Rate My Professor Kathleen Mee

Associate Professor Kathleen Mee is a cultural geographer in the Discipline of Geography and Environmental Studies and the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she has been employed since 1993. She holds a PhD and a Bachelor of Economics (Honours), both from the University of Sydney. In administrative capacities, she currently serves as Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences. Previously, she has been Head of Discipline of Geography and Environmental Studies, Program Convenor of the Bachelor of Development Studies, member of the Faculty of Science Teaching and Learning Committee, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies. Mee is an award-winning educator, recipient of the University of Newcastle Excellence in Teaching Award (1998), Faculty of Science and Information Technology Excellence in Teaching Awards (2008 and 2017), Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence and Contribution to Student Learning (Science) (2017), Urban Studies Fellowship at the University of Glasgow (2007), and the Institute of Australian Geographers ATLAS Award for teaching leadership and scholarship. She developed work-integrated learning courses for Development Studies and human geography students and led the Indigenisation of the Bachelor of Development Studies curriculum.

Her research specializations encompass cultural geography, with primary themes including the changing nature of social vulnerability in urban and regional areas, housing for socially vulnerable groups, and diverse practices of urban regeneration. Expertise areas cover housing studies, urban and regional transition, everyday practices, belonging, and stigmatisation. Mee has published over 40 papers, chapters, and books, attaining a Scopus h-index of 7, and obtained more than $1.3 million in research funding, including an ARC Discovery Project grant on urban regeneration assemblages in Newcastle and two ARC Linkage grants on public housing management in the Hunter Region and interagency working. Key publications include the book Climate change adaptation and the rental sector (2013, with L.H. Instone et al.), the article A space to care, a space of care: public housing, belonging, and care in inner Newcastle, Australia (Environment and Planning A, 2009), and Housing: an infrastructure of care (Housing Studies, 2019, with E.R. Power). She has supervised five PhD students to completion, currently supervises six, produced over 50 reports for industry collaborators, and holds the position of Editor-in-Chief of Australian Geographer.