About Dr. Michelle Larkins
Dr. Larkins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environment and Sustainability, faculty in the Regenerative Food Systems Certificate, and affiliate faculty to the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. As a scholar practitioner, her research focuses on two areas: (1) intersectional approaches to environmental justice, particularly working with communities on food, natural resource livelihood concerns, and energy sovereignty, and (2) equitable and inclusive approaches to the teaching and learning of sustainability and environmental studies and science. Dr. Larkins’ recent work, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, examines the diversity of community responses to the increased domestic pressure to extract and develop critical minerals and other resource fuels for energy transition demands.
Her teaching emphasizes critical place-based and experiential learning practices—including leading domestic and international field experiences for students— and prior to joining Fort Lewis College in 2021, she worked to design new undergraduate programs in sustainability studies. Outside of academia, Dr. Larkins has international development experience, working on food security and agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has a Ph.D in Community Sustainability from Michigan State University.
Selected publications & presentations
Hilimire K., Larkins M., Clausen, B., and Williams J. 2025. Relational Teaching and Just Energy Transitions. Case Studies in the Environment 9(1): 2455669.
Larkins, M. 2025 “Teaching Rural Environmental Intersections: Experiences of Green Gentrification and Environmental Injustice.” Society for Human Ecology Annual Meeting. Mons, Belgium. June
Larkins, M. 2024 Introduction to the Special Issue: Practicing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Environmental Studies and Sciences. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 14(3), 443-451.
Engle, E. W., Larkins, M., Bratman, E., & Higgins, A. K. 2024 Centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in environmental studies and sciences by practicing compassionate pedagogies. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 14(3), 469-483.
Larkins, M. 2023. There is no just future without intersectional sustainability; feminist pedagogy for tackling privilege and centering praxis in sustainability education. In Public Feminisms: From Academy to Community, University of Michigan Press
Larkins, M. 2023 Tackling Wicked Problems Through Transparent Teaching. In Key Competencies: Practical Approaches to Teaching Sustainability. Sustainability Curriculum Consortium.
Larkins, M. 2023 "Rural Environmental Justice: Green Gentrification and Natural Resource Economies." Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences Annual Meeting, Portland OR
Larkins, M. 2022 “Practicing Compassionate Pedagogies in Environmental Studies and Science” Association for Environmental Studies and Science Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
Larkins, M. 2021. Keeping it Local: the continued relevance of place-based studies for environmental justice research and praxis. Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene: From (Un)Just Present to Just Future. Routledge
Larkins, M. 2019. “Making Space: Intersectional Approaches for Women’s Empowerment in Community Food Security.” Feminization of Agriculture, Toulouse, France.
Larkins, M., Rodriguez, N., and Watanabe, A. 2019. “Integrating Justice, Addressing Environmental Privilege in Higher Education.” Washington and Oregon Higher Education in Sustainability Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Larkins, M. 2018 Complicating communities: an intersectional approach to women’s environmental justice narratives in the Rocky Mountain West. Environmental Sociology, 4(1), 67-78.
Larkins, M., Wright, W., & Dann, S. 2018 Sustainability and engagement: strange bedfellows in the undergraduate textbook. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education