What Constitutes a Fair Map?

Dr. Rebecca Theobald
Assistant Research Professor
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Rebecca Theobald is Assistant Research Professor in the Geography and Environmental Studies Department at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She directs GeoCivics, asking geographic questions to address redistricting, emphasizing the role geospatial technology plays in drawing electoral districts. She has been interested in the intersection of geography and education since living in Memphis and observing inequality of resources available at neighborhood schools. As an expatriate in Brussels, she explored that country’s approach to education, enabling families’ choice between French- and Flemish-speaking schools. From 2008 through 2018, she served as coordinator of the Colorado Geographic Alliance, part of National Geographic's Network of Alliances for Geographic Education, providing professional development for teachers across the state, managing grants from the National Geographic Society Education Foundation, National Center for Research in Geography Education, and Esri, Inc. She has served as editor of the National Council for Geographic Education’s journal, “The Geography Teacher”, since 2016. Theobald earned doctoral and masters’ degrees in geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Middlebury College. She is a member of American Association of Geographers and the National Council for Geographic Education, and a fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar.