Miles Nowlin

MALAS
Environmental Governance & Resilience

Miles arrived at the UNM MALAS program from his hometown of Olympia, WA, where he completed his Bachelors of Latin American Studies at The Evergreen State College and worked in the community for over two decades.  His professional background spans from his roles as a school-based social worker, community organizer, experiential educator in classrooms and wilderness, and most recently, limited-equity housing co-op developer.  As the Family Support Coordinator in the Shelton School District, Miles supported the development of outdoor education programs for underserved youth and co-founded a youth host-housing/education program — Mason County HOST Program.  As Housing Co-op Specialist at the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, Miles led the conversions of 5 manufactured housing co-ops, helped the passage of multiple state bills supporting co-op members, including leading a campaign to offer tenants in WA a right of first refusal to purchase their housing communities as co-ops or land trusts.  Miles plans to investigate land-reform, affordable housing, workers’ rights movements, indigenous theory, and radical community planning in his studies with the MALAS program.

Miles was drawn to UNM’s inclusion of critical Indigenous theory within their planning curriculums.  He was also drawn to the intimate nature of UNM’s graduate programs and the warm invitation he received from the LAII.