Holly Barcus

Holly Barcus is a Professor of Geography and DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she also serves as Director of Asian Studies. She is an active researcher and teacher specializing in population geography, rural communities, ethnicity, and GIS, with fieldwork conducted in both the rural United States and western Mongolia.

Her research interests focus on ethnic minority mobilities, rural livelihood sustainability, and the implications of migration for rural communities. She works extensively with the Mongolian Kazakh ethnic minority population in western Mongolia, examining transnational migration patterns, social mobility, and immobility decisions. In the United States, her work has focused on rural communities in Appalachia and the Great Plains, particularly examining Hispanic migration patterns and rural community change.

Barcus serves as Co-Chair of the International Geographical Union's Commission on the Sustainability of Rural Systems (IGU-CSRS) and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Rural Studies. She is also a board member for the American Center for Mongolian Studies.

Her teaching portfolio includes courses on Population 8 Billion, Rural Landscapes and Livelihoods, Contemporary Mongolia, Migrants & Migrancy, and Geographic Information Systems. She emphasizes research-teaching synergies, often involving students in fieldwork and collaborative projects with community partners.

Barcus received her M.A. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and her Ph.D. in Geography from Kansas State University. Prior to joining Macalester, she worked at Morehead State University in eastern Kentucky, where she engaged in local projects related to housing, youth development, migration, and place identities through the Institute for Regional Planning and Public Policy.