BobOliver

Robert Oliver, Visiting Assistant Professor, Office: 103 Major Williams

Phone: 540-231-5523
At Virginia Tech Since: August 2007
Education: PhD (Queen's University, Canada, 2008)

Email: oliverr@vt.edu

 

  • Research

    The Geography of the Modern City; Social & Cultural Geography; The Politicization of Urban Public Space; Qualitative Methods; Geography of Canada, Urban-Political Geography, Historical-Cultural Geography

    My research focuses on the politics of urban public space. Questions concerning the formation of public policy, the production of social space, waterfront development and the symbolic utility of sport have been at the forefront of my work with Toronto, Canada providing the site and situation.

    Teaching
Philosophy
In all the courses that I instruct my goal is to offer students an invitation to participate in an intellectual conversation. I encourage all participants to become actively involved in lectures and strive to help students imagine themselves as knowledgeable actors. We would be well served to remind ourselves that as geographers often our first understanding of space begins with the space of experience. I try to offer students opportunities for critical self-reflection on individual experience and I aim to show students that their opinions and judgment matter while challenging them to think about alternative viewpoints/arrangements.

Recent Courses
GEOG 2984: Geography of North America
GEOG-1004 Intro Human Geography
GEOG-4984 SS: Sport, Space & Society