Before accepting the dean position, Wolch was the Founder and Director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D in Urban Planning from Princeton University, her dissertation focusing on Urban Social Policy and Planning, Human-Animal Relations, Cultural Diversity and Attitudes Toward Animals and Urban Sustainability.
Awards
Distinguished Scholarship Honors by the Association of American Geographers, 2005
Rockefeller Fellowship Recipient, Residential Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy, 2003
Wolch, J. R., Pascale Joassart-Marcelli, Alejandro Alonso & Nathan Sessoms (2005). "Spatial Segregation of the Poor in Southern California: A Multidimensional Analysis". Urban Geography, 26(7):587-609, doi:10.2747/0272-3638.26.7.587
Wolch, J. R., Emel, J. (1998). Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature-Culture Borderlands. Verso. ISBN 1859841376
Wolch, J. R., Dear, M. J. (1993). Malign Neglect: Homelessness in an American City (Jossey Bass Public Administration Series). Jossey Bass Wiley. ISBN 155542564X
Wolch, J. R. (1990). The Shadow State: Government and Voluntary Sector in Transition. Foundation Center. ISBN 0879543310
Wolch, J. R., Dear, M. J. (1989). The Power of Geography: How Territory Shapes Social Life. Unwin Hyman. ISBN 0044450567
Wolch, J. R., Dear, M. J. (1987). Landscapes of Despair: From Deinstitutionalization to Homelessness. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691601403