently serves as associate editor of Political Geography and is the 2024-25 president of the American Association of Geographers.
The Miller Lecture Series is an annual event that brings eminent geographers to Penn State and is supported by a gift from the late E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller. E. W. Miller was a professor of geography, department head and associate dean emeritus in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Ruby Miller was a teacher, artist and geographer whose contributions include helping to establish the department’s map collection, now foundational to the Hamer Maps Library.