Maria Lane

dean of graduate studies, University of New Mexico

Maria Lane, Ph.D., has served as dean of graduate studies at the University of New Mexico since 2023. Her team supports graduate education across the institution, with a particular focus on admissions, scholarships/fellowships, degree completion, and student success programming. Previously, Lane served as chair of the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies for five years and as director of the R.H. Mallory Center for Community Geography for four years. She is a tenured professor in geography and author of two books: Geographies of Mars (2011) and Fluid Geographies (2024), both published by the University of Chicago Press. Lane received her B.A. in Latin American studies from the University of Virginia and an M.S. in community and regional planning and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Texas at Austin.