November 29, 2017
Open Letter to Members of the United States Congress:

In the next few weeks, the US Congress will decide whether or not to mandate oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of the 2018 federal budget bill. The Arctic Refuge may seem far away to many, but its ecosystems sustain a diverse array of species that matter to Americans and to people around the world. Opening this refuge to fossil fuel development would ignore the will of the American people, who have for decades urged their elected officials to protect this irreplaceable ecological treasure. It would also violate human rights and jeopardize the food security of the indigenous Gwich’in people of the US and Canada. We are scholars from a wide range of fields—including the humanities, the social sciences, the sciences, the arts, and other areas—united in our belief that drilling in the Arctic Refuge would be a grave mistake. We call upon Congress to remove this reckless provision from the budget.

There is no justification for using the budget process to push through oil development in the Arctic Refuge. Drilling proponents claim lease sales will generate 1 billion dollars in revenue over the next decade to help defray the 1.5 trillion dollars of proposed tax cuts for corporations and the rich. Even if the anticipated revenue figure turned out to be correct (many estimates predict a far lower amount), it still represents an incredibly minute fraction of the tax-cut proposal.  This abuse of the budget process would sacrifice one of the nation’s most ecologically and culturally significant places for a paltry sum of federal revenue.

As the ecological heart of the Arctic Refuge, the coastal plain provides critical calving and nursing habitat for the Porcupine caribou herd. Almost 200,000 caribou embark every year on the longest land migration of any animal on earth, journeying from the taiga and boreal forest ecosystems of northeast Alaska and the adjacent northwest Canada to the coastal plain, where they calve and nurse their young. Caribou biologists have repeatedly warned that oil development would have catastrophic effects on the herd. In addition to nurturing caribou, the coastal plain provides nesting and feeding habitat for millions of migratory birds. Nearly two hundred different species travel from all fifty states and six continents to breed and find nourishment in the Arctic Refuge. The coastal plain also offers the most important on-shore denning habitat in the US Arctic for polar bears, now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. As we are in the midst of what scientists call the earth’s sixth mass extinction, the vast nursery of the coastal plain needs protection now more than ever.

For Gwich’in communities on both sides of the US-Canada border, the prospect of drilling represents an existential threat to their cultural survival. The Gwich’in have relied upon the Porcupine caribou herd for nutritional, cultural, and spiritual sustenance for millennia. To them, the coastal plain is “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.”

Drilling in the Arctic is risky—the inevitable and chronic spills of oil and other toxic substances onto the fragile tundra would scar this land and disrupt its wildlife. The pollution caused by the sprawling infrastructure of oil development would threaten wildlife populations and harm indigenous communities that rely on the biotic life. Moreover, as the effects of climate change become more apparent, and as the global community continues to move away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, why would we now destroy the crown jewel of our National Wildlife Refuge System?

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge must not be auctioned off to Big Oil. Its natural values far exceed any oil that may lie beneath the coastal plain. As scholars from across the United States and Canada, we ask that you keep this cherished place and vibrant ecosystem protected for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Subhankar Banerjee, Lannan Chair and Professor of Art and Ecology, University of New Mexico

Finis Dunaway, Professor of History, Trent University

Princess Lucaj (Gwich’in), M.Ed. Candidate in Teaching and Learning, University of Alaska, Anchorage

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak (Iñupiaq), Honorary Doctorate of Humanities (Oberlin College), Nuiqsut, Alaska

Maria Williams, Associate Professor, Alaska Native Studies, University of Alaska Anchorage

Rick Steiner, Professor, University of Alaska (retired)

Terry Tempest Williams, Writer-in-Residence, Harvard Divinity School

Robert Newman, President, National Humanities Center

Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale University

Joseph Cook, Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico

Scott Tremaine, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Paul Sutter, Professor of History, University of Colorado Boulder

Michael Hecht, Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University.

