Email: raheleh@uic.edu
Rachel Havrelock, Ph.D. is a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where she directs the Freshwater Lab. The Freshwater Lab generates research and policy on transboundary water systems and climate change adaptation; trains a new generation of water leaders; and creates public-facing media like the Freshwater Stories and Backward River digital platforms. Dr. Havrelock spent decades researching water in the Middle East and helping to envision sustainable, shared infrastructure as a means of political reconciliation with the NGO Ecopeace Middle East. She served as a Professional Fellow with the U.S. Department of State in the Middle and earned their Alumni Impact Award. Her current research focuses on water reuse and innovative pricing strategies in the Great Lakes basin. An active voice in the media, Rachel has published in Foreign Affairs, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Haaretz, The Chicago Reporter, Belt Magazine, the International Joint Commission newsletter and been a return guest on WBEZ and WTTW Chicago Tonight.
Selected Publications
- River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).
- Op-ed, “Rust Belt no more: Chicago should be capital of the Water Belt, Chicago Tribune, February 8, 2018.
- “The Borders Beneath: On Pipelines and Resource Sovereignty,” South Atlantic Quarterly 116.2 (2017): 408-416.
- “Pipelines in the Sand: The Middle East after Sykes-Picot,” Foreign Affairs, May 17, 2016.
- “The Ancient Past that Oil Built,”The Bible and Critical Theory11:2 (2015): 51-60.
- “The Joshua Generation: Conquest and the Promised Land,” Critical Research in Religion1:3 (2013): 308-326.