Stephanie Capaldo, PhD, MBA
Dr. Capaldo is an interdisciplinary lecturer in Public & Environmental Humanities and Sustainability Studies, and director of the Public Humanities minor. Her research explores the intersections of sustainability, environmental/climate justice, and impact management; with a focus in ESG reporting, analysis, and communication. She designs and coordinates the Public Humanities curriculum and serves on the University Sustainability Governance Council and Green Finance Sub-committee. She often collaborates with community partners in state and city humanities and sustainability programs and advises non-profits in the cultural sector on sustainability management. Dr. Capaldo chose a career in interdisciplinary Sustainability research and education after over a decade of study in environmental justice and community engagement work. More recently she expanded on her sustainability focus in the humanities and law to include ethical business practices, specifically ESG analysis and Impact Finance. She was invited by the National Humanities Association to present on the “Intersections of Humanities & Business in the Time of ESG” and conduct a workshop on “Articulating Impact: UN Sustainable Development Goals and Museums/Cultural Heritage Sector in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Dr. Capaldo has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences, including the European Society for Environmental History, Understanding Sustainability: Perspectives from the Humanities, the National Humanities Conference, American Society for Environmental History, and others. She has also published in academic journals and anthologies, including “Enduring Legacies of the Copper Borderlands: Tensions between Historical, Cultural and Environmental Sustainability,” Sustainability: The Journal of Record, and won the C.L. Sonnichsen Award for “Smoke and Mirrors: Smelter Pollution and the Construction of Arizona Identity in the Late 20th-Century,” Journal of Arizona History.
Dr. Capaldo holds a Ph.D. in Environmental History and doctoral minor in Environmental Law from the University of Arizona, an MBA in Sustainability Leadership from Prescott College, and received her undergraduate B.A. in History from the University of Delaware. She is a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals and has completed Duke University’s Impact Measurement & Management for the SDGs Certificate program. She is passionate about using humanities research to inform economic strategies that can solve momentous social and environmental challenges.