Victoria Lawson is Professor of Geography at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is currently Vice-President and incoming president of the Association of American Geographers. She is also past chair of the Latin American Specialty Group of the AAG and just completed a three-year term as national councilor for the organization. Lawson has research interests in Latin American economic and social development, rural to urban migration, critical development theory in the Americas and the social and economic effects of global economic restructuring. She has published over 50 articles and book chapters and has been awarded grants totaling over $580,000 from National Science Foundation and Ford Foundation