Dr. Olson is an active teacher, researcher and social advocate. She earned her doctorate degree in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University in 2009, and is currently Assistant Professor of Global Health and Development in the Department of Environmental Science at Allegheny College (Meadville, Pennsylvania). She has conducted fieldwork in the USA, Western Europe, Mexico and Bolivia. Her doctorate research tackled questions about the constitution and distribution of indigenous ethnobotanical knowledge in west-central Mexico. She has used a blend of qualitative and quantitative approaches to study traditional ecological knowledge of medicinal plants and relate it to the processes of community development and community-based conservation. Her new book, “Indigenous Knowledge and Development: Livelihoods, health experiences and medicinal plant knowledge in a Mexican Biosphere Reserve,” (Lexington Books, 04/2014) is based on the findings of her doctoral research. Currently, her research agenda is focused on the role of botanical knowledge in ethnomedical systems in Western Europe, the USA and Mexico. Liz is also very engaged in food and health sovereignty movements which she integrates in many of her classroom-based projects at Allegheny College.
Liz currently serves on the Editorial Board of Ethnobiology Letters and is the Awards Coordinator for the Society of Ethnobiology. In the past, she has served as the President of the Graduate Student Senate at Case Western Reserve University, and the President of the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students. In her spare time, Olson enjoys competing in marathons and birding – both in Mexico and across Mexico and the USA – with her son Gabriel.
[feature color=”icon-black” title=”Email:” icon=”ico-envelope” ]olson@nagps.org[/feature]