Lisa Reyes Mason, assistant professor in UT’s College of Social Work, has co-organized a symposium called People and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation, Social Justice for 9:30 a.m. Friday, November 18, at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. The public is invited to watch the symposium online.
“Climate change affects all of us, and especially our most vulnerable groups,” said Mason. “We need a deeper understanding of not just who is affected but why, and what social policies can help people cope, adapt, and thrive under changing conditions.”
Experts from the United States, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world will discuss flooding, drought, heat, water, and land change in order to look at the human impacts of climate change and the policy solutions needed to help people cope and adapt.
“I am pleased that Dr. Mason has been such a wonderful leader in this cross-disciplinary effort and symposium,” said Karen Sowers, dean of the College of Social Work. “The participants are coming together not just to share knowledge that already exists but to pinpoint gaps in knowledge and then to establish a research agenda for the future.”
Mason received her PhD and MSW from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and her BA from the University of Pennsylvania. She directs the Environment and Social Development initiative at the Center for Social Development at Washington University, and collaborates regularly with UT colleagues in engineering and geography.
Mason is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment. She has published in major social work, health, and climate journals.
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CONTACT:
Betsy DeGeorge (865-974-8638, edegeorg@utk.edu)
Tyra Haag (865-974-5460, tyra.haag@tennessee.edu)