Charleen Fisher (Gwich’in, Koyukon, and Dena’ina Athabascan), Scholar in the Cross Cultural Department, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Carrie Stevens, Assistant Professor of Tribal Management, College of Rural and Community Development, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Hishinlai’ Peter (Gwich’in),  Instructor of Gwich’in, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Elaine Alexie (Gwich’in), MA, Northern Community Engagement Officer, University of Alberta, Canada

Christoph Irmscher, Provost Professor of English, Indiana University Bloomington

Karl Jacoby, Professor of History, Columbia University

Anne McClintock, A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies and Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University

Joni Adamson, Professor of English and Environmental Humanities, Arizona State University

Rob Nixon, Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Family Professor in the Humanities and the Environment, Princeton University

Lucy Lippard, Art Historian, New Mexico

Steven Stoll, Professor of History, Fordham University

Catherine Jurca, Professor and Executive Officer of the Humanities, Caltech

Elizabeth Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Theology, Fordham University, New York City

Terrence Gosliner, Senior Curator, California Academy of Sciences

Ross MacPhee, Curator in Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History

Arif Kahn, Director, University of New Mexico Art Museum

Elsa Menendez, Performing Arts Director, National Hispanic Cultural Center

Donald  Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, University of Kansas

Mark Klett, Regents’ Professor of Art, Distinguished Sustainability Scholar, Arizona State University

Robert Cox, Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Norman Wirzba, Professor of Theology and Ecology, Duke University

Scott Fraser, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Molecular and Computational Biology, and of Pediatrics, University of Southern California

Frank Zelko, Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Vermont

Lisa Moorem, Archibald A. Hill Professor of American and English Literature, University of Texas Austin

Jeff Nichols, Professor of History, Westminster College

Nancy Jacobs, Professor, Department of History, Brown University

Porus Olpadwala, Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University

Erika Doss, Professor, Department of American Studies, University of Notre Dame

Anthony Lioi, Associate Professor of English, The Juilliard School

Laura Dassow Walls, Professor of English, University of Notre Dame

Lynett Gillette, Director, El Rito Public Library

Emily Eliza Scott, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich

Mark Meadowcroft, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Penn State College of Medicine

Keith Pluymers, Howard E. and Susanne C. Jessen Postdoctoral Instructor in the Humanities, Caltech

Jennifer Tucker, Associate Professor of History and Science in Society Program; photographic and environmental historian; Wesleyan University

Shirley Roburn, Visiting Scholar in Art History, McGill University

Heather Houser, Associate Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin

Lynn Ramert, English instructor, University of Nebraska

Alexandra Lakind, PhD student in Environment & Resources, University of Minnesota

Janet Pritchard, Professor, Department of Art and Art History, University of Connecticut

Kency Cornejo, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of New Mexico

Jeffrey Terr, Undergraduate researcher, Biology Department, University of New Mexico

Vivian Halloran, Professor of English and American Studies, Indiana University

Roberto Salas, University of Texas El Paso MFA

Char Miller, W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis, Pomona College

Margaret Werner Washburne, Regents Professor emerita, Biology, University of New Mexico

Carolyn Kay, Professor, History Department, Trent University

Trevor Fristoe, Postdoctoral Researcher, Washington University in St. Louis

Lisa Tremaine, Art Director, University of New Mexico

Nina Karnovsky, Professor of Biology, Pomona College

Jonathan Wright, Professor of Biology, Pomona College

Catherine Peters, Ph.D. Candidate, American Studies, Harvard University

Catherine Xu, Visiting Student in Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford

Douglas Sackman, Professor of History, University of Puget Sound

Reese Phillips, Adjunct Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico

Kristine Johnson, Ph.D, Research Associate Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico

Aaron Frith, Post-doctoral Researcher, Philosophy of Water Project, University of North Texas

Joe Gallegos, Graduate Student, Department of American Studies, University of New Mexico

Laura Kay, Professor of Physics, Barnard College

Stuart Schrader, Fellow, American History, Harvard University

Marsha  Weisiger, Associate Professor of History, University of Oregon

Ivan Kreilkamp, Associate Professor, English, Indiana University

Adriene Jenik, Professor of Art/Intermedia, Arizona State University

Daniel Brotman, Adjunct Professor of Economics, Glendale College

Stephanie Rutherford, Associate Professor in the School of the Environment, Trent University

David Pengelley, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, New Mexico State University

Lillian Ball, Ecological art, visiting professor, Cooper Union School of Art

Piet Hut, Prof. of Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Arlene  Plevin, Professor of English, Olympic College.

