Nagtabon Beach

William Holden

Positions

Contact information

Email

Background

Educational Background

Doctor of Philosophy Geography, University of Calgary, 2003

Master of Economics Economics, University of Calgary, 1996

Bachelor of Arts Economics, University of Calgary, 1993

Bachelor of Law LL.B., University of Western Ontario, 1987

Biography

Holden (a non-practicing member of the Law Society of Alberta)joined the Geography Department as a cross-appointee with the B.Sc in Environmental Science program on 1 September 2004. This followed an eight-year stint as an award-winning Instructor in the Department of Economics, six years teaching law at a private vocational college, time spent as an associate counsel in a law firm, articles as a student at law with the Attorney General of Ontario, and employment as a general duty kitchen worker at Banff National Army Cadet Camp.

Holden was nominated for a Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award in: 1996-1997, 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007. 2007-2008, 2010-2011, and 2012-2013. Holden received Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award Honorable Mentions in: 2001-2002, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006. Holden received a Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award in 1996-1997 and 2012-2013. Holden also received a Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Teacher Award in 1999, the Students' Union Presidential Citation in 2000, was nominated for the Mount Royal College Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award (while teaching as a sessional instructor at Mount Royal College) in 2000, was nominated for the Faculty of Arts Teaching Award in 2015, and was nominated for the Killam Award in Undergraduate Mentorship in 2016.

Holden was listed in Maclean's Magazine's Guide to Canadian Universities profile of the University of Calgary as a "popular professor" in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

 While a PhD student, Holden won the award for best presentation by a PhD student at the Geography Department conference in March 2001 and received the Graduate Faculty Council Scholarship in both 2001 and 2002.

During the 2012-2013 academic year Holden was a finalist for the University of Calgary's Teaching Leadership Sustainability ON Award.

In September 2013 and September 2014, Holden had the honor of giving the ceremonial "first lecture" to all in-coming students in the Faculty of Arts at new student orientation.

In the Fall of 2015, Holden was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Geography at San Diego State University in San Diego, California.

In the Fall of 2019, Holden was a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City, Philippines.

Research

Areas of Research

Mining as a development strategy, Insurgency/ counterinsurgency warfare, State terrorism, Performative violence, Memory scapes

Courses

Awards

  • Nominee: Killam Award in Undergraduate Mentorship, 2017
  • Nominee: Faculty of Arts Teaching Award, University of Calgary. 2015
  • Winner: Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary. 2013
  • Nominee: Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award, University of Calgary. 2011

Publications

  • “Jurisdictional Imaginaries as Contested Geographies: A Metaphor analysis of Reference Cases About Canada’s Impact Assessment Act.”. Blue, G., L. Lefsrud, A. Lajoie-O’Malley, H. Yaworski, and W.N. Holden. Political Geography (in press). (2024)
  • “Gibsland, Louisiana’s Memoryscape of Bonnie and Clyde: Putting the Past in the Present.”. Holden, W.N.. Memory Studies. 17 (6): 1536-1553. (2024)
  • “Bonnie and Clyde’s Crime Wave: Social Banditry, Social Change, and Political Geography.”. Holden, W.N.. Geojournal (in press). (2023)
  • “Bonnie and Clyde’s Extrajudicial Killing: Gibsland, Louisiana’s Dark Tourism.”. Holden, W.N.. Journal of Heritage Tourism. 18 (5): 658-675. (2023)
  • “Climate Change, Neoauthoritarianism, Necropolitics, and State Failure: The Duterte Regime in the Philippines.”. Holden, W.N.. Asian Geographer. 40 (2): 145-167. (2023)
  • President Rodrigo Duterte and the War on Drugs: Fear and Loathing in the Philippines.. Holden, W.N.. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. (2021)
  • Ecological Liberation Theology: Faith-Based Approaches to Poverty and Climate Change in the Philippines.. Holden, W.N., Nadeau, K.N, and Porio, E.. Springer Briefs in Geography. New York: Springer.. (2017)