Jamie Winders is an assistant professor of geography, and director of the undergraduate program in the same, at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She joined Zócalo for our conference on race and immigration. Learn more about her below.

Q. What music have you listened to today?

A. A mix of great independent bands like Spoon and very cheesy things from the 80s like ABBA.

Q. What is your favorite word?

A. Process.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A. I wanted to be an equine sports vet. I picked the University of Kentucky because they had an excellent program in equine medicine. And then I became a professor of geography, so, go figure.

Q. What is your favorite cocktail?

A. A margarita.

Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?

A. Oaxaca.

Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?

A. I would like to be a better geographer. It was always my back-up plan.

Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?

A. Going trail riding with my dad and my horses.

Q. What is your most prized material possession?

A. Probably a piece of furniture I refinished in college that I paid a dollar for at a yard sale, but that I’m very attached to.

Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?

A. That I’m going to start saying no and stop overcommitting.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?

A. Ray Betts. He was a professor that really inspired me and he passed away a few years ago.

*Photo by Andy Levin.