Caddie  Alford, Associate Instructor, Indiana University

Ragini Bhow, M.F.A Candidate Art & Ecology, University of New Mexico

Karla Armbruster, Professor of English, Webster University

Harvard Ayers, retired Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Sustainability, Appalachian State University

Ellen Babcock, Associate Professor, Department of Art, University of New Mexico

Nicole  Seymour, Assistant Professor of English, California State University at Fullerton

William Goldsmith, Professor emeritus of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University

Elizabeth Nevada, Adjunct faculty – University of New Mexico Dance Program

Mark Stoll, Professor of History, Texas Tech University

Elizabeth Cullingford, Professor and Chair of English, University of Texas at Austin

Julianne Warren, Ecosphere Studies, Center for Humans and Nature

Julie Minich, Associate Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin

Jon Wlasiuk, Environmental historian, Michigan State University

David Stradling, Associate Dean of Humanities and Professor of History, University of Cincinnati

Phaedra C. Pezzullo, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder

Jon Corey Hazlett, PhD Candidate, Case Western Reserve University

Kathleen Segerson, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Connecticut

Catriona Sandilands, Professor of Environmental Studies, York University

James Morton Turner, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Wellesley College

Marit Munson, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Trent University

Stephen Bocking, Professor of environmental policy and history, Trent University

Teal Arcadi, PhD Candidate, US History, Princeton University

Merissa Daborn, PhD student, University of Alberta

Julia Grummitt, Ph.D Candidate, History Department, Princeton University

Kevin Siena, Assoc. Professor of History, Trent University

Grace Hale, Commonwealth Chair of American Studies and History, University of Virginia

Michael Sherwin, Associate Professor of Art, West Virginia University

Anne Coleman, Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Notre Dame

Parker Krieg, Postdoctoral Researcher, Environmental Humanities Program, University of Helsinki

Jeffrey Stine, Environmental Historian

Traci Quinn, Curator of Education and Adjunct Lecturer, University of New Mexico

Marianne Moore, Frost Professor Emerita in Environmental Science & Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Wellesley College

Susi Knoblauch, International Education, University of New Mexico

Edmond Mathez, Emeritus Curator and Professor of Geology, American Museum of Natural History

Jonathan Luedee, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia

Chie Sakakibara, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Oberlin College

Noel Mollinedo, AmeriCorps VISTA for STEAM New Mexico, University of New Mexico

Salma Monani, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies, Gettysburg College

Rafico Ruiz, SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology, University of Alberta

Kristina Jones, Director, Wellesley College Botanic Gardens

T.J. Demos, Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture, UC Santa Cruz

Michael Epp, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, Trent University

Ruth Rosenberg, Professor of Music, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Hollis Moore, MFA Candidate, University of New Mexico

Andrew Wilson,             Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Gettysburg College

Colin Robins, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges

Reina Tong, Graduate Assistant, Entomology, University of Florida

Mark Ward, Research Scientist, Museum of Southwestern Biology, Biology, University of New Mexico

Alan MacEachern, Professor of History, University of Western Ontario

Kenna O’Connell, Graduate Student Public Administration, University of New Mexico

Kathryn Morse, History and Environmental Studies, Middlebury College

Sara Pritchard, Associate Professor, Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University

Lisa Bloom, Scholar in Residence, Beatrice Bains Center, University of California, Berkeley

Kate Ervine, Associate Professor of International Development Studies, Saint Mary’s University

Philip Van Huizen, Visiting Assistant Professor, Western Washington University

Joanna   Dean,  Associate Professor of History, Carleton University

Erika Bsumek, Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin

Kevin Armitage, Professor, Miami University of Ohio

Paul Rosier, Professor of History/Sustainability Studies, Villanova University

Elizabeth Roderick, Director, Difficult Dialogues Initiative, University of Alaska

Ryuichi Nakayama, Ph. D Student, Art History, University of New Mexico

Daniel Fiorino, Public Administration and Policy, American University

Roger Epp, Professor of Political Science, University of Alberta

Jeanette Hart-Mann, Director Land Arts of the American West, Assistant Professor Art & Ecology, University of New Mexico

Lourdes Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Dell Medical School, University of Texas

Daegan Miller, Historian and Writer, Madison, Wisconsin

Julia Harrison, Pofessor Emeritus Anthropology, Trent University

Mark Harvey, Professor of History, North Dakota State University

James Opp, Professor of History, Carleton University

Millie Wilson, Professor of Art, California Institute of Art

Andrew Williams, Photographer, Parsons The New School for Design

Laurel Lampela, Professor of Art Education, University of New Mexico

Keith Woodhouse, Assistant Professor of History, Northwestern University

Jeanette Winter, Author & Illustrator, Simon & Schuster

Jennine Hurl-Eamon, Professor of History, Trent University

Barbara Matilsky, Curator of Art, Whatcom Museum

Joan Richards, Professor of History, Brown University

Natasha Zaretsky, Associate Professor of History, Southern Illinois University

Robert  Walls, Asst. Professional Specialist, Teaching Professor of Native American Studies, Dept. of American Studies, University of Notre Dame

