Dr. Josh Kercsmar is an assistant professor of environmental humanities at Unity College, where he teaches history and writing courses. He earned his B.A. from Wheaton College (IL); an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; a Th.M. from Harvard Divinity School; and a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame he won an Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award (2009) and a Graduate Teaching Fellowship in the University Writing Program (2013-14). Dr. Kercsmar researches and publishes on the history of slavery and human-animal interactions in early America and has received generous support from a Lilly Postdoctoral Fellowship, as well as grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and Animals and Society Institute. Josh brings a wealth of historical knowledge to the Environmental Studies Program, along with teaching experience that connects past to present, environmental justice to social justice, and students to the world around them.