Nina L. Smolyar
L4E PhD Fellow – University of Vermont
Email: nina.smolyar@uvm.edu
Twitter: @NinaLSmolyar
LinkedIn: Nina L. Smolyar
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Nina’s research focuses on relationships between ecological economics, degrowth, Indigenous worldviews, and critically situating academia in its world systems and lived experiences context, that often contains paradoxes and incommensurability. After graduating from University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and political science, Nina operationalized her dedication to sustainability by holding various professional roles in social justice and environmental organizations. She has lived, loved, and worked at two intentional eco-communities in Western Massachusetts, whose missions center environmental awareness, economic sufficiency, interpersonal and collective relationality, and embodiment. These experiences inspired her to investigate community-building in a self-designed graduate program at Goddard College, where she completed a Master of Arts thesis on conflict transformation in intentional community. Outside of work, she can be found playing ecoartsy tetris, napping by the water, and fantasizing about moonlighting as a stand-up comic.
PUBLICATIONS & OTHER WORKS
From the Anthropocene to Mutual Thriving: An Agenda for Higher Education in the Ecozoic
L4E Contributors: Ivan Vargas Roncancio, Leah Temper, Joshua Sterlin, Nina L. Smolyar, Shaun Sellers, Maya Moore, Rigo Melgar-Melgar, Jolyon Larson, Catherine Horner, Jon D. Erickson, Megan Egler, Peter G. Brown, Emille Boulot, Tina Beigi and Michael Babcock