Katherine Hart, Senior Curator of Collections and Curator of Academic Programming, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College

Lisa Olstein, Teacher, New Writers Project, University of Texas-Austin

John Lear, Professor of History and Latin American Studies, University of Puget Sound

Maria Lane, Associate Professor, Geography & Environmental Studies, University of New Mexico

Colin Fisher, Professor of History, University of San Diego

Philip Sakimoto, First Year of Studies Program and Sustainability Minor, University of Notre Dame

Eden Radfarr, MFA student and Instructor of Record in Experimental Art & Technology, University of New Mexico

Louise, Adler, Ph.D. Educational Leadership

Joshua Nygren, Assistant professor of history, University of Central Missouri

Katherine Williams, Professor of English and Communication, Ivy Tech Community College

Megan Halpern, Science Communication Faculty, Michigan State University

Kimberly Kanigel, Postdoctoral Fellow, Computational Bioscience Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Raechel Lutz, PhD Candidate in History, Rutgers University

Christopher Wells, Professor of Environmental Studies, Macalester College

Matthew Klingle, Associate Professor of History & Environmental Studies, Bowdoin College

Zachary Nowak, Doctoral candidate, American Studies, Harvard University

Mark Urban, Arctic Biologist, Connecticut

Rachel Novick, Minor in Sustainability, University of Notre Dame

Sarah Principato, Professor of Environmental Studies, Gettysburg College

Robert  Nessler, Nature Photographer, North America

Erik Loomis, Associate Professor of History, University of Rhode Island

Ashley Dawson, Environmental Studies, Princeton University

Stephanie LeMenager, English, University of Oregon

Emily McCall, Research Scientist, University of New Mexico

Ariel Wilson, Instructor & Graduate Student, University of New Mexico

Gavin Fridell, Canada Research Chair, International Development Studies, Saint Mary’s University

Philip Wight, History PhD Candidate, Brandeis University

Klisala Harrison, Faculty Member, Department of History, Philosophy, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki

Mark Gutman, Fellow, Biology, Humboldt State University

Chrissie Orr, Artist/investigator  SeedBroadcast

John Wadland, Professor Emeritus, School for the Study of Canada, Trent University

Thomas , Woodbury, Author

Alan Braddock, Professor of Art History and American Studies / College of William & Mary

Geoffrey Buckley, Professor of Geography, Ohio University

Amy Johnson, MFA Candidate, instructor of record, University of New Mexico

Ronald  Parry, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University

Cathy Geist, Instructor of Biology and Environmental Science, Minneapolis Community and Technical College

Allison  Carruth, Professor of English & Director of the Lab for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS), UCLA

Gail Fraser, Professor of Environmental Studies, York University

Stephen Roddy, Professor of Asian Studies, University of San Francisco

Michaela Moura-Kocoglu, Instructor, Women’s and Gender Studies, Florida International University

Sabra Moore, Writer and Artist

Jeff Share, Faculty Advisor, Teacher Education Program, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles

David Harvey, Consultant (and Former Senior Vice President for Exhibition), American Museum of Natural History

Jeffrey St. Clair, Investigative Journalist and Editor of CounterPunch

Rebecca Schreiber, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico

Peter Mickulas, Senior Editor, Sociology and History, Rutgers University Press

Amy Catherine Hulshoff, Research Assistant, University New Mexico Art Museum

Catherine Harris, Assistant Professor of Art & Ecology and Landscape Architecture, University of New Mexico

William deBuys, Independent scholar and writer

Ronda Brulotte, Associate Professor, Geography & Environmental Studies, University of New Mexico

Kristen Geary, MA student in Art and Ecology, University of New Mexico

Michelle Carr, Climate Reality Leader

Manuela Picq, Loewenstein Fellow in the Department of Political Science at Amherst College & Professor of International Relations Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Tema Milstein, Associate Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of New Mexico

Eric Rombach-Kendall, Professor of Music, University of New Mexico

Taylor Spence, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of New Mexico

Sheryl Myers, Biology/Environmental Science instructor, Anderson Community Schools

Julia Adeney Thomas, Associate Professor of History, University of Notre Dame

Martin  Bunch, Associate Dean (Research) and Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

Andrew Watson, Assistant Professor, Department of History/School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan

Joshua Mancini, Postdoctoral Researcher in Chemistry, Princeton University

Ellen Jacquart, Retired Director of Stewardship, The Nature Conservancy of Indiana

