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Faculty & Staff

Dr. Eban Goodstein

Director, Bard Center for Environmental Policy;
Director, The National Teach-In

B.A., Williams College; Ph.D., University of Michigan. Prior to Directing the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, Goodstein had a 20-year career as a Professor of Economics at Lewis & Clark and Skidmore Colleges. Goodstein also led the National teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, coordinating educational events at over 2500 colleges, universities, high schools and other institutions across the country. Goodstein is the author of a college textbook, Economics and the Environment, (John Wiley and Sons: 2010) now in its sixth edition; Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming (University Press of New England: 2007); and The Trade-off Myth: Fact and Fiction about Jobs and the Environment. (Island Press: 1999). Articles by Goodstein have appeared in among other outlets, The Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, Ecological Economics, and Environmental Management. His research has been featured in The New York Times, Scientific American, Time, Chemical and Engineering News, The Economist, USA Today, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He serves on the editorial board of Sustainability: The Journal of Record, and Environment, Workplace and Employment, is on the Steering Committee of Economics for Equity & the Environment, and is a Member Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform.

Mark G. Becker

Associate Director for Geospatial Applications, CEISIN, Earth Institute Columbia University; and
Visiting Faculty, Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.A., William Paterson University; M.A., Hunter College. Mr. Becker is the Associate Director of the Geospatial Applications Division for the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Columbia University's Earth Institute. In this role he is responsible for the development of geographic information systems (GIS) applications for education, disaster mitigation, and public health research and overseeing project budgets and managing CIESIN's staff of GIS and remote-sensing specialists. Past projects include an online education course in environmental sustainability, development of an online mapping application for monitoring and evaluating AIDS clinics in Africa, GIS assistance to Bogazici University in Turkey for earthquake mitigation, and GIS activities for Metropolitan East Coast Climate Assessment. Mr. Becker also holds an appointment as adjunct professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and is an authorized ESRI instructor conducting GIS training seminars for students and professors throughout the New York metropolitan area. Since 2000, Mr. Becker has served as a Trustee on the Meadowlands Conservation Trust. He is the founder of NorthStar Mapping, a GIS and global positioning systems consulting group assisting local government and educators and Co-Director since 1988 of Bergen SWAN, a community-based watershed association.

Daniel Berthold

Professor of Philosophy, Bard College

B.A., M.A., Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D., Yale University. Teaches environmental ethics and technological applications of the Human Genome Project, including a focus on the ecological consequences of genetically modified agricultural crops. Areas of specialization include 19th-century Continental philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, and environmental ethics. Author of two books on the German idealist philosopher Hegel, essays in the Dictionary of Existentialism, and numerous articles and reviews. Scholarship on environmental ethics and the philosophy of ecology includes articles on Marxist ecology, 19th-century ecological thought, Aldo Leopold, and bioregionalism. Environmentally related public lectures include talks on the animal rights movement, bioregional politics, ecofeminism, and social ecology.

Sanjaya DeSilva

Assistant Professor of Economics, Bard College

B.A., Macalester College; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University. Honors and awards include Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship, Ford Foundation research grants, and Yale University fellowships. Postdoctoral research, Economic Growth Center, Yale University (2000-01). Publications include Yale University Economic Growth Center discussion papers "Skills, Partnerships and Tenancy in Sri Lankan Rice Farms" and "Supervision and Transaction Costs: Evidence from Rice Farms in Bicol, the Philippines." Specialization in economics of development, applied microeconomics, and international economics.

Gidon Eshel

Bard Center Fellow in Environmental Studies

B.A., Haifa University, Israel; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. Specializes in oceanography, climatology, geophysics. Senior Fellow, Center for Environmental Science and Argonne National Laboratory (2002–07); principal investigator, Center for Integrating Statistical and Environmental Science, University of Chicago (2001–03); assistant scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1998–99). Assistant professor, University of Chicago (1999–07). Author, Geophysical Data Analysis (Princeton University Press, 2008). Faculty, Bard College at Simon's Rock: The Early College (2008– ). (2008– ) Bard Center Fellow.

