Angela C. Halfacre
Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Department of Political Science
Director, David E. Shi Center for Sustainability
Furman University
Greenville, SC 29613
Phone: 864.294.3655
angela.halfacre@furman.edu
Education
1997 Ph.D., University of Florida
1994 M.A., University of Florida
1992 B.A., Cum Laude, Furman University
Academic Positions
2008-present Co-Director, Conservation Culture Research Initiative, Furman University
2008-present Faculty Director, David E. Shi Center for Sustainability; Associate Professor of
Political Science; Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science
2008-present Adjunct Research Faculty, Master of Environmental Studies Program, College of
Charleston
2003-2008 Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston
1999- 2004 Director, Master of Environmental Studies Program, College of Charleston
1998–2003 Assistant Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston
1998 Visiting Scholar, Center for Clean Technology and Environmental Policy (CSTM), University of Twente, The Netherlands
Academic Awards
2011 Southeastern Geographer Outstanding Article
2008 Faculty-wide Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award, College of Charleston
2002 Teaching and Promoting Undergraduate Research Award, College of Charleston
1999 Political Science Club Faculty of the Year, College of Charleston
1997 Graduate Teaching Award, University of Florida
Courses for 2011-2012
Fall Term
PSC-213-01 Environmental Policy
The course examines environmentalism from cultural, historical, and political perspectives in the United States. Throughout the course, we will focus on how environmental policy can address problems relating to consumption, development, environmental risk, and environmental justice.
PSC-282-01 Land Conservation Policy
Investigation of how communities craft and implement policies intended to conserve natural resources (e.g., public and private lands and wetlands). Topics include zoning practices, conservation easements, land trusts, and other innovative approaches to natural resource management.
Spring Term
FYS-1193-01 Conservation and Culture
This First Year Seminar (FYS) surveys how diverse American communities have developed ways to conserve and protect their environments, including zoning ordinances and regulations, parks and preserves, and conservation-based amenities and neighborhoods. Students will examine the motives for conservation efforts and analyze how communities create “a culture of conservation.” Conservation occurs on many levels: personal, familial, campus, community, region, national, and global. Students will explore environmental history to enrich their understanding of the context within which contemporary conservation practices have emerged. Students will also undertake interdisciplinary applied research projects about conservation and culture in the Carolinas. Several field trips will help refine your research interests.
Professional Associations
American Council on Renewable Energy, American Planning Association, American Political Science Association, American Society for Public Administration, Association of American Geographers, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences, Ecological Society of America, Society for Economic Botany, Society of College and University Planning
Professional Memberships
2011-present Member, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
(AASHE) Education Steering Committee
2010-present Member (appointed by City Council), City of Greenville Green Ribbon Advisory Committee
2010-present Curricular Representative, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System (STARS) Steering Committee
2009-present Member, Implementation Liaison Advisory Council for the President’s Climate Commitment (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education/Second Nature)
2009-Present Board Member, The Green Umbrella (alliance of organizations interested in promoting a green canopy)
2009-present Member, City of Greenville Brownfields Committee
2009-present Coordinator, Mellon Sustainability in the Curriculum Workshops, Furman in collaboration with Middlebury,
2008-Present Board Member, Greenville Forward
Professional Publications
Books
“A Delicate Balance”: Constructing a Conservation Culture in the South Carolina Lowcountry. University of South Carolina Press. 2012.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
“Shaping Sustainability at Furman and Middlebury: Emergent and Adaptive Curricular Models”; with Angela Halfacre, Jack Byrne, Michelle Horhota, Brannon Andersen, Katherine Kransteuber, Brittany DeKnight, Steve Trombulak, and Nan Jenks-Jay. In Taking it to the Next Level. (Routledge) In press 2012; ed. Lucas Johnston.
“‘I Still Have the Old Tradition’: The co-production of sweetgrass basketry and coastal development” GeoForum. Fall, 2011; with Brian Grabbatin and Patrick Hurley.
“Engaging In-coming First-year Students Lessons Learned from a Sustainability Orientation Session.” Sustainability: The Journal of Record. In press February 2011; with Michelle Horhota, Jeanine Stratton, and Jenni Asman.
“Sewing environmental justice into African-American sweet grass basket-making in the South Carolina Low country.” Southeastern Geographer. 2011; with P. Hurley and B. Grabbatin. (Outstanding Article 2011)
“Resistant place identities in rural Charleston County, South Carolina: Cultural, Environmental, and Racial Politics in the Sewee to Santee Area.” Human Ecology Review. Summer 2009; with Cassandra Johnson and Patrick Hurley.
“Dodging Alligators, Rattlesnakes, and Backyard Barbeques: A Political Ecology of Sweetgrass Basketmaking and Conservation in the South Carolina Lowcountry, USA “ GeoJournal. Spring 2010; with Patrick T. Hurley.
“Finding a ’disappearing’ resource: Rural gentrification and the ‘fringe ecologies’ of sweetgrass basket-making in the SC Lowcountry. The Professional Geographer Fall 2008; with Patrick Hurley, Norm Levine, and Marianne Burke.
“Practical seed source selection for restoration projects in an urban setting: tallgrass prairie, serpentine barrens, and coastal habitat examples." Urban Habitat. Summer 2008; with Danny Gustafson and Roger Anderson.
“The Use of Focus Groups in Assessing Ethnic and Racial Concerns about Nuclear Waste Cleanup” in The Promise and the Peril of Public Participation. 2009. Frans H.J.M. Coenen, Ed. Springer Publications.
Broad Research Agenda
My research examines sustainability decision-making, perceptions, and communications. I examine stakeholder views, engagement, and actions. I have a long-standing interest in environmental risk and justice and mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative; what I term environmental ethnography) approaches to exploring local community-based research problems.
Grants
Principal Investigator for external grants totaling over 1 million dollars, and Co-PI for institutional grants totaling over 3 million dollars.