Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley
Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley
Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico whose work explores the connections between food systems, climate change, rural development, and community knowledge. Drawing from research in Latin America and the American Southwest, her work examines how rural and Indigenous communities navigate environmental and social change. Through community-engaged and interdisciplinary research, she highlights the importance of lived experience, resilience, and local knowledge in addressing global challenges.
Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico and an interdisciplinary social scientist whose work sits at the intersection of geography, sociology, political ecology, food systems, and rural development. Since joining UNM in 2015, her research has focused on understanding how rural and Indigenous communities respond to environmental, economic, and social transformation across Latin America and the American Southwest.
With a Ph.D. in Development Sociology from Cornell University, Dr. Walsh-Dilley studies the relationships between food systems, climate change, inequality, and community resilience. Much of her work examines how local communities navigate global processes such as environmental change, market pressures, modernization, and extractive economic systems. Her research frequently centers on food and agriculture as a lens for understanding broader social and ecological transformations.
Her scholarship is deeply grounded in community-engaged and qualitative research methods. Drawing from long-term relationships with Indigenous and rural communities in Bolivia and other parts of Latin America, she emphasizes the importance of lived experience, local expertise, and collaborative knowledge production. Her work highlights how communities themselves often hold critical knowledge for addressing environmental and social challenges.
At UNM, Dr. Walsh-Dilley has also led research on food and housing insecurity among university students, helping bring attention to barriers affecting student well-being and educational success across New Mexico. Her teaching and research aim to create more inclusive, community-centered approaches to scholarship while connecting global issues to local experiences and realities.
