Sewanee's Integrated Program in the Environment (SIPE) has over 40 faculty and staff that are engaged with students on a variety of research and applied field projects. Come join us for a truly unique experience in environmental study and the liberal arts.
Professor of Biology and Assistant Dean for the Environment. An ecosystem ecologist, McGrath focuses on restoring biogeochemical processes to address global environmental challenges. Her studies include the impact of payment for ecosystem services on afforestation, carbon sequestration and agroecosystem resiliency in Haiti and constructed wetlands to remove and recycle pollutants from wastewater locally and in China.
Professor of Religious Studies | Walsh-Ellett 215 / ext. 1529. Prof. Brown focuses on religious, especially Buddhist, responses to environmental issues and religious conceptions of relationships between human and other-than-human animals. Brown is especially interested in the breakdown of categories such as religious/non-religious and human/non-human.
Assistant Professor of Spanish | Gailor 230, Ext. 3140. Professor Burner studies Peruvian and Chilean literature and culture. She examines how writers express hopes, dreams and fears about mining and other forms of natural resource extraction. Burner’s literature classes cover Latin American culture in relation to environmental concerns as well as gender, economics, race, social class, and imperialism.
Daniel has taught environmental policy courses related to land-use, agriculture, and community development since 2009. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Tennessee and a Master’s in Public Administration from American University. Prior to teaching at the University of the South at Sewanee, Daniel was a County Government Consultant with the University of Tennessee’s County Technical Assistance Service, serving rural county elected officials in Tennessee. Daniel is a second-generation cattle and sheep farmer, raising two boys with his wife Rachel. Daniel has served in numerous civic and non-profit leadership roles throughout the region.
Associate Professor of Biology, Co-Director Island Ecology Program | Spencer Hall 152 / ext. 3153. Professor Cecala is an ecologist with a special interest in amphibians and reptiles. Her research principally focuses on understanding how human-driven changes on the landscape affect aquatic organisms. Current research focuses on climate change impacts on the behavioral, population, and community ecology of stream amphibians.
Visiting Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy | Woods Lab G1 / ext. 1817 After 35 years at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Professor Coffey joins the Physics Department where he teaches a popular course on the Foundations of Global Warming. Research in the areas of atmospheric composition and chemistry continues with colleagues at NCAR and NASA.
Assistant Professor of Geology
Professor Dahlquist is a geologist studying the influence of tectonic and climatic forces on the evolution of landscapes. He is especially interested in interplay between extreme events (i.e. earthquakes, outburst floods) and mundane (daily thermal stress, hillslope creep). He teaches physical and structural geology, sedimentology, and geomorphology.
As the Director of the Babson Center for Global Commerce, Sewanee’s co-curricular center for business studies, Myles teaches courses on leadership, strategy, and international business. He has a particular interest in business and social impact, and emerging technology innovations to address environmental health challenges. He has served in executive positions in a social impact technology start-up, as an international consulting practice lead for a large non-profit research organization, and has led an international development consulting firm in which he directed environmental impact studies, water and sanitation research, and regional economic development projects in 34 emerging market countries.
Associate Professor of Economics | Carnegie 114 / ext. 3156. Professor Elrod studies the effect of environmental regulation on various aspects of firm behavior. More recently, his research focuses on the Clean Water Act, examining whether factors such as gubernatorial political parties, campaign contributions, and politicians’ stock holdings influence Clean Water Act monitoring and enforcement efforts.
Professor Evans is a plant ecologist whose research examines the importance of clonal growth as a mechanism for population persistence in plant communities. He also studies how land-use history, introduced species, and climate change contribute to the loss of plant diversity in the southeastern United States.
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Systems. Eric Ezell studies oceanography and the ocean’s largest predators, whales. His focus is upon the interactions between whale habitat use and coastal industries such as shipping along our continent’s west coast. He teaches hydrology, geology, and coastal survey techniques in Sewanee’s Island Ecology Program on St. Catherine’s Island, GA.
Beth Pride earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from The Pennsylvania State University and has been teaching in the Department of Economics at Sewanee since 2004. Her primary interests include environmental economics, sustainable agricultural production, managerial economics, and finance. Beth Pride grew up on a cotton and cattle farm in North Alabama and continues to manage a small part of her family's farming operation in addition to teaching.
Kevin is a Certified Wildlife Biologist that received his M.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Management from the University of Georgia. Prior to arriving on the Mountain, he investigated links between management practices and stream salamander communities in the Smokies, worked with managers of southeastern reservoirs to reduce incidence of wildlife disease, and helped examine the effects of biofuel production on aquatic habitats. He's now committed to surveying, monitoring, and facilitating research on the Domain's wildlife. A whitewater guide in his younger years, Kevin loves spending time stone hopping in local streams with his dog Koda . Phone: 931-598-1177, Office: Cleveland Annex 005
Assistant Professor | Carnegie Hall Room 315
Professor Gauding studies and teaches public policy courses. He is particularly interested in the structure and politics of bureaucratic agencies, and the politics of local political economy. He is currently working to understand the relationship between political donations and EPA's Clean Water Act monitoring and enforcement actions.
