Joel E. Correia | FRONTERAS Collective

“One of the most amazing transformative courses I have ever taken in my life.” Indigenous Rights, Environmental Justice, and Development in Abya Yala Student, 2019, University of Florida

Correia is dedicated to teaching students the critical skills, debates, and practical tools that will shape their futures as engaged citizens who seek to contribute to creating more just futures through care for social and ecological wellbeing. He draws inspiration from bell hooks’ notion that the teaching should be focused on transgressing injustices in all their forms and Paulo Freire’s notion of praxis and co-learning. Instead of a site for merely transmitting information, the classroom is a site for radical possibility and co-learning where students can learn key debates and skills while challenging established concepts to explore pathways and strategies to address to pressing problems facing society.

Correia’s teaching has been recognized with several awards across scales: departmental (2017), college-level (2020), university-wide (2014), national (2021), international (2024).

“Joel’s enthusiasm while teaching was outstanding; I’ve never had a professor be this interested and dedicated to teaching a course. In every single class, I could see his passion for teaching and the course material. Joel was also extremely understanding, always willing to accommodate for students’ suggestions/needs. He was extremely approachable, an active listener, and a great mediator during class discussions.” Human Rights in Latin America Student, 2022, University of Florida

Broad experience outside the classroom as a field-based educator and development practitioner influences my teaching in important ways. Correia served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and American Red Cross, designed and implemented grassroots educational initiatives, and participated in numerous applied community-based research projects focused on sustainable development. Having done this work in Paraguay, Mexico, Kenya, and Southern Arizona, he has studied environmental injustice operating across a broad range of geographies and cultural settings while using research and activism to contribute to efforts the creation of more just futures.

“While I was expecting to learn a lot going into this course, I learned so much more than I could have hoped to. This course really influenced the way I will be approaching my dissertation research and has left me with so much to think about and consider as I pursue my research. The knowledge I gained in this course will honestly help guide my current and future research.” Conservation and Climate Justice Student, 2025, Colorado State University

To date, Correia has designed and instructed several classes that focus on questions of socio-environmental justice, human rights, development, political ecology, conservation social science, and qualitative methods. His experience spans from large-lectures for undergraduates, professional graduate programs, and online teaching to advanced graduate seminars.

“I loved this class. It really helped propel my research proposal and shored up my qualitative methodology. HDNR would benefit from a qualitative methods course, like this, being required material- I wish I had taken it during my Master’s program.” Qualitative Methods for Social-Ecological Research Student, 2024, Colorado State University

Below, is a list of university courses that Correia has taught as instructor of record:

1. Qualitative Methods for Social-Ecological Research
   • A graduate course, Colorado State University
2. Multi-level Views on Conservation and Society
   • A graduate course, Colorado State University
3. Conservation and Climate Justice
   • A graduate course, Colorado State University
4. Land politics: Race, rights, and power in América
   • A graduate course, University of Florida
5. Infrastructure, environment, and society: Geographies of social-environmental relations
   • A graduate course, University of Florida
6. Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and development in Abya Yala
   • A graduate course, University of Florida
7. Drug Wars and Oil Fortunes in Latin America
   • An undergraduate lecture course, University of Florida and also at University of Arizona
8. Human Rights in Latin America 
   • A co-convened undergraduate-graduate course, University of Florida and also at University of Arizona
9. Power, Politics, and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
   • A co-convened course with both graduate and undergraduate students. Cross-listed with Geography and Latin American Studies, University of Arizona
10. Introduction to Latin American Studies
    • A graduate course designed to orient incoming cohort of MA students to Latin American Studies, University of Arizona
11. Environment and Development in South America
    • A senior-level undergraduate geography course, University of Colorado Boulder
12. Geographies of International Development
    • An undergraduate geography course, University of Colorado Boulder