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Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Dr. Reecia Orzeck

Associate Professor of Geography
Geography-Geology-Environment
Office
FHS Felmley Hall Of Science 207b
Office Phone
(309) 438-7643office
phone
Email
rorzeck@ilstu.eduemail
Website
https://scholar.google.com/citation... website
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Current Courses

204.001Career Preparation in Geography/Environmental Systems and Sustainability I

287.007Independent Study - Geography

375.001Qualitative Research Design and Methods in Human Geography

475.001Qualitative Research Design and Methods in Human Geography

135.002World Geography

Teaching Interests & Areas

As a human geographer, I am interested in teaching courses on Social and Cultural Geography, Political and Economic Geography, and Geography of the Middle East. I also enjoy teaching one of the department's introductory courses: Introduction to Human Geography.

Research Interests & Areas

I have three main research interests: the political economy of public international law; the history and geography of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and representations of the body in popular, geopolitical and legal discourse. I am also interested in academic freedom and debates about the role of the academy in society.

Ph D Geography

Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

MA Geography

York University
Toronto, ON

BA Geography and Religion

Queens University
Kingston, ON

Shaw Teaching Fellowship

College of Arts and Sciences
2023

Faculty Research Award

2023

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning University Research Grant

Illinois State University
2019

Faculty Research Support Award

University of Vermont
2011

Lattie F. Coor International Travel Fund Award

University of Vermont
2010

Quadrant Residential Fellowship

University of Minnesota
2009

Humanities Center Research Assistantship

UVM Humanities Center
2008

Lattie F. Coor International Travel Fund Award

University of Vermont
2008

Scholar-in-Residence

Faculty Resource Network
2008

Antipode Graduate Student Scholarship

Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
2004

Book Review

Orzeck, Reecia (2020) "Will Families Be Different in the Future? A Review of Full Surrogacy Now by Sophie Lewis" Society and Space.

Orzeck, Reecia and Rosati, Clayton (2016) “Introduction: On Essex’s Development, Security, and Aid: Geopolitics and Geoeconomics at the U.S. Agency for International Development” Dialogues in Human Geography 6(1), 86-88. 

Book, Chapter

Hae, L., & Orzeck, R. Nicholas Blomley. Phil Hubbard, Mary Gilmartin, Susan Roberts, Rob Kitchin (EDs), Key Thinkers on Space and Place. Sage (2024)

Orzeck, Reecia (2013) “Hunger Strike: The Body as Resource” in Body/State, Angus Cameron, Jen Dickinson and Nicola Smith (eds), Ashgate, pp. 31-50.

Journal Article

Orzeck, Reecia (2023) "Teaching Information Literacy in an Undergraduate Class on the Geography of the Middle East" Journal of Geography in Higher Education 47(4), 637-663.

Orzeck, Reecia and Hae, Laam (2020) “Restructuring Legal Geography" Progress in Human Geography 44(5), 832-851.

Werner, Marion, Strauss, Kendra, Parker, Brenda, Orzeck, Reecia, Derickson, Kate, and Bonds, Anne (2017) “Feminist Political Economy in Geography: Why Now, What's Different, and What For?" Geoforum 79, 1-4.

Orzeck, Reecia, Leyba, Alexa, O'Donnell, Christy, and Weier, Jacklyn (2016) "Assessing Undergraduate Knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" Illinois Geographer 58(2) 19-57.


Orzeck, Reecia (2015) “The Jewish Agency’s Case Before the UNSCOP: Image and Discourse” Jerusalem Quarterly Autumn/Winter 63 & 64, 7-23.

Presentations

Geographers in Higher Ed Labor Organizing. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. (2025)
Getting to grad school: how undergraduate students learn about and apply to Geography graduate programs. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. (2025)
Who learns about graduate school and how?: Knowledge transfer and the social reproduction of the discipline. University of Illinois Department of Geography & Geographic Information Science Colloquium Series. (2025)
Belonging/Inclusion in Campus Spaces: Considering Caregiving and Intersectional Identities. Annual Conference of the National Council on Family Relations. National Council on Family Relations. (2024)
Teaching Students to Ask their Own Questions: The Question Formulation Technique. Illinois Geographic Alliance Conference. Illinois Geographic Alliance. (2023)
Who learns about graduate school and how? Professional knowledge transfer and the social reproduction of the discipline. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. American Association of Geographers. (2023)
On the politics of comparing capitalisms. A Critical Political Economy of Covid Capitalism. Critical Political Economy Research Network, European Sociological Association. (2021)
Teaching information literacy in an undergraduate area studies class. Applied Geography Conference. (2020)
Labor and families in Sophie Lewis’ Full Surrogacy Now. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. (2019)

“Undergraduate Students’ Understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” (with Alexa Leyba, Christine O’Donnell, Jacklyn Weier), Illinois Geographical Society Annual Meeting, Skokie, IL (April 2016)

Grants & Contracts

Douglas Clay Ridgley Endowed Fellowship. Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment. Illinois State University. (2020)
Developing and Assessing an Information Literacy Module for an Undergraduate Area Studies Geography Class. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning University Research Grant. Illinois State University. (2019)
Pre-tenure Faculty Initiative Grant. College of Arts and Sciences. Illinois State University. (2015)
New Faculty Initiative Grant. College of Arts and Sciences. Illinois State University. (2014)
Quadrant Residential Fellowship. University of Minnesota. Other.