Stuart E. G. Findlay

Scientist, Institute of Ecosystem Studies

B.A., University of Virginia; M.S., University of South Carolina; Ph. D., University of Georgia. Scientist, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York. Articles in scientific journals including Ecological Applications, Estuaries, New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, and Limnology and Oceanography. Served on advisory panels and committees, including Hudson River Estuary Management Advisory Committee, New Jersey Sea Grant Science Advisory Committee and Proposal Review Panel, Estuarine Research Federation, Hudson River Museum, and Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the USEPA. Current research focuses on microbial ecology of subsurface stream sediments, functional assessment of wetlands, and the Hudson River ecosystem. Research interests include land-use effects on water quality; contribution of dissolved organic carbon to aquatic microbial food webs; the relationship between community structure and gradients of microbial function; the effects of human-induced changes in tidal marsh vegetation on nutrient retention and other wetland functions; and the contribution of submersed aquatic vegetation to organic matter and oxygen budgets of the Hudson River.

Phone: 845-758-7085
E-mail: jofrench@bard.edu

Josephine French

Program Administrator and Assistant to the Director, Responsible for Office Management, Student Affairs, Budget and Curriculum Support

Naomi Roslyn Galtz

Ph.D., Sociology, University of Michigan; J.D., Pace Law School, Environmental Law. Sociological research interests include: the social logics of consuming less; the commodification of simplicity in contemporary U.S. culture; and consumption, social class, and dachas (summer homes) in Russia from the late Imperial period to the present. Roz has authored or co-authored chapters in the Annual Review of Sociology and the edited collection, Living Through Soviet Russia, as well as book reviews and research reports.

Phone: 845-758-7845
E-mail: phillips@bard.edu

Jennifer G. Phillips

Assistant Professor
Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.S., Hunter College; M.S., Ph.D. in Soil, Crop, and Atmosphere Science, Cornell University. International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, Columbia University. Previous to joining BCEP, she was a researcher at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, Columbia University, and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Expertise in the impact of climate change and variability on farming systems, communication and perception of climate information for farm management, and sustainable farming systems. After eight years of research in eastern and southern Africa, she worked with farmers in eastern New York State on climate risk management, adaptation to climate change, and sustainability in the face of extreme climate events. Current interests include pasture-based livestock systems, carbon storage and management in agroecosystems, and rhizosphere processes. Articles in Agricultural Systems, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Climatology, and International Journal of Climatology; and several book chapters.

Caroline Ramaley

Academic Support Associate, Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.A., summa cum laude, Middlebury College; Ph.D., University of Virginia. Teaches graduate students to write clearly, persuasively, and reflectively for academic and lay readers. Taught basic and advanced composition, Shakespeare, and 18th- and 19th-century British literature at University of Virginia. Former assistant to the director of the UVA Science and Engineering Libraries. Currently also affiliated with Bard's Master of Arts in Teaching Program.

Phone: 845-758-7321
E-mail: ranville@bard.edu

Mara A. Ranville

Assistant Professor
Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.A., Macalester College (cum laude); Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz. Research interests focus on the biogeochemical cycling of contaminants in the environment, and include examining industrial emissions to the atmosphere and aquatic systems, the policy implications of crossborder transport of pollution, and environmental problems associated with economic geology. Recent fieldwork includes participation in a UNESCO-sponsored contaminant survey of the North Pacific Ocean, annual water-quality cruises in San Francisco Bay, and investigations of acid mine drainage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Governmental experience includes work with the U.S. Geological Survey and Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Five years of teaching and mentoring at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the environmental toxicology and earth science departments. Articles in Applied Geochemistry, G-cubed (Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems), and Marine Chemistry. Member, American Geophysical Union and Northern California Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Member, BCEP Graduate Committee.

Phone: 845.758.7869
E-mail: segarra@bard.edu

Monique Segarra

Visiting Faculty
Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.A., Brandeis University; M.I.A., School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; Ph.D., Columbia University. Areas of interest include politics of sustainable development, participatory environmental management, international environmental regimes, transboundary citizen networks, and policy analysis. Current research focuses on the role of international organizations in shaping domestic environmental policy in Latin America. Completing a yearlong project examining several cases of transnational policy making in Ecuador including a World Bank/Global Environment Facility project to promote a new system of participatory management in the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Program (SNAP); the struggle by local communities and their transnational allies to prevent mining in the midst of a cloud-forest preserve; and the mobilization of a national indigenous movement around "ethno-environmentalism." In addition to research and teaching, she has worked with a range of international development and research institutions including the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the Council on Foreign Relations and the Social Science Research Council. Member, BCEP Graduate Committee.

