Program Faculty
Faculty in the Program in Climate and Environmental Studies represent expertise from across the university. Consistent with the goals of the curriculum, perspectives from multiple disciplines are represented.
Primary Faculty
Joe Bandy, Assistant Director and Associate Professor of the Practice in Sociology
Teresa Goddu, Program Director of Climate and Environmental Studies and Professor of English
David Hess, Professor of Sociology and James Thornton Fant Chair in Sustainability Studies
Zdravka Tzankova, Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Climate and Environmental Studies
Secondary Faculty
Brooke Ackerly, Professor of Political Science
Husile Bai, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Earth and Environmental Sciences
Amanda Benson, Senior Lecturer of Biological Sciences
Sasha Crawford-Holland, Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Arts and Communication Studies
Sam Dolbee, Assistant Professor History
Calynn Dowler, Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies
Steve Goodbred, Professor and Endowed Chair, Earth & Environmental Science
Jonathan Gilligan, Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Neil Kelley, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lin Meng, Assistant Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Dan Morgan, Principal Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences
Jessica Oster, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Tasha Rijke-Epstein, Associate Professor of History
Jacob Sauer, Principal Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Environmental Anthropology, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Laura Stark, Associate Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society
Arts and Science Faculty with Climate and Environmental Research and Teaching
John Ayers, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Ralf Bennartz, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Ari Caramanica, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Lily Claiborne, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Earth and Environmental Sciences
Beth Conklin, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Larisa De Santis, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Jennifer Fay, Professor of English
Mabel Gergan, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies
Liz Haynes, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Theatre Technical Direction
Neil Kelley, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Earth and Environmental Sciences
Maria Luisa (Malu) Jorge, Associate Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences
Amanda Little, Writer-in-Residence in the English Department and Communication of Science and Technology Program
Michelle Marcus, Associate Professor of Economics
Betsey Robinson, Associate Professor of History of Art & Architecture
Anand Taneja, Associate Professor of Religion
Rachel Teukolsky, Professor of English
Cross-School Faculty Liaisons
Mark Abkowitz, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Engineering Management
Yolanda McDonald, Assistant Professor of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College
Lori Troxel, Professor of the Practice of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Affiliated Postdoctoral Fellows
Clara Wilch researches how environment and performance interrelate with a focus on philosophical and creative approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Her current book project illuminates the climatic influences of “icescapes,” performances that stage encounters between humans and ice, and centers modern and contemporary icescapes set in the Inuit co-governed territory of Nunavut, Canada. This project traces the creation of material/social infrastructures while attending to the intertwined histories of environmental change, colonialism, economics, and gender. She strives to interweave methods and insights from the humanities, arts, and sciences to help reconceive and advance environmental and multi-species justice. She holds a PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Other Faculty with Climate and Environmental Research
- Hiba Baroud , A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation Faculty Fellow
Associate Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Deputy Director, Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy, and Climate
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Director of Graduate Recruiting for Civil Engineering Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Ashley Carse, Assistant Professor, Human and Organization Studies, Peabody College
- Mark Cohen , Professor of American Competitive Enterprise & Professor of Law
- Leah Dundon, Research Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Bruce Jennings , Adjunct Associate Professor in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society and the Department of Health Policy at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- David Kosson , Co-Director of CRESP & Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- David Owens , Professor for the Practice of Management and Innovation
- Craig Philip , Research Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Director, Vanderbilt Center for Transportation and Operational Resilience (VECTOR)
- Jim Rossi , Professor of Law and Director, Program in Law & Government
- J.B. Ruhl, Director, Program on Law and Innovation and Professor of Law
- Sarah Safransky, Assistant Professor of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College
- Ryan Trahan, Adjunct Professor of Law
- Michael Vandenbergh , Director of Climate Change Research Network & Professor of Law
- Carol Ziegler , Professor, School of Nursing
- Hussam Mahmoud, Director of VSEC