
Faculty
Program Director
David Silver is associate professor and director of the environmental studies program at the University of San Francisco. He teaches classes on urban agriculture, food and culture, and digital storytelling. Since 2012, David has been researching, writing, and building a multimedia history of the farm at Black Mountain College, paying special attention to the social practices on the farm, including collective action among students, faculty, and staff, town-gown collaborations, and challenged...
- PhD, American Studies, University of Maryland
- BA, English, University of California, Los Angeles
Full-Time Faculty
Professor Rachel Brahinsky teaches in the Urban and Public Affairs graduate program, the undergraduate Urban Studies program, and the Politics Department. She earned a PhD in geography from UC Berkeley, where she focused on the human and social geography of cities, with an emphasis on the politics of race and place. Her research and teaching center around the challenges of race and inequality in the context of rapidly changing American cities, with a longtime focus on the San Francisco Bay Area...
- PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Marilyn (Bordwell) DeLaure teaches courses in rhetoric, criticism, and social movements. Her research investigates how people effect social change, focusing especially on embodied performance. She has published essays on dance, civil rights rhetoric, and environmental activism, and is co-editor of Culture Jamming: Activism and the Art of Cultural Resistance (NYU Press). She is also a producer of the award-winning documentary film MOTHERLOAD about the cargo bicycling movement.
- University of Iowa, PhD in Rhetorical Studies, 1999
- Drake University, BA in Speech Communication
On sabbatical 2022-2023
Brian Dowd-Uribe is an associate professor in the international studies department at the University of San Francisco. His current research explores the social, agro-ecological, and economic dimensions of food, agriculture, and water policy, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. Specifically Professor Dowd-Uribe’s research examines whether and to what extent transgenic crops benefit small farmers, the role of decentralized water governance committees in...
- UC Santa Cruz, PhD in Environmental Studies, 2011
- UC Santa Cruz, MA in Environmental Studies, 2008
Adrienne Johnson is a human geographer who earned a PhD from Clark University. Her dissertation looked at the political ecology and critical resource geographies of Ecuador’s palm oil industry with a specific focus on Afro-Ecuadorian, smallholder, and company participation in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification scheme. She received an MA in geography and a BA in international development studies and political science from York University, Canada. Before joining the...
- PhD, Geography, Clark University
- MA, Geography, York University
- BA (Hons), International Development Studies, York University
Vijaya Nagarajan is an associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and in the Program of Environmental Studies. In addition to teaching at the University of San Francisco, she has also taught at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University.
Vijaya's academic interests weave among the fields of Hinduism, Environment, Gender, Ritual, and the Commons. She received her PhD in South Asian Language and Literatures from UC Berkeley. Vijaya has received...
- PhD, South Asian Language and Literatures, UC Berkeley
- MA, South Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
- BS Political Economy of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley
- College of Engineering, Honor’s Program, Women...
Tanu Sankalia is a tenured full professor in the Department of Art + Architecture, and coordinates the Urban Studies Concentration within the Environmental Studies Program. He teaches courses in urban planning and design, architectural and urban history, and architectural design. He was trained in urban design at UC Berkeley, and in architecture at the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, from where he graduated with a gold medal for the best diploma thesis.
Professor Sankalia's research and...
- UC Berkeley, Master of Urban Design, 1999
- School of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India, Bachelor of Architecture, 1994
Melinda Stone, PhD is an award winning filmmaker who has produced over twenty films and numerous outdoor cinematic extravaganzas.
Stephen Zavestoski received his BA from the University of Notre Dame, and his MA and PhD from Washington State University.
He teaches courses in the area of Environmental Sociology. Dr. Zavestoski's research areas include environmental sociology, social movements, sociology of health and illness, and urban sustainability. He has published more than 40 articles and book chapters and co–edited Social Movements in Health (2005, Blackwell) and Contested Illnesses: Citizens, Science, and Health...
- PhD, Washington State University
- MA, Washington State University
- BA, University of Notre Dame
Part-Time Faculty
Rachel has over 20 years of teaching and research experience in the fields of environmental education, place-based learning, food systems education, and environmental justice. Rachel has worked with students from varying grade levels and backgrounds, from middle school students to college students. Rachel is both an adjunct professor at USF in environmental studies and is in the process of receiving her Doctorate of Education at USF as well. Her dissertation research looks at food insecurity on...
- University of San Francisco, EdD, 2022 (current)
- University of California Santa Cruz, MA in Sociology, 2009
- New York University, Gallatin School of Individualized Study, BA, 2001
- Environmental Education
- Food Systems and Social Justice
- Student Centered Education
Kimberly Carfore is an adjunct professor of environmental studies and theology and religious studies. Her research interests include wilderness, dualism, ecofeminism, philosophy, and representing the voice of the Earth. Professor Carfore is the author of “Ecopsychology without Nature-Culture Dualism” (2014), “Doing Theology with Snakes: Face-to-Face with the Wholly Other” (2018), and co-author of “Planetary Love: Ecofeminist Perspectives on Globalization” (2012).
- California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), PhD in Philosophy & Religion: Ecology, Spirituality & Religion, 2019
- California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), MA in Philosophy & Religion...
- Ecofeminism
- Wilderness
- Religion & Ecology
Novella Carpenter is the author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer and The Essential Urban Farmer. She attended UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, where she studied with Michael Pollan. She lives in Oakland where she runs GhostTown Farm, a 1/10 of an acre homestead with an orchard, honey bees, chickens, and lots of vegetables.
- UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism
Aaron Frank's areas of interest include Environmental Law, Environmental Ethics, and Wildlife Policy. He is the Founder and President of the California Wildlife Center and sits on the Board of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. In 2013, Aaron won a USF Distinguished Teaching Award.
Sam Mickey is an adjunct professor in the Theology and Religious Studies department at the University of San Francisco. He has also taught at Dominican University of California, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and he has worked for the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale. His research and teaching interests include environmental ethics, religion and ecology, and integral ecology.
- California Institute of Integral Studies, PhD in Philosophy and Religion, 2012
- University of North Texas, MA in Interdisciplinary Studies, 2006
- University of North Texas, BA in Philosophy and...