SEAS welcomes new faculty in winter 2023
Three new faculty members will be joining the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) in the winter semester. Charlene Zietsma, who brings expertise in processes involving social change, will be the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at SEAS and a Professor of Management and Organizations at the U-M Ross School of Business. Andy White and Mike Shriberg, a SEAS graduate, will join the school as Visiting Professors of Practice and Engagement. They bring real-world experience in the sustainability and environment field into the classroom.
Charlene Zietsma, Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at SEAS; Professor of Management and Organizations at the U-M Ross School of Business
Charlene Zietsma previously was a professor of management and organization at Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business and held prior appointments in Canada at York University, Western University and the University of Victoria. She is an International Research Fellow of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation and earned her doctorate at the University of British Columbia.
Zietsma’s research focuses on social innovation: the individual, organizational and collective efforts to make (and resist) significant, large-scale change in the context of sustainability and social justice issues. She studies institutional work, institutional change processes, social and sustainable entrepreneurship, and social movements focused on grand challenges and wicked problems. She is interested in how business organizations move towards more sustainable practices, particularly through voluntary governance such as certifications, codes of conduct and cross-sector partnership agreements.
She has lectured extensively on these topics around the world and her work has been published in the top management journals, with several winning best article awards. She was awarded the Administrative Science Quarterly Scholarly Contribution Award for making a significant impact on the field of organization studies. Her work has been recognized for its societal impact by the Financial Times (Responsible Business Education for Academic Research), the Global Business School Network and EFMD Global’s Going Beyond Initiative, the Responsible Research in Business & Management Network, the Academy of Management Organizations and the Natural Environment and Social Issues in Management divisions.
Zietsma has held editorial and guest editorial roles with several journals and serves on the editorial board for the Academy of Management Journal and the Academy of Management Review. She has organized a number of conferences and conference tracks. She held a Chair of Excellence at Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, as well as visiting appointments at the University Technology Sydney, University of Sydney, Queensland University, Queensland University of Technology, Nottingham University in Ningbo, China, Hebrew University, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Liverpool.
Andy White, Visiting Professor of Practice and Engagement
Andy White will lead a course on Indigenous and Community-Led Conservation and Climate Action at SEAS. He currently serves as an advisor to the First Nations Development Institute, the International Foundation for Science, the Department of Natural Resources of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, the Center for Native Health, and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities.
He serves on the board of directors of the Rights and Resources Group (RRG), the secretariat of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of Indigenous and community organizations and their allies dedicated to advancing the land, development and governance rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendants, that he co-founded in 2005. Between 2005 and 2021, White served as president of RRG and the coordinator of RRI. Prior to RRI, he served as senior director at Forest Trends and natural resource management specialist at the World Bank. He worked as a consultant to the International Food Policy Institute, Save the Children Federation, and the Inter-American Foundation.
As coordinator of RRI, he instigated and co-chaired MegaFlorestais, the international network of forest agency leaders and the Interlaken Group network of private investors and NGOs committed to securing community land rights. He also co-created the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility (TF), the world’s first international financial mechanism dedicated to securing the land and self-governance rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and the Community Land and Conservation Finance Initiative, a complementary financial mechanism to channel funds to indigenous and local organizations for their advocacy, conservation, and governance initiatives.
White has had sustained professional engagement with leaders and organizations in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in addition to Europe and North America. His research and publications have focused on collective action to provide public goods: forest tenure, policy and trade; and the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in climate change. White has a PhD in forest economics, MA in anthropology, and MS in forestry from the University of Minnesota, and a BS in forestry from Humboldt State University.
Mike Shriberg, Visiting Professor of Practice & Engagement
Mike Shriberg’s (MS ’00, PhD ’02) work focuses on Great Lakes water issues, local and state energy policy, campus sustainability and environmental leadership. Prior to coming to SEAS, he was the Great Lakes regional executive director at the National Wildlife Federation. Major initiatives included Great Lakes restoration; water affordability and access; prevention of the introduction of aquatic invasive species; Great Lakes water management reform; protection of the Great Lakes from climate change; combatting environmental injustice in the region; and engaging urban youth in nature-based education and activities.
Shriberg’s academic expertise focuses on organizational change and leadership for sustainability. He has published over 20 articles, testified in hearings before Congress and state legislatures, and been quoted in media ranging from The New York Times to National Public Radio.
Shriberg came to the National Wildlife Federation in 2015 from U-M, where he served as the education director at the Graham Sustainability Institute and as a lecturer in the Program in the Environment and Earth & Environmental Sciences. Prior to U-M, Shriberg was the policy director at the Ecology Center and the director of Environment Michigan. He also previously served as the environmental studies program director and as an assistant professor at Chatham University.
Shriberg earned his MS and PhD in resource policy and behavior from SEAS. He earned his undergraduate degree in biology and society with a concentration in environment and business from Cornell University.