Daniel Hernandez/ Arcia Tecun is the Fall 2023 Community Practitioner in Residence at the University of Utah Environmental Humanities Program. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, the residency program aims to forge reciprocal relationships with community leaders who are using the tools of humanities and culture to further transform solutions to the climate crisis and environmental racism.
Please join us on Tuesday, Sept. 19 when the Environmental Humanities Program awards Greg Sarris - author, scholar, teacher and Chair of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria - the fifth Utah Award in the Environmental Humanities.
Come join us! Thanks to a generous award from the Mellon Foundation, the Environmental Humanities Program seeks a Community Engagement and Outreach Coordinator to play an important role in developing and executing the Environmental Humanities Program’s community engagement and outreach strategy with the goal of furthering environmental justice on campus and the wider Salt Lake community.
The Environmental Humanities Graduate program at the University of Utah trains the next generation of environmental leaders and thinkers, positioning them to study climate change, resilience, advocacy and environmental justice in preparation for changing the world. In recognition of the program’s environmental impact, the Mellon Foundation has awarded them with a three-year grant renewal, providing $791,000 to fund graduate fellowships, create leadership pathways for students from underrepresented groups, collaborate with communities directly affected by climate change and environmental racism and work closely with grassroots leaders.
Laura earned her M.S in Environmental Humanities in 2019. As a master’s student, Laura focused on reformation of youth environmental education, aiming to make it more inclusive to underserved populations as well as to those who don’t typically think of themselves as interested in or capable of participating in science through the inclusion of place-based interdisciplinary content. Laura currently works as the Associate Director for Initiative to Bring Science Programs to the Incarcerated (INSPIRE) and STEM Community Alliance Program (STEMCAP) for Youth-in-Care. These two programs bring local scientists to adult and juvenile incarcerated populations, respectively, to provide informal science education. Laura was drawn to these programs by their effort to engage underserved populations while expanding participants’ perception of science through interdisciplinary work and in-person contact with local scientists.