News from the School of IAS

Category: Research and Creative Practice

Adam Romero receives Royalty Research Fund Award for his new book project

Adam Romero received a Royalty Research Fund Award for his new book project Industrial Chemicals and the Problem of Too Much Food. The book examines the relationship between the massive growth of industrial farm chemicals after 1945 and the chronic problem of vast agricultural surpluses. It begins with a simple question: why did American farmers...

August 21, 2025

Jennifer Atkinson Talks Climate at San Francisco Public Library

Jennifer Atkinson gave a book talk at San Francisco Public Library as part of July’s Everybody’s Climate series, a program meant to inspire participants to take action for a more just and sustainable future. In her talk, Grief & Hope in a Burning World: Strategies for Climate Resilience Atkinson discussed how addressing climate challenges requires...

August 5, 2025

IAS faculty Shannon Cram is a Visiting Writer at Eastern Oregon University

IAS professor Shannon Cram served as a visiting writer at Eastern Oregon University’s New Nature Writing Conference, a project of the school’s MFA program in Creative Writing. In addition to a public reading and discussion about her recent book, Cram taught a class for MFA students called Writing the Body.

August 5, 2025

“Project Aurora” Panel Discussion with Ginny Ruffner, Ed Fries, and Wanda Gregory, Thursday, May 23rd

Learn about the making of Project Aurora from the creators—artist Ginny Ruffner, technologist Ed Fries, and scholar Wanda Gregory—in a panel discussion moderated by Chief Curator, Leslie Anderson. This program celebrates the National Nordic Museum’s acquisition of this important work of art. Learn about the making of Project Aurora from the creators—artist Ginny Ruffner, technologist...

May 23, 2024

Jennifer Atkinson Gives Author Talk for California State University Faculty

Jennifer Atkinson gave an author talk at CSU to launch her new book, The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World. The talk was live-streamed for all 22 campuses of the California State University System, and is now available to view on YouTube. Atkinson co-edited the book with Dr....

May 2, 2024

Jennifer Atkinson gives keynote talk at OSU on Collective Climate Action

Jennifer Atkinson gave a keynote talk for the new series on “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” as part of Oregon State University’s Spring Creek Project. The Collective Climate series was launched to bring together the practical wisdom of environmental science, the clarity of philosophy, and the transformational power of the written word...

April 23, 2024

Kari Lerum publishes two essays in The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies

Associate Professor Kari Lerum recently published two essays in the second edition of The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies. The first essay, “Sex work and Criminalization,” is a revised and updated version of Lerum’s essay by the same name appearing in the 2016 The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies. The essay defines sex work within...

April 17, 2024

A Call for Global Cultural Change to Shift Civilization and Save the Planet

In a review published April 2, 2024, University of Hawaii atmospheric scientist Charles Fletcher, UWB professor Phoebe Barnard and a team of eminent western and indigenous scientists, historians, futurists, and other global colleagues consider the causes of and solutions to multiple converging and interwoven crises on Earth, including climate change, ecological destruction, disease, pollution, and...

April 3, 2024

Jennifer Atkinson Leads Climate Workshop for 200 Faculty at California State University

IAS faculty member Jennifer Atkinson worked with climate author Sarah Jaquette Ray to train over 200 faculty on how to center emotion in climate education. The sessions took place in March 2024, with faculty from across the California State University (CSU) system attending. The workshops are part of CSU’s Teaching Climate Change and Resilience Faculty...

March 21, 2024