Faculty Profile for Dr. Elissa Underwood Marek
Dr. Elissa Underwood Marek
Assistant Professor — Finance & Economics
MCOY 504
phone: (512) 245-2547
Biography Section
Biography and Education
Elissa Underwood Marek earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, J.D. from Boston College Law School, and B.A. in the Growth and Structure of Cities, magna cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College.Prior to joining Texas State in 2022, she worked as a research attorney at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, practiced appellate law in Austin, and clerked for the Supreme Court of Texas.
Her research interests include critical carceral studies, food justice, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability law.
Teaching Interests
Business Law; Business and Social Justice; Food and Sustainability; Incarceration, Law, and BusinessResearch Interests
Social Entrepreneurship, Food Justice, Critical Carceral Studies, Sustainability LawSelected Scholarly/Creative Work
- Marek, E. U. (2024). “Let Us Work, Man”: Asserting Rights to Employment for Individuals With Conviction Histories in Austin, Texas. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 51, 1065–1094.
- Eljourbagy, J., Marek, E. U., & Todd, J. (n.d.). Preventing Disaster Through Corporate-Community Agreements. Oregon Law Review.
- Marek, E. U. (2022). Recipes for Resistance and Abolition: Crafting a Culinary Discourse While Incarcerated. Food and Foodways, 30(1–2), 82–102.
- Marek, E. U. (2018). The Post-Incarceration Kitchen: Food-Based Community Organizing and Employment After Incarceration. American Studies, 57(3), 57–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/45217114
- Marek, E. U. (2017). Sport, Spectacle and Carceral Othering: The Angola Prison Rodeo and the Prison View Golf Course. In The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Tourism (pp. 1011–1028). Palgrave Macmillan.
Selected Awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: Departmental Teaching Award - Highest Teaching Evaluations for Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Department of Finance and Economics. May 2023
- Award / Honor Recipient: Homecoming Professor Outstanding Teaching Award, Southwestern University. 2014
Selected Grants
- Marek, Elissa Underwood (Principal). Faculty Development Grant - Reframe, Resist, Repeat: A Model for Restorative Practices at Work (Refereed Paper Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association), McCoy College, Texas State University, $2414.06. (Submitted: 2023, Funded: 2023 - 2024). Grant.
- Marek, Elissa Underwood. Faculty Development Grant - Storytelling for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Business: Creating a Podcast, Texas State University, $1453. (Funded: September 2022 - 2023). Grant.
Selected Service Activities
Member
President's Council on Belonging
July 2023-Present
Volunteer
The Becker Green Classroom
August 2019-Present
Member
McCoy College Dean's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council (and Curriculum and Pedagogy subcommittee)
September 9, 2022-August 2023
Participant
New Tenure Track Orientation Roundtable Leader
August 16, 2023-August 16, 2023
Reviewer / Referee
Academy of Legal Studies in Business
June 2023-June 2023