Deondre Smiles, Ph.D. will be joining the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria as an Assistant Professor, starting in July 2021. Deondre, a citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, was an alumnus (2016) of the Master of Liberal Studies (now Master of Professional Studies), with emphases in American Indian Studies and Geography. While at UMD, he also taught composition in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies. Deondre recently graduated with his Ph.D. in Geography from The Ohio State University.
According to Deondre, “I am excited for the opportunity to move to British Columbia and begin my career on beautiful Vancouver Island with a strong department of wonderful colleagues and talented students. I look forward to being a thoughtful and respectful guest on Lekwungen, Songhee, Esquimault and W̱SÁNEĆ lands.” Beyond teaching coursework in human geography, Indigenous geographies, human-environment interaction, and supervising graduate students, Deondre plans to develop a lab specializing in critical Indigenous geographies and Indigenous climate futurisms, within the Department of Geography.
Deondre’ s recent publications include “The Settler Logics of (Outer) Space”, in the Society+Space online magazine, and “Listening to Native Radio” in the International Journal of Listening. For more information about Deondre, please visit his profile on the OSU Department of History’s website. And for more information about the Master of Professional Studies, please visit the MPS program page.