Dr. Catherine Garoupa

Executive Director, Central Valley Air Quality Coalition

Catherine (she/her and they/them) returned as Executive Director in December 2019. In this capacity, they spearhead policy advocacy for clean air in the San Joaquin Valley in close collaboration with coalition members, and manage internal operations. Dr. Catherine has a long history working on social and environmental justice issues in the Valley, where they were born and raised. In 2006, they were hired as CVAQ’s Madera County Community Organizer, then served as Director from 2009 to 2011. They left to pursue a PhD in Geography at UC Davis, working on community engaged research projects and completing their dissertation on the movement for clean air and environmental justice in the San Joaquin Valley. After graduating in 2016, Dr. Catherine advanced efforts to end extreme extraction and plan a just transition off fossil fuels with Californians Against Fracking and Dangerous Drilling, and served on the CVAQ Steering Committee from 2018 to 2019. Dr. Catherine has taught social work, geography, and community and regional development at California State University, Fresno, UC Davis, and CSU Sacramento and is currently a geography lecturer at CSU Stanislaus and Columbia College.