April 20, 2023 · Hanover, New Hampshire
An archive of care, and of a refusal to honor it.
Dartmouth College denied tenure to Dr. Patricia J. Lopez — an accomplished, nationally recognized geographer lauded for the feminist praxis in her research and her mentorship. This site preserves the record: the testimony of those she taught and worked beside, and their account of an institution that recruits scholars of color and then refuses to keep them.
The decision
On April 20, 2023, Dartmouth College's Committee Advisory to the President denied Dr. Patricia J. Lopez tenure. The trivialization of her capacious, generative work and mentorship is a disturbing reminder of the College's continued commitments to white supremacy, evident in the 74% white faculty it promotes and protects. With more than half of Dartmouth students identifying as non-white, the College marginalizes and underserves students of color by denying Dr. Lopez tenure.
Dr. Lopez began a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Dartmouth in 2014, and the College hired her as an Assistant Professor immediately after. Throughout her time there she published cutting-edge and influential books, articles, and chapters; she led initiatives redesigning how students learn; and she became the most sought-after professor in Geography, both in demand for her classes and as a thesis advisor.
She is the model of the teacher-scholar that Dartmouth promises its students.
Her denial sits within a documented pattern. Dartmouth Geography had never tenured a woman of color. In the years before, the College denied tenure to other faculty of color — among them Aimee Bahng and Sharlene Mollett — scholars whom students loved and whom the institution failed to keep.
Since then
The record did not end with the decision.
Appointment · University of Washington
Dr. Lopez joins the UW faculty
Dr. Patricia Lopez accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington — a leading scholar in care ethics and equity, bringing her expertise in health disparities and geopolitics and a research portfolio spanning Haiti, the Caribbean, and the United States.
Honor · 2024 AAG Awards
Distinguished Teaching Award
The American Association of Geographers recognized Dr. Lopez with its 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award. "Central to my thinking as an educator is the importance of building relationships of mutuality and trust to foster an inclusive learning and living environment."
The archive