Faculty Happenings
Dr. P. Joshua Griffin joined SMEA as an Assistant Professor last fall, and also holds a position in the American Indian Studies department. Dr. Griffin, or Griff as he’s known around campus, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Religious Studies from Dartmouth College. He then went onto earn a Master’s of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, and followed that with a Master’s in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Washington. His PhD is also from UW, in Anthropology. His work focuses on Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination and those communities’ approaches to Climate Adaptation. Most recently he’s been undertaking community-engaged research focused on Arctic Indigenous ecologies and environmental planning.
Throughout Academic Year 2019-2020, SMEA was engaged in two national tenure-track faculty searches. Both searches were successful, and are bringing two more valuable scholars into the fold. Dr. Eréndira Aceves Bueno is joining SMEA as an Assistant Professor this fall. Dr. Anne Beaudreau will be joining SMEA as an Associate Professor in January 2021.
Dr. Anne Beaudreau will teach courses in fisheries management, marine ecology, and interdisciplinary research methods. Anne is excited to build new collaborations in Washington and continue to grow her research program on the ecology and human dimensions of fisheries in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Anne is no stranger to UW having earned her PhD in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in 2009. Anne also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Harvard University. Most recently, she’s been an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, where she’s led the Coastal Fisheries Ecology Lab.
Additionally, Dr. Eréndira Aceves Bueno holds a PhD from UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, a Master’s degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur in Marine Biology. She has served as a McCurdy Scholar at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University since August 2018. Aceves Bueno writes of her research, “I am broadly interested on developing management tools that can help solve and prevent over-exploitation problems in marine ecosystems.”
Also during the academic year, the SMEA Faculty revised policies around Affiliate Faculty members, and further added to the faculty expertise in SMEA. Dr. Phil Levin will join the SMEA faculty as an Adjunct Professor. Phil currently holds a Professor of Practice appointment in SEFS. He also serves as the Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy of Washington. He is a conservation scientist by training, but his work frequently builds connections between natural and social sciences. Prior to joining the Nature Conservancy and UW, he was a Senior Scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. Phil jumped right in and is guiding a capstone project for rising second-year students. He’ll also join Dr. Aceves-Bueno in co-teaching Marine Science this Winter quarter.
Dr. Eddie Allison, who departed SMEA in October 2019 for a role with WorldFish, has assumed a position as an Affiliate faculty member with SMEA, where he continues to be a resource to students conducting research on equity, justice, and human rights in coastal and maritime communities. At WorldFish Eddie will serve as the Research Chair for Equity and Justice in the Blue Economy, conducting research and policy advisory work on equity, justice and human rights in coastal and maritime communities. He’ll also be serving in a part-time capacity as a Research Director for Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Program.
SMEA was excited to be able to re-hire Marc Miller (after retirement), as Professor Emeritus. He continues to teach SMEA courses in Pacific recreation and tourism and interviewing methods.
Lastly, Chris Sergeant was also appointed to the SMEA Affiliate faculty. Chris is a Research Scientist at the University of Montana. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences from the University of Washington. He’s currently working on hisPhD at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He has been appointed as an Affiliate Instructor and will teach a data workshop geared toward second-year MMA students this fall.