Behind the Scenes with our Faculty: Tracking Climate Change and Telling Stories

Behind the Scenes with Our Faculty

For anyone thinking about graduate school, one of the primary considerations is the faculty. Who are they beyond the courses they teach? What are their research passions? How do they apply the principles of cultural sustainability in practice? How might they help me achieve my career goals?

This Summer we are offering a series of virtual chats to feature our faculty. Whether teaching English to refugees from Ukraine, leading truth and reconciliation hearings, navigating the world of UNESCO, or working with indigenous villages in Peru to battle climate change, they are scholars and practitioners who will mentor and inspire you. Join us to learn about their work beyond the classroom and how that influences their teaching. You can find bios of our speakers on the Faculty Page of the MA in Cultural Sustainability website. Below are brief descriptions of the topics they will share for this series.

Susan Eleuterio (seen here at the bow of a canoe in the Amazon) has been concerned about the environment since she attended the first Earth Day in 1970. She's recycled, tried to reduce her use of resources, and reused various materials. But her most satisfying experience has been volunteering with FundAmazonia (learn more here https://earthwatch.org/expeditions/amazon-riverboat-exploration)  through Earth Watch, an international volunteer program that matches volunteers with scientific projects. In this chat, Sue will describe how the project works with indigenous villages to develop strategies for dealing with climate change as well as how the volunteers help to document climate change impact on a variety of animals, birds, fish, and plants including the famous pink dolphins who frolic nearby in the Amazon River.  

Barry Dornfeld works as both a documentary film maker and an organizational consultant. So, he understands how to tell stories. Cultural Sustainability can be activated through multiple media in addition to the written word—still images, sound, and film/video. Barry has spent much of his career working with media to tell stories of cultural communities and how they sustain themselves through expressive culture. During this chat, he will share a few short examples of this work and discuss this “multi-modal approach” to cultural representation.