Dr. Melissa Heil
Assistant Professor of Geography
Office
FHS Felmley Hall Of Science
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Selected Research
Biography
Melissa Heil is an urban geographer who studies cities of the American Rustbelt. Her research has focused on urban planning, economic development, social services, and community development in cities like Detroit and Flint, Michigan. Dr. Heil’s most recent research examines urban water systems and barriers to water access in US cities.
Current Courses
GEO 142.002 Human Geography
GEO 287.011 Independent Study - Geography
GEO 331.001 Social and Cultural Geography
GEO 431.001 Social and Cultural Geography
PhD Geography
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign
MA Geography
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign
BA Organizational Studies
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor
Teaching Initiative Award
Illinois State University
2024
Research Initiative Award
Illinois State University
2023
Winner, Graduate Student Paper Competition
Urban Geography Specialty Group American Association of Geographers
2020
Grants and Contracts
Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship Grant Track II
Joan Brehm, Melissa Heil, Eric Peterson, Noha Shawki, Guang Jin.
Illinois State University. July 2025 - June 2026
New Faculty Initiative Grant
Melissa Heil.
College of Arts and Sciences, Illinois State University. July 2021 - 2022
Illinois Geographical Society Research Grant
Melissa Heil.
Illinois Geographical Society. 2020 - May 2021
Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellowship
Melissa Heil.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2019 - May 2020
Charles S. Alexander Fellowship Graduate Fellowship for Women in Geography
Melissa Heil.
Department of Geography and GIScience University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2018 - 2019
Book Review
Review: "Nor Any Drop to Drink: Flint's Water Crisis" (2018 Film)
Melissa Heil.
(2022), Water Alternatives
"Won’t you be my neighbor? Race, class, and residence in Los Angeles, by Camille Zubrinsky Charles." Book Review.
Melissa Heil.
(2015), Urban Geography
Book, Chapter
People of Color: Countering White Supremacy in Planning
Melissa Heil, Lou Turner, David Wilson.
(2023), Alternative Planning History and Theory, Routledge
Community Development Corporations in the Right-Sizing City: Remaking the CDC Model of Urban Redevelopment.
Melissa Heil.
(2022), The Affordable Housing Reader
Journal Article
Negotiating Infrastructural Citizenship Beyond the State: Philanthropy, Non-Profit Organizations, and The Flint Water Crisis
Melissa Heil.
Urban Geography, (2023)
The Geography of Water Disconnection Policy in Central Illinois
Melissa Heil, Rebekah Bollin, Luke Gallagher.
Illinois Geographer, (2023)
Barriers to Accessing Emergency Water Infrastructure: Lessons from Flint, MI
Melissa Heil.
Water Alternatives, (2022)
Debtor Spaces: Austerity, Space, and Financialized Dispossession
Melissa Heil.
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, (2021)
Decline Machines: Economic Development in the American Rustbelt and Flint, MI
David Wilson, Melissa Heil.
Urban Geography, (2020)
Community Development Corporations in the Right-Sizing City: Remaking the CDC Model of Urban Redevelopment.
Melissa Heil.
Journal of Urban Affairs, (2018)
Presentations
Building Civic Connections for Students: Designing Courses for Civic and Political Engagement
Melissa I Calvillo, Chad Everett Woolard, Melissa Heil.
2023 University Teaching and Learning Symposium, Normal, IL, January, 2023