Climate Diaries
The Year of Sustainability Climate Diaries is a collection of stories of LSA Students, Faculty, and Staff that seeks to highlight the varied and intersectional dimensions of climate change and sustainability in our college. These are personal narratives that reflect specific experiences across the breadth of our college but are not all-encompassing. We are thankful to those who were willing to share their stories with us.
Do you have a story, project, or idea that you would like to be featured? Contact [email protected] with any questions or submissions. You can read the Climate Diaries Report here.
- Perrin Selcer
FACULTY – Associate Professor of History and Associate Professor of Program in the Environment Please note that this interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. To start, could you tell us a little bit about your current research? Dr. Perrin Selcer: “I’m researching a project that I’m calling “The Holocene Is History:… Continue reading Perrin Selcer - Lauren May
STUDENT – Data Science Junior, Graham Sustainability Scholar, LSA Sustainability Intern Please note that this interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. To start, could you tell me a little bit about yourself? Lauren May: “I’m a junior studying data science. I’m minoring in Program in the Environment, and I’m also minoring… Continue reading Lauren May - Andy Ault
FACULTY – Associate Professor of Chemistry Project 3 Lead of the Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health Curious about what “blind slimes” might be? Read on! Please note that this interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. What does your current research focus on? Andy Ault (AA): “The Great… Continue reading Andy Ault - Aimée Classen
FACULTY – Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the University of Michigan Biological Station Spotlight on the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) Similar to other ecologists, Dr. Aimée Classen grew up hiking and spending time outdoors, but she “didn’t really make the connection until high school that this could be a… Continue reading Aimée Classen - Selena Smith
FACULTY – Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Program in the Environment; DEI Chair for the EARTH Department Principal Investigator at the Plant Evolution, Paleobotany, and Paleoecology Research (PEPPR) Lab Please note that this interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. To get started, can you share how you decided… Continue reading Selena Smith - David Zeglen
FACULTY – Lecturer I in International and Comparative Studies Spotlight on INTLSTD 401: International Studies Advanced Seminar: Global Climate Justice Dr. David Zeglen’s journey began in an oil town in Canada, recalling that he has always had a “sort of interest intellectually in globalization and climate change”, where he witnessed the disproportionate impacts of the… Continue reading David Zeglen - Cherish Dean’s Climate Diary
The Storyteller’s Story: Cherish Dean’s Reflection on Why Telling Stories is Crucial to the Sustainability Movement Have you wondered at all about the person behind the Climate Diaries? Here’s a chance to hear directly from her during her final days at LSA. Written in about the same amount of time she would take to interview,… Continue reading Cherish Dean’s Climate Diary - Ryan Hendrickson
FACULTY – Lecturer IV of French, Coordinator for French 101, 102, 103 Spotlight on FRENCH 101: Elementary French & FRENCH 103: Review of Elementary French How can you integrate climate conversations into first-year language courses? Get creative and talk about it! After attending the Embedding Climate Change in Courses (EC3) retreat two summers ago, Dr.… Continue reading Ryan Hendrickson - Brittany Pendergraft
GRAD STUDENT – Classical Studies PhD Candidate “I was born and raised in rural Appalachia, like super rural. Technically Virginia, but [at] the intersection of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. [It was] a very poor area, coal country, an area hit hardest by the opioid crisis. And when I was there, just seeing so many people… Continue reading Brittany Pendergraft - Evan Petrosky
GRAD STUDENT – Physics PhD Candidate & Sustainability Champion “I grew up in a small town in western Massachusetts. I went to undergrad at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. And I had no idea what I wanted to do and I tried out a lot of things. I ultimately decided on Physics [because] I really enjoyed… Continue reading Evan Petrosky - David Temin
FACULTY – Associate Professor of Political Science, Administrative Faculty in Native American Studies Program Spotlight on POLSCI 495: Undergraduate Seminar in Political Theory – Climate Justice: Colonialism, Carbon, and the Future Growing up, Dr. David Temin was no stranger to “having conversations about politics around the kitchen table” as his mom “was always watching Sunday… Continue reading David Temin - Dan Rife
STAFF – Director of LSA Facilities & Operations “I came to the university as a student, in chemical engineering. After I graduated, [I went] to work for a local chemical consulting company, where they had an office of two or three people that focused on energy management. When I interviewed, I interviewed to hire in… Continue reading Dan Rife - Meghan Duffy
FACULTY – Susan S. Kilham Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies “So I’m a professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and I ended up here because [U of M] is a really wonderful university. It has amazing students. It has amazing resources. And my research focuses on aquatic… Continue reading Meghan Duffy - Sol Hart
FACULTY – Professor of Communication and Media and Program in the Environment Spotlight on COMM 413: Environmental Communication With an undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy, Analysis, and Planning from UC Davis, Professor Sol Hart’s passion for policy and legislative writing determined his initial path after college. During his first experience working in politics in California,… Continue reading Sol Hart - Bénédicte Boisseron
FACULTY – Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, Affiliated Faculty, Romance Languages and Literatures, and Chair, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies Spotlight on AAS 498: DAAS in Action – Black Ecologies Born and raised in France to a French mother and French Caribbean father, Dr. Bénédicte Boisseron had always been fascinated with African American… Continue reading Bénédicte Boisseron - Jill Myers
STAFF – Biodiversity Lab Manager “When I was doing my PhD, I kind of joked with my advisor that I was never going to leave. And then I defended my PhD in summer of 2020, which was a tough time to find a job…everyone had a hiring freeze. And this was not the job that… Continue reading Jill Myers - Jessica Kenyatta Walker
FACULTY – Assistant Professor of Afro-American and African Studies, American Culture Spotlight on AAS 104: African American Foodways and AAS 558: The Biopolitics of Food Dr. Jessica Kenyatta Walker’s journey to teaching at the University of Michigan began at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied American Studies, specifically material culture or the… Continue reading Jessica Kenyatta Walker - Brian Klein
FACULTY – Assistant Professor of Afro-American and African Studies and Assistant Professor of Program in the Environment Spotlight on ENVIRON 209: Nature and Power: An Introduction to Political Ecology Guided by his curiosity and a passion for experiential learning, Brian Klein charted a unique path to the University of Michigan. Born and raised in Hawai‘i,… Continue reading Brian Klein - Sara R. Rivera
STAFF – Geomicrobiology Lab Manager “Yeah, so I’m originally from Michigan. And I came to University of Michigan as an undergrad, with every intention of transferring and leaving, because I really wanted to do oceanography and live on the coast by the ocean somewhere. Really, when I was eight, I decided I wanted to get… Continue reading Sara R. Rivera - Virginia Murphy
FACULTY – Lecturer in Program in the Environment and the LSA Residential College Spotlight on ENVIRON 302: The Environment in an Election Year and RCCORE 334: Environmental Justice: The View From Capitol Hill Virginia Murphy didn’t begin her academic career with a focus on the environment or sustainability – in fact, she worked as a… Continue reading Virginia Murphy - Alex Bryan
STAFF – Director of Student Life Sustainability “I was a student here in my undergrad degree and [I had a] great time. [I took] English Lit as a degree with a double minor in PitE and Earth Sciences. I learned a lot and had some pretty transformative experiences. I think many of those were around… Continue reading Alex Bryan