Phone: 845-758-7386
E-mail: sethi@bard.edu

Gautam Sethi

Assistant Professor
Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.A., University of Delhi; M.A., Delhi School of Economics; M. Phil., Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, master's thesis on the conflicts between utilitarianism and libertarianism; Fellow, University of Texas, Austin; Ph. D., University of California, Berkeley (Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award). Research interests include natural resources and environmental economics, applied microeconomics, game theory, philosophy of economics, and history of economic thought. Worked in India on energy-economy-environment linkages and associated policy issues. Doctoral work focused on fishery management under uncertainty. Designed and taught a Rethinking Economics course at the University of California, Berkeley. Author, working papers of climate change policy impacts at Redefining Progress, San Francisco, and a companion volume to Jeffrey Perloff's Microeconomics; article in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Presented research talks at academic institutions (Binghamton University, University of California-Santa Barbara), research institutes (Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, Tata Energy Research Institute, India), policy forums (OECD workshop, Oaxaca, Mexico), and numerous professional society meetings. Currently working on issues related to wind energy, payments for ecosystem services, sustainable livelihoods, and education policy. Member, BCEP Graduate Committee.

Elizabeth Smith

Visiting associate professor of theater, Bard College

Voice and speech consultant for film, television, regional theater, Broadway, and Off-Broadway productions, including As You Like It, Road to Moscow, Henry IV, Engaged, Sight Unseen, and, at Glimmerglass Opera Company, Death in Venice, Patience, and Mines of Sulphur. Trains students in the art of public speaking and the development of an effective, cogent public speaking persona. Has taught at Yale School of Drama, Vassar College, Juilliard School, Fordham University, National Theater Institute, Gaiety School of Acting (Dublin, Ireland), Moscow Art Theatre School, and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London). Recipient, John Houseman Award (1996).

Eleanor J. Sterling

Director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History;
Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University; and
Visiting Faculty, Bard Center for Environmental Policy

B.A., Yale College; Ph.D., Yale University. Director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History. Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University. Developed the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, targeting conservation biology educators in developing countries, including Bolivia, Vietnam, Mexico, and Madagascar. Member, board of governors, Society for Conservation Biology. Member, board of directors and Management Committee, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation. Fieldwork includes studying distribution patterns of biodiversity in tropical regions as well as sea turtle feeding ecology in the central Pacific. Considered world authority on the aye-aye, a nocturnal lemur found only in Madagascar. Author, Vietnam: A Natural History (Yale University Press, 2006).

Victor M. Tafur

Senior Attorney, Riverkeeper;
Adjunct Faculty, Pace Law School; and
Visiting Faculty, Bard Center for Environmental Policy
Bard Center for Environmental Policy

J.D., Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota, Colombia); LL.M. and S.J.D. in Environmental Law, Pace University. Adjunct professor of energy, natural resources, and climate change law at Pace Law School, and former staff attorney for the Pace Law School's Energy Project. Currently senior attorney, and formerly staff attorney, for Riverkeeper. Previously served as deputy director of the Program for Alternative Development for the presidency of Colombia, and in private practice. Admitted to the bar of New York State and Colombia. Contributing editor to a recent book by the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, through Cambridge University Press. Articles in the Pace Environmental Law Review and Environmental Law Reporter.

Phone: 845-758-7071
E-mail: mwilliam@bard.edu

Molly Williams

Admissions Coordinator — Responsible for Admissions, Marketing and Program Recruitment

B.S., Smith College; M.S., Environmental Policy, Bard College. Current interests include local environmental initiatives, land use planning and biodiversity conservation.

Susan Winchell-Sweeney

Course Tutor, Tools For Analysis — Geographic Information Systems(provides instructional support for professor Mark G. Becker and BCEP students)

An archaeologist by education and training, Winchell-Sweeney's area of expertise is the application of geospatial technologies in archaeological research and cartography. She has over a decade of experience providing GIS analysis, GPS and cartographic services for archaeological projects and has worked for private individuals, non-profit organizations, New York State and the federal government.

Winchell-Sweeney is currently a technician in the Department of Anthropology at the New York State Museum.