All freshmen and sophomores, and 70 percent of upper-class students, are enrolled in the College, along with approximately 2,300 graduate students. She is a geographer and internationally known expert in the impact of earthquakes on urban housing markets and cultural responses to environmental hazards. She has won extensive support from the National Science Foundation for her work on earthquake hazards response, has written 13 books and monographs, and has served as president of her national professional association, the Association of American Geographers. Recent research, funded by the National Science Foundation, explored the differences between Japanese and California homeowners in their preparation for and responses to earthquake hazards.
Current research investigates the impact of web-based information in the house search process.
Dean Palm came to Carolina in July 1997 from the University of Oregon, where she served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1991 to 1997 and was professor of geography. She also held several administrative positions including dean of the Graduate School at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She spent five years on the faculty of the geography department at the University of California at Berkeley. Dean Palm earned her bachelor's degree in history and her master's and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Minnesota. Undergraduate Curriculum Review , a three-year process involving faculty, students, administrators and alumni, including a series of public discussions on what it means to be an educated person.