Sarah is an Environmental Sciences, Studies, and Policy Program doctoral candidate with English as a focal department. She is working on a dissertation called "The Ecological Other: Indians, Immigrants, and Invalids in U.S. Environmental Literature and Culture," with Shari Huhndorf as chair. This project argues that the goal of protecting the environment can justify containment of "ecological others" deemed environmentally polluting, disgusting, or threatening to America's "pure" nature. Her research interests are environmental justice ecocriticism, feminist environmental criticism, critical environmental history, and geography. Sarah lives in Corvallis with her husband Jimmy, dog Skye, and chickens ("the Rotisserie Sisters"). She's originally from LA, got her BA from Swarthmore, and MA from UT-Austin in American Studies. In her free time, Sarah imbibes northwest microbrews.

I'm a PhD student in the English Department with a structured emphasis in L&E. I focus on late-19/early-20th century American and British (Victorian, Gilded Age, Progressive Era) prose fiction, from a theoretical perspective that combines eco-criticism and cultural materialism. My interests include realism and naturalism, industrialization, pollution narratives, the commodification of nature, and environmental justice issues in writers ranging from Dickens to CP Gilman to Upton Sinclair. My dissertation is tentatively titled "Second Nature: Literature, Class, and the Built Environment, 1848-1915". I am originally from New York, and my favorite part of living in downtown Eugene is being able to easily commute to work by bicycle.