Dr. Lisa Reyes Mason is a Professor at the University of Denver (DU) Graduate School of Social Work where she studies, writes, and teaches about climate change and social justice. With colleagues at DU, she co-created the first MSW concentration in Ecological Justice at a school of social work. Dr. Mason also co-edited the book, "People and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Social Justice," a collection of lived experiences and case studies of climate injustice from the Global South and North. Dr. Mason received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MSW and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Chancellor's Fellow for advancing diversity in the professoriate and Olin Fellow for exceptional women to become leaders in society.
Dr. Smitha Rao obtained her BA in Journalism from University of Delhi, India, in 2003, her MA in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India, in 2005, her MSc in Environment and Development from King’s College, London, UK, in 2011, and her PhD in Social Work from Boston College in 2021. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the College of Social Work, The Ohio State University. Her work at the intersection of environment, development, and social policy is informed by her interdisciplinary background in social work and human geography. Her research interests include: (1) extreme weather events and contextual vulnerability, (2) improving adaptive capacities among communities to deal with climatic and other stressors, and (3) the effects of air pollution on environmental health and improving access to clean energy.
Dr. Amy Krings explores how members of marginalized communities come together to prevent, mitigate, and resist environmental and other social injustices in ways that increase health equity. She received her Ph.D. from the Social Work and Political Science Joint Doctoral Program at the University of Michigan. She is a co-lead of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare’s Grand Challenge to Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment and an elected board member of Influencing Social Policy (ISP). She was a Visiting Scholar through the University of Jyväskylä, Finland (2021), where she collaborated with international scholars to integrate environmental justice theory and practice within ecosocial work. Through her research and teaching, she aims to support social work students and practitioners as they grow their capacity and confidence as social change agents.
