Bio


Vannessa Velez is a PhD Candidate in History at Stanford University. Her research broadly examines the environmental impact of globalization on urban centers, with particular attention to environmental inequality. Her dissertation traces the environmental and political history of metro-Atlanta’s rapid economic development in the second half of the twentieth century, when the city’s leaders embraced globalization both early and enthusiastically to great economic success, at the expense of the city’s built and natural environment.

Vannessa is the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Mellon Mays Fellowship, the Norall Award, and the Stanford Humanities Center Dissertation Prize. She is currently working on several projects, including a digital humanities project dedicated to research methods in Black Studies, an article on black environmental politics in the 1980s, and a co-authored article on race, globalization, and the 1996 Centennial Olympics in Atlanta.

Honors & Awards


  • 2019 Stanford Community Impact Award, The Stanford Alumni Association (May 2019)
  • Stanford Humanities Center Dissertation Prize, Stanford Humanities Center (March 2022)
  • Graduate Research Opportunity (GRO) Award, School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University (December 2021)
  • The Norall Family Scholarship, The Phi Beta Kappa - North California Association (April 2022)
  • The Center for African Studies Workshop Grant, The Center for African Studies (2020)
  • The Diversity and Inclusion Fund Award, Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education at Stanford University (2019 - 2020)
  • The Geballe Research Workshop Grant, The Stanford Humanities Center (2019 - 2020)
  • Social Science Research Council (SSRC)-Mellon Mays Graduate Initiative Fellowship, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation & the Social Science Research Council (2017)
  • The Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Fellowship, Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education at Stanford University (2017)
  • Fellow for the 2016 Center for Jewish History Seminar on Archival and Historical Research, The Center for Jewish History (2016)
  • The Evelyn Abdalah Menconi Travel Grant, The Arab American National Museum (2016)
  • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, The Andrew Mellon Foundation and the City College of New York (2015)

Education & Certifications


  • BA, City College of New York, History (2017)

2022-23 Courses