FACULTY

Robert DeConto (Earth, Geographic and Climate Sciences)

Director, School of Earth & Sustainability — Climate Science, Glaciology, Sea Level Change and Coastal Impacts

Contact: deconto@umass.edu

Robert DeConto studies polar climate change, the response of ice sheets to a warming climate, and coastal impacts of sea-level rise. Rob serves on international science advisory boards and is a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Previously, he held research positions at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sandy Litchfield (Architecture)

Associate AIA, Associate Professor

Contact: slitchfi@umass.edu

Sandy Litchfield is an artist, curator, and Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at UMass Amherst. She teaches courses that lie at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and writing. Her interdisciplinary approach to teaching emphasizes the integration of knowledge through practice-oriented design investigation. She is the director of the Master of Design: Public Art and Engagement program and the current faculty advisor for Paperbark Literary Magazine. As a researcher, writer, and curator, she is interested in landscape theory, future studies, social justice, and environmental humanities.

Thaddeus Miller (School of Public Policy)

Associate Professor of Public Policy, Director of Graduate Studies

Contact: thaddeusmill@umass.edu

Thaddeus Miller is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy. His work focuses on interdisciplinary research collaborations and research-community partnerships to advance urban sustainability and resilience, from the local to the international level. He serves on the leadership team of a five-year, $12 million National Science Foundation-funded Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network project that engages with nine cities in the US and Latin America to advance research, policy, and practice on resilience in the face of climate change.

Marjorie Rubright (English)

Associate Professor & Director of the Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies

Contact: mrubright@umass.edu

Marjorie Rubright is an Associate Professor of English. Her areas of research and teaching specializations focus on the early modern world and include English literature and culture, race and ethnicity studies, trans* studies, lexical culture and the new philologies, eco-criticism, and critical approaches to the study of the global renaissance. Committed to developing collaborative models for innovative cross-disciplinary research and public exchange, Marjorie serves on the Board of Directors for the Renaissance Society of America and on the Folger Shakespeare Institute Consortium and Executive Committee.

Malcolm Sen (English)

Associate Professor in English, Director of the Environmental Humanities Specialization

Contact: msen@umass.edu

Malcolm Sen is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Director of the Environmental Humanities Specialization. His research interests focus on questions of justice, statecraft, and postcolonial politics as they emerge in this contemporary moment of climate crisis. He teaches courses on environmental humanities and postcolonial studies at the graduate level, and Irish literature, global Anglophone literature, and climate fiction at the undergraduate level.

Regine A. Spector (Political Science)

Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the Russian, Eurasian, and Polish Studies Program

Contact: rspector@polisci.umass.edu

Regine Spector is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  I teach comparative political economy, development, energy and Central Asian politics courses. My current research examines New England energy politics and electric grid reform, and the climate implications of our energy and water use practices.  I work in partnership with other colleagues and students at UMass, and with multiple New England organizations seeking to advance climate-friendly and justice-oriented energy systems.