Kate Darby

My work is driven by three goals: 1) To teach my students to think critically about environmental and social issues, while providing them with tools for moving forward in their lives and careers, 2) To conduct research that helps explain why and how society ends up with conditions of environmental and social injustice, and 3) To connect this work to relevant stakeholders to improve the condition of communities in which I teach and conduct research. As a graduate student, I focused on understanding how and why environmental injustices are produced, and my doctoral dissertation applied this lens to the communities surrounding a metals smelter in El Paso del Norte. Over the last few years, my work has begun to focus more on understanding the lived experiences of those facing environmental injustices and exploring how these experiences can inform practice and instigate socio-environmental change. I am exploring how sensory claims – those based on experiential knowledge related to sight, sound, smell or taste – have been asserted by environmental justice communities, and taken up in decision-making processes. Much of my recent teaching, scholarship, and service has centered on questions and applications of food justice and sovereignty. I am also interested in how to teach climate change in a way that provokes action and engagement rather than despair and inaction; to do so, I developed a new GUR, ENVS 115: Hope and Agency for a Climate-Altered World.

I hold a B.S. in Chemical Engineering (minor in Science, Technology and Society) from Penn State, an M.S. in Environmental Studies and Certificate in Not-for-Profit Management from University of Oregon and a Ph.D. in Anthropology (Environment, Science and Technology and Urban Ecology focus) from Arizona State University. My academic training has been punctuated by sustainability work in the private sector with environmental consulting companies and NGOs. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time outdoors with my husband and kids (Emmett and Sasha), running on our beautiful regional trails, cooking and creating things, reading fiction, and contemplating and visiting dystopian landscapes.

Are you interested in having me supervise your senior thesis, senior project, or honors thesis? Would you like to ask me for a letter of recommendation? Please read this document before contacting me.