Instr Fac AY

College

College of the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Department

Geography & Environmental Resources

Phone

Location

Bizzini Hall B237B

Professor Helzer is a native of California with research interests in the immigrant geographies of the state's diverse ethnic and cultural heritage groups. Her work is broadly focused on immigration to North America and specifically from Mediterranean Lands to California.  She has written on a wide range of cultural-geographic topics including the construction of ethnic heritage, regional identity and place-making, transnational migration, and cultural landscape change. Her current work, Italians in the West:   Migration, Settlement and Ethnic Place in Northern California, investigates the historical migration, settlement, and significance of Italians in Northern California and is under consideration for the Center for American Places series The Making of the American Landscape.  She has also published on the experience of Southeast Asian refugees in California's Sacramento Valley.  Her professional experience includes teaching computer mapping and cartographic design for publication.   Recent community service activities include facilitating teaching, research, and fundraising opportunities for The BRIDGE community center in West Modesto.