Sandy has been working with the University for four years now. He became the University's first and only full-time Domain ranger two years ago. Outside of his work patrolling and maintaining the trails and recreational assets of the Domain, Sandy serves as Franklin County's Constable. He also loves to hunt and is a self-taught photographer. Phone: 931-598-1268, Office: Cleveland Annex 006
Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies | Spencer 250 (on leave 2023-4). David Haskell teaches creative nonfiction and environmental writing. His books include Sounds Wild and Broken and The Forest Unseen, both finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, and The Songs of Trees, winner of the John Burroughs Medal.
Carolyn Hoagland is a soil ecologist with a dedication to sustainability principles and student collaboration. She is finishing a Ph.D. in Soil and Crop Science at Colorado State University, where she also completed a Master’s Degree. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and a permaculture design certificate from Oregon State University. As Farm Manager, her projects include the construction of hoop houses and expansion of composting practices. Office: 225 Breakfield Rd
Associate Professor of Biology. Professor Kikis is a molecular biologist whose research focuses on the connections between protein misfolding and neurodegenerative disease. Using a variety of animal models, including the nematode C. elegans, she is currently studying the molecular mechanisms by which environmental stressors, including air pollution, exacerbate or otherwise contribute to diseases of protein misfolding.
Professor of Geology, Chair of the Department | Snowden 203/ ext. 1713. Professor Knoll’s research interests include surface and groundwater quality and dynamics in the southeastern US, with special emphasis on heavy metals and microplastics. He teaches courses in hydrology, paleoecology and climate change of the past.
Associate Professor of History | Walsh-Ellet 307 / ext. 1785 Professor Levine researches and writes about South African history, and teaches broadly across Africa, North America, the Anglo-Atlantic World, and global history. Environmental studies (which was his undergraduate major) and environmental history are foundational to this teaching and research. Currently, he is engaged in ongoing research projects on the history of sustainability and sustainable development, and on how constructions of the environment informed popular understandings of race and whiteness in segregation-era South Africa.
Dr. MacLaren is Director and Curator of Academic Engagement for the University Art Gallery (UAG), and teaches Humanities and Art History classes, including ArtH365: Modern and Postmodern Architecture. She created the exhibition Action By Design: Sustainability Planning in Sewanee to help launch the university’s Climate Accountability Plan, and regularly brings exhibitions of contemporary art related to the environment and sustainability to the UAG. Dr. MacLaren is a community advocate for active and alternative transportation, and has taught students about best practices in active mobility networks for the Sewanee Environmental Institute.
Professor of Art | Carnegie 305 / ext. 1537. Professor Malde teaches photography and documentary studies. Much of his work considers the experience of loss and how it serves as a catalyst for regeneration. He is currently working in rural communities in Haiti, Tanzania and Tennessee, designing models for community development through photography.
Brian McCray is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on social dynamics at ecological interfaces. He is especially interested in how researchers use geospatial models to integrate environmental data with human-scale analysis. Brian’s dissertation work examined the way communal gatherings articulated Andean and Amazonian interaction between 1000-1500 CE.
Assistant Professor of Biology. Professor McGhee is a behavioral ecologist whose research focuses on how stressors experienced by parents, such as encounters with predators, can affect future generations. Using freshwater fish, she examines how maternal stress affects offspring behavior and the ability of offspring to cope with their own stressful experiences later on.
New to Sewanee and the position of Sustainability Coordinator in 2020, Sara has spent the past 15 years as a middle school Science teacher, sustainable farmer, and executive director of a Chattanooga nonprofit farm. Her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College and graduate work in Environmental Education at the Teton Science School in Kelly, WY have informed her passion for and career in teaching and engaging people in the natural world. She would love to meet you for a walk, hike, paddle, bike ride, cup of tea, ice cream cone, or chat about anything! Find her: Phone: 931-598-1559, Office: Cleveland Annex 005
Jennifer Davis Michael, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Gailor 111, ext. 1865. Professor Michael studies the 18th and early 19th centuries in British literature, a time when the physical environment ("Nature") was emerging as an object of reverence simultaneously with the industrialization of the economy. She is also interested in contemplative and embodied approaches to poetry, both as a teacher and as a writer.
Jim Peters' study of nature began at age six when he became a passionate lover of birds. As Professor of Philosophy, Peters teaches Environmental Ethics, a course which explores a diversity of perspectives on such topics as the value of nature, animal rights, environmental justice, and the ethics of climate change. Professor Peters’ research focuses on the particular power of stories to illuminate the value of nature and on the understanding of nature as divinely infused and sacred creation in the Christian tradition.
