Diane Austin

Diane Austin is an applied environmental anthropologist whose work focuses on community dynamics amid large-scale industrial activity and environmental change; alternative technologies and education to increase environmental, social, and community justice; and community-based, collaborative research and outreach. She spent seven years as a school teacher and has more than 25 years of experience managing large interdisciplinary and multiyear projects and developing and implementing collaborative research and outreach approaches in diverse communities in the United States and Mexico. She has developed and maintained long-term, multisectoral and community-based partnerships with Native American communities, U.S. and Mexican border communities, and communities along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. She has served as an advisor to local, state, and tribal governments and consortia in the United States and Mexico; was a board member and chair of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, the U.S. federal advisory dedicated to environmental infrastructure needs along the U.S.-Mexico border; and served the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine as a member of the Gulf Research Program Advisory Board. At the University of Arizona, she has coordinated the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) internship program for almost three decades, developed BARA’s post-baccalaureate program, and supported hundreds of students and emerging researchers. She has served as Director of the School of Anthropology since 2013 and has helped shepherd the unit and its undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty through challenging circumstances. During the COVID-19 pandemic she also served the University as an invited member of the Pandemic Academic Coordination Committee. Austin was recognized as University Distinguished Outreach Professor in 2008.and Distinguished Director in 2023.