The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community, and the Ecology of Life

Ande A. Nesmith, PhD, MSW is an Associate Professor and the BSW Program Director at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in the Morrison Family College of Health in St. Paul, Minnesota. She researches environmental justice in the United States, how to integrate it into social work education, and how social workers help clients who live with environmental hazards in rural areas. For the past 10 years, she has served on the St. Thomas Sustainability Committee, working to develop interdisciplinary approaches to address environmental inequalities and engage students in climate action and sustainable living. She served on the university's office of Global and Local Engagement Advisory Panel for the previous St. Thomas sustainability initiative and continues work with the university's new initiative. When she is not working on environmental justice, Dr. Nesmith studies outcomes for youth aging out of foster care, and was recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study this in theCzech Republic. Currently, she serves the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) as co-chair of the Committee on Environmental Justice and a commissioner of the Commission on Global Social Work Education.
Cathryne L. Schmitz, PhD, MSW is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). Her scholarship focuses on environmental justice, critical multiculturalism, analysis of the privilege/oppression nexus, global engagement, leadership, interdisciplinary education, organizational development and community building, and peacebuilding. She has been engaged in intercultural global education, environmental education, knowledge building, and curriculum development. Dr. Schmitz has numerous publications and is currently focusing in the areas of environmental justice, identity and culture, interdisciplinary knowledge building, and organizational/community transformation. She has expanded her focus through her cross-disciplinary appointments with the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Program in Women and Gender Studies. Dr. Schmitz also contributes to and learns from her work in the community and with the UNCG Center for New North Carolinians. Dr. Schmitz served on the CSWE Commission on Diversity and Social and Economic Justice from 2010 to 2016 and on the CSWE Committee on Environmental Justice from 2015 to present, serving as Chair from 2015 to 2019.
Yolanda Machado-Escudero, PhD, MSW is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville. Her research interests include social work feminist ecology, environmental injustice, migration and climate change, disability, socioeconomic development, Latin American social work education, social welfare policy, and healthcare disparities among minorities of color, among others. She teaches from a critical race feminist framework, focusing on issues affecting Latinx populations living in vulnerable contexts. Dr. MachadoEscudero has served as a board member in various grassroots coalitions aiming to improve the quality of life of Latinos in the United States. Currently, she is working on developing interdisciplinary projects: 1) addressing the aftermath of natural disasters in Puerto Rico, including forced migration and collective trauma, and 2) reaching out to Latinx migrant families affected by separations due to deportation proceedings.
Shanondora Billiot, PhD, MSW is an enrolled citizen of United Houma Nation and works as an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University in Phoenix. She earned a PhD in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and holds a Master's of Social Work from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Her research explores the intersection of health, environment, and culture among Indigenous peoples and is informed by post-MSW practice experience in disaster recovery community development and national policy analysis. Her current research uses mixed methods to explore indigenous-specific sensitivities to global environmental change exposure and pathways to health outcomes within vulnerable Indigenous populations with the goal to develop mitigation and adaptation activities and inform communities, policymakers, and researchers.
Rachel A. Forbes, MSW is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Social Work and the Western Colorado MSW Program Director at the University of Denver (DU) Graduate School of Social Work. Her scholarship and research focuses on the intersections of community, climate change, and environmental justice, especially within rural and mountain regions. Rachel is a graduate of Monmouth University School of Social Work in West Long Branch, New Jersey, where she studied international and community development. Rachel supported the development and launch of the Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability Studies degree program at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, where she was also an instructor. Rachel supports the Social Work Grand Challenges Creating Social Responses to a Changing Environment. She also is a faculty committee member of the Sustainable Development and Global Practice MSW concentration at DU GSSW. Rachel was the interning representative to the United Nations for the International Federation of Social Workers and has done energy equity consulting for the City of Aspen, Colorado.
Meredith C. F. Powers, PhD, MSW is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where she serves on the SustainabilityCouncil and the Study Abroad Faculty Committee. Nationally, she serves as a member of the Environmental Justice Committee for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and the Grand Challenges for Social Work committee, Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment. Internationally, she serves as the Founder and Director of the Climate Justice Program for the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW). She also established and co-administers the global Green/Environmental Social Work Collaborative Network. Presently, she teaches environmental justice, field seminar, and diversity and work with vulnerable populations. Her research focuses on the professional socialization of social workers, climate justice, and environmental migration. She has presented her research nationally and internationally, at professional conferences, including being invited as a keynote speaker at the United Nations for World Social Work Day (2018), speaking on climate justice, social work, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She is co-editor of a series of workbooks for global social workers and educators: Social Work Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability published by the IFSW.
Nikita Buckhoy, LMSW is a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan; she has a master's degree from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration in Illinois. Her dissertation research focuses on the pursuit of environmental justice and health equity in U.S. cities engaged in revitalization or other forms of transformation. She is an experienced macro-practitioner. Her work in Chicago included HIV-related maternal-child health, housing, and prevention interventions and research management; and program administration, resource development, and policy advocacy with vulnerable, marginalized communities. In Detroit, she works on community health policy and system-change initiatives, evaluation, and cross-sector collaboration management. Ms. Buckhoy is also a field instructor, supervises social workers preparing for licensure, and serves on anon-profit board of directors. Her research interests include environmental justice and health equity policy in U.S. cities undergoing transformation processes (growth, shrinkage, revitalization), urban air quality, and women and people of color's experiences with asthma.
Lucy A. Lawrence, MSW, PhD is Social Work Program Director at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina. She earned her BS in social work from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, MSW from Boston University in Massachusetts, and PhD from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Her interest in environmental justice began when she worked as student affairs manager at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica, where one of her projects was reforesting the property of a rural public high school. Her other professional experiences include in-patient mental health, family visitation, death penalty mitigation, and international disaster relief and food security. At Warren Wilson, she has led short-term study abroad courses to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Cuba, Latvia, Sweden, and Tanzania. Dr. Lawrence regularly teaches in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which brings together traditional liberal arts students from Warren Wilson with incarcerated students for semester-long courses. Her research interests include intercultural communication, study abroad, and horticultural therapy with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Dr. Lawrence has served on CSWE's Commission on Global Education since 2014 and is the Environmental Justice Committee's liaison to the Commission.