GRANTS AND OUTREACH

“Under the Eye: Hurricanes in Cuban Historical Memory, 1980-2010," Allison Baker, University of California, San Diego

Allison Baker is pursuing a PhD in Latin American History at the University of California, San Diego. She studies the historical relationship between revolutionary subjectivity and environmentalism in Cuba. The current phase of this project examines the evolution of the Cuban hurricane response system, popular perspectives on this system, and the role of hurricanes in Cuban historical memory and environmentalist politics between 1980 and 2010. She has also conducted semiotic analyses of Cuban revolutionary youth movements in the mid-20th century.

“A Twentieth Century Climate Diaspora,” Caleb Pennington, University of Iowa

Caleb Pennington is a PhD candidate in the history department at the University of Iowa. His fields of interest are American environmental history, legal history, and American public policy. Pennington's dissertation examines the negative cultural perception that labor unions and members of the working class have of environmentalists, and how that perception was coopted by industry leaders in the 1970s and 1980s. He was recently awarded the University of Iowa Graduate College Post-comps Fellowship, and has forthcoming reviews in the Environmental History and Environment and History journals.

“Who Leaves, Who Stays? Gender, Mobility and Climate Changes in India and Romania,” Cristina-Iona Dragomir, New York University

Cristina-Ioana Dragomir, PhD, is an immigrant and a Clinical Assistant Professor in Global Liberal Studies at New York University. Her scholarship is motivated by a quest for global justice and human rights, and she has taught and researched social justice, migration, and the relationship between gender and the environment at several universities—including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, State University of New York and Queen Mary University of London. She also consults with the United Nations, GIZ and IOM.

Dr. Dragomir received her PhD from New School for Social Research and is the recipient of several awards and fellowships including the American Political Science Association's Centennial Research Award, the Bucerius Fellowship Program's Settling in Motion award, and the Open Society Institute's Global Network Grant. She is author of Power on the Move: Adivasi and Roma Accessing Social Justice.

“Landscape of Change: Sea Level Rise on Mount Desert Island,” Raney Bench, Mount Desert Island Historical Society

Raney Bench is the Executive Director for the Mount Desert Island Historical Society in Maine. She is a passionate advocate for small museums, promoting the relevance of local history in our daily lives. Bench has worked in small museums for more than 20 years and is inspired by how historical collections inform and enhance our understanding of current events, specifically related to the impacts of climate change on historic resources, natural spaces and communities.