Professor of Art | Studio Art Bldg 110 / ext. 1870
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department: Earth and Environmental Systems. Tom Powell is a forest ecologist that uses empirical and theoretical approaches to understand how terrestrial ecosystems respond to and recover from anthropogenic and natural disturbances.
Director of Environmental Arts and Humanities, and Chair of Anthropology. Celeste Ray’s research considers Biocultural Diversity at Sacred Natural Sites. Her most recent books focus on Historical Ecology (2019) and Sacred Water (2020 & 2023). National Geographic Explorer Grants have financed her current research on Ireland’s holy wells.
Professor Schrader is an evolutionary biologist whose work focuses on the evolution of parental care. His current research examines how the social environment influences the coevolution of mating and parenting behaviors in Nicrophorus beetles.
Professor Simpson researches and teaches about the intersection of the environment and political theory. He is particularly interested in the ways that claims of "nature" have been deployed in colonial and genocidal ways, how capitalism transforms nature and our relationship to it, and the looming threat of self-proclaimed "eco-fascists."
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Richard Tate's research is at the intersection of environmental anthropology, geography, and ethnobotany. He is especially interested in human knowledge about plants, and how landscape and lifestyle shape this vital interaction. He continues research projects in the country of Georgia (Caucasus), and is eager to initiate work in Appalachia.
Andrew R. H. Thompson, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Religion and Environment at Sewanee and Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at the School of Theology. His work focuses on environmental ethics and eco-theology, especially around environmental racism and colonialism. His most recent book, Reconsider the Lilies: Challenging Christian Environmentalism’s Colonial Legacy, addresses whiteness in Christian environmentalism, and was published by Fortress Press in June 2023. Dr. Thompson received his Ph.D. in Religion from Yale University.
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Systems. Professor Thompson is a geologist whose research focuses on the material properties of the minerals at extreme conditions, enabling a better understanding of the constitution and evolution of planetary interiors. Her current focus is on combining high-pressure, high-temperature experiments and theoretical ab initio calculations to better constrain the distribution and cycling of hydrogen in the Earth's deep interior.
Professor of Forestry | Snowden 205 / ext. 1271. Dr. Torreano is interested in all aspects of forested ecosystems, from soils to tree tops. His primary work involves the relationships connecting forest productivity, soils and their environment. Some of his current work includes dendrochronology, the study of how tree rings and climate can answer ecological questions.
Landscape Analysis Lab Manager and GIS Instructor. Dr. Van de Ven oversees the University's GIS (Geographic Information Systems) lab, the Landscape Analysis Lab. He provides spatial analyses, collects and maintains spatial data of the Domain and surrounding area, and provides map support for the University of the South. In addition, he teaches introductory and advanced GIS courses.
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Systems. Snowden 216.
Professor Watson is a landscape ecologist with a focus on how people benefit from natural landscapes. She studies land cover change and conservation tradeoffs between biodiversity and ecosystem services. Professor Watson is currently studying the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on nature access and the consequences for mental health.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology. Professor Wells is a fisheries biologist. His research work includes conservation, ecology, and management of Southeastern fishes of North America. Recent work by Wells has focused on the Endangered Pygmy Madtom (Noturus stanauli). Current work focuses on crayfish ecology on the Domain. Wells teaches ecology, field biology, and ichthyology.
Jessie Ball duPont Professor of History | Walsh-Ellett 201 / ext. 1534. In his teaching and research, Professor Willis specializes in the history of the U.S. South. He has published on slavery in antebellum Virginia and on the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta’s postbellum frontier, and is now writing an environmental and social history of Tennessee’s southern Cumberland Plateau.
As Domain manager, Nate Wilson is responsible for the implementation of land management decisions across the Domain. Prior to his work for the University, he was a consultant in wildlife biology and forestry on the Cumberland Plateau where he worked primarily with private landowners and conservation NGOs. Nate received his B.S. in Forestry and Wildlife Ecology in 2002 from the Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia. Phone: 931-598-1268, Office: Cleveland Annex 006
Vice Provost for Planning and Strategic Initiatives | Walsh-Ellett 109 / ext. 1173. Professor Wilson conducts research on China’s environmental governance with special attention to citizen participation. He has researched the role of Chinese civil society organizations in monitoring polluters and pollution levels, environmental litigation, and bureaucratic enforcement mechanisms. He uses these prisms to analyze state-society relations in managing China’s environmental crisis.
Professor of Biology | Spencer Hall 152 / ext. 3153. Professor Zigler studies cave biodiversity. The southern Appalachians are a hotspot for cave biodiversity, and more than a quarter of Tennessee’s “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” are found underground. As most subterranean species are poorly known, there is much to discover about the diverse organisms that live in caves.
