Tracey EllisDr. Claudia J. Ford is a professor of Environmental Studies at State University of New York, Potsdam, USA, and will be teaching at the Department of English at the University of Klagenfurt next summer semester as part of a Fulbright Visiting Professorship. In this interview, she explains the knowledge objectives she will be pursuing in her two courses and why she finds Carinthia a particularly exciting location.
Prof. Ford – congratulations on your Fulbright Award and welcome to the University of Klagenfurt, we are honored to host you. What made you decide to come to Austria/Klagenfurt?
Prof. Ford: Thank you. This is a great opportunity for me. I feel we are in a unique and important time, immediately post US elections and in the depth of a growing global climate crisis. This is a rare opportunity for Austrians – from a traditional US ally country – to be engaged in a deeper understanding of US culture, especially considering the perspective of underrepresented and marginalized American communities. As a scholar who is a member of the African American community, and with substantial overseas experience, I feel excited to facilitate these conversations. I was driven by curiosity about Carinthia, a part of Austria that sits in the midst of important international border areas, and the strong reputation of the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.
What are your expectations and goals for the upcoming semester?
Prof. Ford: I love teaching and I enjoy being in the classroom where I get to work alongside students investigating complex environmental and social justice issues and then exploring how to make a difference for ourselves, our families, our communities, and in the world. I hope to contribute my unique experiences and perspectives; however, I also anticipate that I will learn a great deal about both Austrian and US culture by interacting with Austrian students and academics.
What would you like students to take away from your classes?
Prof. Ford: I hope that by teaching across American studies and environmental studies that I can help students uncover how struggles for cultural identity and environmental justice interact with representations of the environment in American multicultural literatures. In my two seminar classes we will analyze environmental justice as a movement that involves marginalized communities in diverse ways in a globalized world, as well as the enduring legacy of residential segregation in the United States and its profound effect on contemporary environmental and social issues. My goal is to have interesting, inspiring conversations within the special space of the classroom.
.flex_column.av-86kjzn5-2affd61612632dc7964614f22d5a58b5{
border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding:25px 25px 25px 25px;
}
About Prof. Ford
Dr. Claudia J. Ford is a professor of Environmental Studies at State University of New York, Potsdam, USA, a Fellow of the Panel on Planetary Thinking at Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, a Fulbright Scholar, a SUNY PRODiG Faculty, and a Research Professor at the University at Buffalo, USA.
Dr. Ford holds degrees in biology, medicine, business administration, fine arts, and a PhD in environmental studies. Claudia is sought after for public speaking and lectures, and she teaches and creates responsive mixed media and collage visual arts projects across the subjects of environmental humanities and literature, traditional ecological knowledge, spiritual ecology, entheogenic plant medicine, women’s reproductive health, and sustainable agriculture.
Seminars
Tuesdays, 10-11.30 a.m., N.0.42: “Issues in Literature: Justice, Identity, and Environmentalisms in American Multicultural Literatures” (LV-Nr: 552.330)
Wednesdays, 13.30-15 p.m., N.0.43: “Topics in American Cultural Studies: Pollution in Perpetuity: African American History, Residential Segregation, and the Legacy of Environmental (In)Justice” (LV-Nr: 552.285)
Guest Lecture
Wednesday, 2 April 2025, 11.45 a.m. to 13.15 p.m., HS 3: “American History and the Secret Life of Medicinal Plants: Archives, Ethnobotany, and Environmental Justice”
.flex_column.av-86kjzn5-2-a6d294f8f07ea06d4069adb8d3dc99e5{
border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding:25px 25px 25px 25px;
}
Study English Language and English Literature & Cultures at the University of Klagenfurt
To the Bachelor’s degree program Worlds of English
To the Master’s program Worlds of English
.flex_column.av-86kjzn5-2-2-4b8e304fc3d271081d971888d0427c9b{
border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding:25px 25px 25px 25px;
}
Fulbright Austria
The Fulbright Program currently facilitates the exchange of students and scholars between the United States and more than 160 countries. Since its inception in 1946, over 380,000 students, teachers, and scholars have participated in the Fulbright Program. Austria is one of the 49 countries worldwide in which the program is managed by an autonomous and binational Fulbright commission.
Learn more about Fulbright Austria: www.fulbright.at
Der Beitrag Fulbright Visiting Professorship 2025: How cultural identity and environmental justice are connected erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.