CSUSB History graduate, Kate Mook, recently published a legal article based on her experience and expertise as a wildland firefighter and law student. The article appeared in the summer issue of the Arizona Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, and is titled, “Excluded, Harassed, and Undercompensated: Sex Discrimination Against Women Wildland Firefighters and a Retreating Equal Protection Clause.” The article is technically considered a Note, which is a term for an article of legal scholarship written by a current law student, but also deemed a rigorous and substantial contribution to the field.

As noted in her Alumni Spotlight feature: “Kate Mook is currently a Dean’s Achievement Award scholarship recipient and Feezer Scholar at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law, where she is pursuing a career in prosecution. At CSUSB, Kate earned her bachelor’s degree in public and oral history while working as a park ranger at Yosemite National Park. She earned her master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on Indian boarding schools and their connection to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) epidemic. Following her graduate studies, Kate worked for the federal government as a wildland firefighter and became certified in domestic violence advocacy.”

Reflecting on her recent publication, Ms. Mook said, “My Note was informed, in part, by my own experiences as a woman wildland firefighter and as a park ranger. My education and experience as a historian also became extraordinarily relevant while researching, as many of the government-hosted sources I attempted to access for this Note had recently been redacted or completely erased, highlighting the importance of historical preservation even in the legal field. The attached images are fires that Ms. Mook responded to during the summer of 2020.