Current & Past Scholars
Rachel Carson Visiting Scholars are experts in six areas central to the mission of Falk College of Environment, Leadership & Management:
natural systems, including environmental science and natural resource conservation
sustainable built systems, including green buildings and renewable energy
equitable community development
sustainable business practices
food studies
environmentally-inspired writing and communication
Rachel Carson Visiting Scholars take an intersectional approach to exploring the root causes of social and ecological crises; they broaden our understanding of possibilities and pathways towards a regenerative, climate-positive future.
Rachel Carson Scholars are leaders in their fields – whether they come from academia, business, government, or community organizations.
And they are proudly hosted at Chatham University as it stewards the legacy of its powerful alumna and advances a vision of equitable progress within a vital, living Earth.
Exchanging Ideas
Hear from Zygmunt J. B. Plater, inaugural Rachel Carson Visiting Scholar, and Lou Leonard, dean of the Falk College of Environment, Leadership, & Management and Eden Hall Farm, on what makes the program remarkable.
Current Scholar: Peter Friederici
Peter Friederici is Director of the Rural Foods Pathways Project at Northern Arizona University, where he is a professor in the Sustainable Communities Program.
In this role, he works with graduate and undergraduate students and community partners to improve food access, education, and sustainability in northern Arizona communities. Friederici has an extensive background in communication and is the author of many articles and several books, including the most recent, Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope (MIT Press, 2022). In his spare time, he is most often to be found hiking or gardening.
Past Scholars
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Taylor Brorby
author of Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land, Crude: Poems, Coming Alive: Action and Civil Disobedience
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Hanna Garth
Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University
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Heather Valentino
Assistant Director of Energy Management at Case Western Reserve University
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Joseph Sarkis
Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Business School
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Kelly Kay
Associate Professor of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles
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Farha Ternikar
Professor of Sociology and Director of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at Le Moyne College
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Zygmunt J. B. Plater
Professor at Boston College Law School
