Resident Director & On-Site Staff

Riley Merline - Resident Director

Riley Merline is the Resident Director of the Border Studies Program.

Riley joined the program in 2008 and served for a semester as the Associate Director before taking his post as the RD. Riley holds a Masters in Latin American Studies from the University of Arizona where he focused on the history of U.S. interventions, Latin American revolutions, development, and international political economy. As a graduate student Riley also conducted research on the history of U.S.-Mexico border fence construction and immigration policy. Originally from Wisconsin, he holds a B.A. in Spanish from Northern Michigan University and has lived in Tucson, Arizona since 2005.

Before joining the Border Studies Program Riley worked on the Witness for Peace International Team in Colombia leading educational delegations and investigating the effects of Plan Colombia’s military aid and anti-narcotics programs on human rights and development efforts. After moving to Tucson, he worked for BorderLinks leading experiential education seminars along the U.S.-Mexico border with a focus on migration and immigration policy, free trade, international debt, cross border economies, labor issues, and human rights. Over the years Riley has also made work and study visits to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Chile.

Riley's current interests center on the ethical implications of restricting the movement of people across international boundaries, the ways in which food production and economic systems contribute to the concentration of wealth and poverty in distinct geographic locations, and how an international community can build alternative models to create greater equity and eliminate ecologically destructive practices. He looks forward to engaged discussion of these issues, among many others, with future Border Studies participants.

Whenever possible, Riley escapes the city to explore the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert and sky island mountain ranges surrounding Tucson. He enjoys rock climbing and gardening, plays ultimate Frisbee, enjoys a variety of films and books, and is committed to building more just and equitable societies across all borders and among all nationalities.

Brook Bernini - Assistant Director

Brook holds a Masters in Geography from the University of Minnesota, where she engaged with critical development studies, economic geography, and gender studies. Her Master’s thesis examined the work of a community savings and loan association in Oaxaca, analyzing the effects of neoliberal reforms, changes in Mexico’s provision of rural credit, microcredit programs, and remittances. In Minneapolis, she has been involved in the immigrant rights movement, anti-foreclosure struggles, and advocacy work against the Merida Initiative.

Originally from Massachusetts, Brook holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of New Hampshire. While there, she discovered a passion for botany and ecology and became active in the environmental movement on campus. In 2001, she moved to Tucson to accept a job with BorderLinks leading experiential education seminars along the border examining the effects of NAFTA, the maquiladora industry, the root causes of migration, and the militarization of the border. She has had the opportunity to visit Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, and Ecuador for work, research, coursework, and travel.

After spending two years in Minnesota, Brook is excited to return to the border. Some of her current interests include the potential of alternative economies to encourage greater equity and organizing across borders; anarchist theory; Arizona’s colonial history and solidarity work with decolonization struggles; farming and local food systems; and the effects of Mexico’s War on Drugs on migrants.

Brook enjoys dancing whenever possible, practicing yoga, taking bike trips, and hiking. She loves reading and learning with others, and hopes to become a better gardener and bike mechanic. She dreams of a world where people are able to move freely but are not forced to, and where divisions based on nationality, race, gender, sexuality, class, or educational attainment are dissolved. She hopes that her work is slowly helping to create such a place.

Rosalva Romero is the housing coordinator for Tucson. Originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, Rosalva has lived in Tucson for ten years and has been heavily involved in working with the community. She was an active organizer against the anti-immigrant Proposition 200 in Arizona, was involved in the “Mi familia Vota” movement to activate Latino voters in Arizona, and organized a women’s program through the Tucson Community Food Bank. After organizing health care workers for SEIU, Rosalva most recently worked with American Friends Service Committee and the Southwest Institute for Research on Women to promote labor rights among the immigrant community and especially of women. Rosalva is married, has three wonderful children, and looks forward to working with Border Studies students.

Dereka Rushbrook, Ph.D, University of Arizona

Dereka teaches the research methodology course and advises the independent research projects. Dereka teaches courses at the University of Arizona such as Gender and Geography, Arizona and the Southwest, and Urban Growth and Development, and advises student research at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dereka's doctoral work centered on the global political economy and human-environment interactions of resource-intensive artisanal production in the highlands of central Mexico. Her graduate studies in economics were also focused on issues of development and social justice in Latin America, specifically agricultural export diversification in Central America. Her areas of academic interest also include sexuality and space, border studies and immigration, and social justice movements, especially along the Arizona-Sonora border.

Callie Thompson - Border Studies Student Intern

Callie participated in the Border Studies Program in the Spring 2009. As a student on the program, Callie worked for Derechos Humanos, a grassroots organization “which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southern Border region, discrimination, and human rights abuses.” Callie is currently a senior at Earlham College majoring in Peace and Global Studies with a focus in Latin American Studies. She has played on Earlham’s varsity women’s soccer team since 2006 and enjoys eating Indian food with her friends and family.

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