Climate School Announces New Faculty and Academic Leadership Appointments
The Columbia Climate School today announced seven new appointments for faculty and university leaders. The appointments will take effect in July, acting dean Jeffrey Shaman said.
political scientist Lisa Dale, currently a lecturer in the discipline of climate, will be co-director of the master’s program in climate and society for the academic year 2023-24. Dale’s research focuses on climate change adaptation in two distinct landscapes: the western United States and sub-Saharan Africa. His current courses include Environmental Policy and Governance; Sustainable Development Challenges; Public lands in the American West; Climate Change: Adaptation and Resilience; Scientific communications; and qualitative research methods for sustainable development.
Lisa Dale
Jessica Fanzo, a leading researcher in the transdisciplinary field of food systems, previously announced to be joining the Climate School as Professor of Climate and Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative, will now also serve as Acting Director of the International School Climate Research Institute. and Society. She is currently Professor of Global Food and Agricultural Politics and Ethics at Johns Hopkins University. Among other things, she previously served as Co-Chair of the United Nations High Level Panel on Food Systems and Nutrition, and was Director of Nutrition Policy at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development at the Columbia Earth Institute.
Jessica Fanzo
Michel Gerard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of Law, will be cross-appointed to the School of Climate as Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of Climate. He will retain his current position at the law school and continue to serve as faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. He is one of the nation’s leading environmental lawyers and has pioneered legal tools and strategies to fight climate change. He also writes and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law and energy law.
Michel Gerard
Radley Horton will be appointed Professor Leading to Climate Permanence, transitioning from his current role as Lamont Research Professor. Horton is an expert in assessing climate extremes and understanding the impact of climate change on various sectors including agriculture, ecosystems, infrastructure, human health and marginalized communities. His work covers human migration, scientific and legal dimensions of climate attribution, and mitigation and adaptation. He is also one of the leading climate science communicators in the media.
Radley Horton
Jason Smerdon, Co-Director of the Undergraduate Program in Sustainability and Co-Senior Director of Education at the School of Climate, will be named Professor Leading to Climate Permanence, transitioning from his current role as Lamont Research Professor. Smerdon is an expert on climate variability and change over the past millennia. It uses high-resolution reconstructions of past conditions to understand climate dynamics, assess the performance of climate models, contextualize extreme climate events, and solve applied problems of future climate impacts. He teaches courses in the school programs of the Institute of Earth and Climate, including the introduction to sustainable development and climate and the history of Africa.
Jason Smerdon
Mingfang Ting, a founding member and co-director of the M.A. in Climate and Society program and co-senior director of education at the Climate School, will be named the Climate Permanence Leading Professor, transitioning from her current role as Lamont Research Professor. She is an internationally renowned climatologist whose research covers a wide range of topics, including extreme weather and climate, as well as the impact of climate on agriculture and human health. She taught for many years one of the core courses in the master’s program, Quantitative Models of Climate-Sensitive Human and Natural Systems, and a core undergraduate climate course, Environmental Systems of the Earth: Climate System. .
Mingfang Ting
Bruce Usher, a professor at Columbia Business School, will be cross-appointed to the Climate School as a professor of professional practice in the Faculty of Climate. He will retain his current business school appointments as Professor of Professional Practice and Elizabeth B. Strickler ’86 and Mark T. Gallogly ’86 faculty director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, which advances business knowledge, entrepreneurial skills and management tools to address social and environmental challenges. He also teaches courses on the intersection of financial, social, and environmental issues, and chairs Columbia University’s Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Board.
Bruce Usher
