Faculty

Program Chair

Colleen Hitchcock
Colleen Hitchcock
Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies
Chair, Environmental Studies Program
781-736-2634 Rabb Graduate Center, 353
Office Hours: Spring 2023: 1:15-2:30 p.m. Tuesday and by appointment 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday

Expertise: Community and citizen science, ecology, evolution and urban biodiversity and conservation.

Colleen Hitchcock's academic interests are focused on the role of citizen science in ecological inquiry and conservation biology, specifically relating to studies of biodiversity, conservation, phenology and climate change. She is a lead organizer for the City Nature Challenge in eastern Massachusetts and is also interested in both the application of community/citizen science research as a model for learning by students.

Citizen Science on Campus

  • To schedule office hours, please email Professor Hitchcock.

Program Faculty

Charles Chester
Charles Chester
Lecturer in Environmental Studies
Rabb Graduate Center, 374
Office Hours: Spring 2023: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and by appointment.

Expertise: International environmental policy, transborder conservation.

Charles Chester teaches global environmental politics at Brandeis and in the Global Master of Arts Program at the Fletcher School of Tufts University. He is the board chair of Bat Conservation International, chair of theYellowstone to Yukon Council and manages the website Global Environmental Politics — An Online Guide.

Prakash Kashwan Photo
Prakash Kashwan
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
781-736-3201 Rabb Graduate Center, 348
Office Hours: Spring 2023: 12-1 p.m. Tuesday Friday

Expertise: Environmental Justice, climate justice, global climate and geoengineering governance, international development, collective action on the Commons, and global conservation.

Prakash Kashwan’s research and teaching focuses on environmental and climate justice, climate governance, environmental policies and institutions, and the commons. He is the author of "Democracy in the Woods: Environmental Conservation and Social Justice in India, Tanzania and Mexico" (Oxford University Press, 2017), editor of "Climate Justice in India" (Cambridge University Press, 2022), and editor of the journal Environmental Politics. He advises international and multilateral agencies and welcomes research collaborations with graduate and undergraduate students.

  • To schedule office hours, please click this link, or email Professor Kashwan.

Richard Schroeder
Richard Schroeder
Professor of Anthropology
781-736-2234 Kutz 209
Office Hours: Spring 2023: 12-2 p.m. Wednesday and by appointment

Expertise: Political ecology, Africa, conservation, development, wildlife tourism, trophy hunting, forestry, mining, agriculture.

Richard Schroeder is a geographer by training whose research has addressed questions of gender vulnerability to drought and famine in Nigeria; gender, agroforestry and community forestry politics in The Gambia; counter-mapping, community wildlife management and artisanal mining in Tanzania; race, nationality and South African investment in Tanzania; and trophy hunting in South Africa. He teaches courses on the Anthropology of the Environment, Anthropology of Development and Conservation Politics.

dan perlman, professor of biology and environmental studies
Dan Perlman
Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies
781-736-2687 Rabb Graduate Center, 347

Expertise: Ecology, conservation biology and animal behavior. Pedagogical methods and innovations.

Dan Perlman's work in biology has ranged from studying colony-founding behaviors among tropical ants to helping regional conservation groups throughout the western United States set priorities for land and species protection. He also is interested in studying human learning. As founding director of the Brandeis Center for Teaching and Learning, Perlman worked with faculty to help them foster student learning. Perlman also developed a website, EcoLibrary.org, that freely distributes teaching materials developed for ecology and environmental studies.

sabine von mering
Sabine von Mering
Professor of German, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Director of the Center for German and European Studies
781-736-3227 Schiffman Humanities Center, 209

Expertise: German as a foreign language; climate change and the humanities; fairy tales; Jewish-German dialogue; German women writers; German cinema; Age of Goethe; German drama.

Sabine von Mering is currently working on the role of climate change as a challenge for the humanities. Her most recent scholarly work focused on right-wing extremism in Europe and the United States. As director of the Center for German and European Studies, she organizes lectures, conferences and cultural events in the interest of promoting transatlantic dialogue.

Sally Warner
Sally Warner
Assistant Professor of Climate Science
Undergraduate Advisor Head
781-736-8131 Rabb Graduate Center, 373
Office Hours: Spring 2023: 2:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesday

Expertise: Climate science, physical oceanography, turbulence and mixing, estuarine and coastal fluid dynamics.

Sally Warner is a physical oceanographer who studies how water moves and mixes in the ocean. She is particularly interested in connecting the small, fast motions of turbulence to decadal-scale, global processes like El Niño and climate change. She has spent many months living and working on oceanographic research vessels in places like the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. As an educator, she aims to teach climate science and oceanography in ways that highlight local case studies to motivate the underlying science.

Emeritus Faculty

Brian Donahue
Brian M. Donahue
Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies and American Studies (on the Jack Meyerhoff Fund)
781-736-3091

Expertise: American environmental studies, New England farm and forest history, sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, land conservation.

Brian Donahue taught courses on environmental issues, environmental history, sustainable farming and forestry, and early American culture. His primary research interests include the history and the prospects of human engagement with the land, especially in New England.

Laura J. Goldin
Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies
781-736-3075 Rabb Graduate Center, 347

Expertise: Environmental justice, environmental law and policy, environmental sustainability.

Laura came to Brandeis in the late 1990s after a 20-year career as an environmental lawyer addressing the full range of issues from clean air and water protection to toxic exposure and serving as general counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. She helped establish the Environmental Studies program and created the environmental internship program. Her environmental law, sustainability and social justice courses and field programs involved students in hands-on problem-solving and research addressing the needs of disenfranchised communities, including groundbreaking occupational health studies involving Vietnamese nail salon workers and hair products targeted to black women. Brandeis students can continue to be involved in several local programs Laura created with students, including the WATCH Housing Clinic.

Affiliated Faculty Teaching Environmental Studies Courses

John W. Ballantine 
Senior Lecturer in the Brandeis International Business School

Leigh Bloch
Lecturer in the American Studies Program

Elizabeth Bradfield
Associate Professor of the Practice of English and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program

Charles Golden
Professor of Anthropology

Caren Irr
Professor of English

Pete Kalb
Associate Professor of Contemporary Art on the Cynthia L. and Theodore S. Berenson Chair of Fine Arts

Melissa Kosinski-Collins
Professor of Biology

Ravi Lakshmikanthan
Lecturer

Nidhiya Menon
Professor of Economics

Kate Moran
Associate Professor of Philosophy

James Morris
Professor of Biology

Laurence Simon
Professor of International Development and Director of the Center for Global Development and Sustainability

Sara Shostak
Professor of Sociology and Health: Science, Society, and Policy

Melissa Stimell
Professor of the Practice in Legal Studies

Jerome Tharaud
Assistant Professor of English

Rachel Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Assistant Director of Elementary Education

Israel Ukawuba
Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Health and Climate Change