Dorceta Taylor ’85 M.F.S., ’91 Ph.D., one of the nation’s preeminent scholars in the field of environmental justice, has been named full professor at the Yale School of the Environment (formerly Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Science). A leading expert in the field of institutional diversity and workforce dynamics in the environmental sector, Professor Taylor has completed ground-breaking research on diversity in the environmental organizations and institutions in the United States. She also has studied the disparity in food access in communities across the state of Michigan, including research on food access in Detroit and on the persistent challenges facing Black farmers in Michigan and the country. She expects to continue addressing these questions of food security — as well as those related to pollution exposure, fair housing, water quality, and energy justice — in New Haven and Connecticut.
Taylor has written numerous books on diversity in the environmental movement, including Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility (NYU Press, 2014) and the award-winning The Environment and the People in American Cities (Duke University Press, 2009), as well as numerous scholarly articles.
In addition to her research, Professor Taylor has taught courses on environmental justice, the history of environmental thought and activism, and environmental philanthropy. She also leads two pathway programs — the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program and the Environmental Fellows Program — which help underrepresented students enter into environmental careers.