Syllabus 2026
2026 Dates and Speakers -
Those with a * are confirmed
*September 1 – Introductory Workshop - Sets the stage for our discussions and helps us frame our approach. “Engage-Challenge-Question”
Robert A. (Bob) Thomas, Ph.D., Professor & Director, Center for Environmental Communication, Loyola Endowed Chair in Environmental Communication, Loyola University New Orleans
*September 8 – Trouble the Water: The Importance of Storytelling in Water Law Policy
Mark Davis, IEC Fellow 1999, Robert C. Cudd Professor of Environmental Law, Director, Tulane Center for Environmental Law
*September 15 – Reporting on the Louisiana Environment
Mark Schleifstein, IEC Fellow 2011, Environment Reporter, nola.com/The Times-Picayune
Halle Parker, IEC Fellow 2020, Environment Reporter, New Orleans Public Radio.
*September 22 – Media to communicate environmental challenges and news: documentaries, PBS, and Podcasts.
Kevin McCaffrey, Emma Reid, Tom Gregory
September 29 – Environmental justice – how it operates and affects people today - what might we expect in the near future?
Jocyntia Banner, M.S. and Joyceia Banner, Ph.D., Co-Directors, The Descendants Project
October 6 – The Second Wind for a Cajun Mariner (Wind energy off the Louisiana coast and the Rhode Island system.)
Joseph A. Orgeron, Ph.D., State Representative, District 54 (Jefferson & Lafourche parishes); Orgeron Development LLC
October 13 - A Global View of Coastal Change.
Alex Kolker, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
October 20 –
*October 27 – Louisiana Tumor Registry Cancer Data: Strengths and Limitations.
Susanne C. Straif-Bourgeois, Ph.D., MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, L.S.U. Health, School of Public Health
Andrew Jacoby, Esq., IEC Fellow 2018; Law Offices of Andrew Jacoby LLC
*November 3 – Global Climate Change, Ozone Management, Global Challenges, Global Solutions & the Process of Science Behind the Scenes.
Paul W. Barnes, Ph.D., Professor & J. H. Mullahy Endowed Chair in Environmental Biology, Loyola University New Orleans
November 10 – Why a global governance regime for climate change has been difficult to attain, what we have to do in its place, and expectations going forward.
Ludovico Feoli, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for Inter-American Policy & Research, Research Associate Professor in The Stone Center for Latin American Studies
*November 17 – NOTE: 5:45 PM TO 9:00 PM INCLUDING PIZZA DINNER!!!
CLOSING GATHERING - DISCUSSION OF WHAT TRANSPIRED & THE PATH FORWARD.
CLOSING DISCUSSION - Diversity: How rur brain prefer to work and the potential that offers.
Robert A. (Bob) Thomas, Ph.D., Professor & Director, Center for Environmental Communication, Loyola University New Orleans & the Ascending IEC Fellows 2024