Michelle A. Ritchie
Institute for Disaster Management, Health Policy & Management,
Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator at the Institute for Disaster Management
Institute for Disaster Management, Health Policy & Management,
Dr. Michelle Ritchie is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Disaster Management (IDM) within the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia (UGA). In her role, she coordinates the undergraduate program, teaches at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and mentors student-led research. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, the Institute for Women’s Studies, and the Atmospheric Sciences Program.
Dr. Ritchie earned a dual-title Ph.D. in Geography and Climate Science from Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation research focused on modeling the social-ecological processes that support household adaptation in communities experiencing rapid environmental change, emphasizing the roles of sense of place, risk perception, and the valuation of ecosystem services. This work builds upon her earlier research on early indicators of climate change impacts in the Arctic.
Prior to joining UGA, Dr. Ritchie served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Disaster Management Program in the School of Continuing Studies. There, she taught online graduate courses on hazard mitigation and the socio-cultural aspects of emergency management, and advised graduate capstone projects on topics including telehealth in disaster recovery and active shooter mitigation strategies in educational settings.
Dr. Ritchie’s research interests include social-ecological systems modeling for adaptation to climate change impacts, with a focus on sense of place, risk, and ecosystem services. Her work has been published in journals such as Applied Geography and The Northeastern Geographer.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Dr. Ritchie enjoys gardening, reading, and spending time with her pets.