Scott Collins, Distinguished Professor, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico

David Carmichael, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso

Mary Tsiongas, Professor of Art, University of New Mexico

Szu-Han Ho, Assistant Professor of Art & Ecology, University of New Mexico

Adelheid Deren, Part-time Instructor in German, Liberal Arts, Penn State York

Jackie Smith, Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh

Cheryl Duttweiler, Retired College Instructor of Psychology

Jessica Landau, PhD Candidate, Art History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Jeff Montez de Oca, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

William Pockman, Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico

Zachary Wurtzebach, Graduate Research Assistant, Colorado State University

Ali, Zaidi, Associate Professor of Languages, State University of New York at Canton

Joanne Kuestner, Museum of Southwestern Biology

Chris Taylor, Director of Land Arts of the American West at Texas Tech University

Dr. Michael Klug, Professor of Biology, Minneapolis Community & Technical College

Daniel Smith, Independent Curator

Sarah Shakil, PhD Candidate, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta

Emily Hegarty, Associate Professor of English, SUNY-Nassau Community College

Susan Bernardo, Professor of English, Wagner College

Erin MacDonald, MSc student, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta

Adam Burnett, Artistic Director, Buran Theater

Maggie Glasgow, Engage North Program Coordinator, University of Alberta

Scott Freeman, Anthropologist, American University

Elizabeth McLemore, English Faculty, Minneapolis Community & Technical College

Amy McIntyre, Managing Director, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment

Judith Mueller, Professor of English, Franklin & Marshall College

Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes, Professor of Environmental Analysis, Ponoma Collage

Heather Sullivan, Professor of German and Environmental Humanities, Trinity University, Texas

Sarah Wald, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and English, University of Oregon

Lowell Duckert, Associate Professor of English, West Virginia University

Senta Sanders,  Ph.D.Candidate, American Studies, University of Augsburg

Dr. Katherine Kragtorp, Biology Faculty, Minneapolis Community and Technical College

Jennifer Schell, Associate Professor of English, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Linda Nash, Associate Professor of History, University of Washington

Keavy Martin, Dept of English & Film Studies, University of Alberta

Zeynep Kilic, Higher education/sociology, UAA

Kevin, Trumpeter, Humanities, Allen University

Bradley Monsma, Professor of English, California State University, Channel Islands

Richmond Eustis, Field Instructor, NOLS/Assistant Professor, Nicholls State University

Tonia Payne, Professor of English, Nassau Community College-SUNY

Jennifer Tucker, Community & Regional Planning, University of New Mexico

Nancy Menning, Affiliate Scholar, Dept of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Ithaca College

Claudia B Isaac, Associate Professor, Community & Regional Planning, University of New Mexico

Eric Morel, Teaching Assistant, University of Washington

Janelle Adsit, Assistant Professor, Writing Practices, Humboldt State University

Eve Tuck, (Unangax), Associate Professor, Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Kyle Bladow, Assistant Professor, Native American Studies, Northland College

Stephanie Erev, PhD candidate in Political Science, Johns Hopkins University

Brian Goldstein, Assistant Professor, Swarthmore College

Pam Banting, English, University of Calgary

Robert Coats, Research Associate, Dept. Environ. Sci. and Policy, Univ. of California, Davis

Alice Bailey, Assistant Professor, Art Department, University of Virginia

Kristine Purrington, Fine Arts – University of New Mexico

Elizabeth Sawin, Emerita Professor of English, Missouri Western State University

Nuno Marques, Ecocritcism, Univeristy of Lisbon

Daniel Ackerman, PhD Candidate in Ecology, University of Minnesota

Gary Holthaus, Unitarian Universalist Ministerial Association

Joel Weishaus, Artist-in-Residence, Pacifica Graduate Institute

Jessica Gama, English & Environmental Studies, University of Houston

Ryan Henel, Land Arts, Research Lecturer, University of New Mexico

Gerald McMaster, Professor of Indigenous Visual Culture and Critical Curatorial Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto

Betsey Garand, Senior Resident Artist, Amherst College

Brenda Garand, Professor of Studio Art, Dartmouth College.

Ashley Kranjac, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Chapman University

Jackson Lears, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History, Rutgers University

Gregg Mitman, Vilas Research and William Coleman Professor, Department of Medical History and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Marguerite S. Shaffer, Professor of History & American Studies, Miami University

Francis Mauer, Arctic wildlife biologist (retired), MS Zoology University of Alaska

Thomas (“Tim”) Borstelmann, E.N. and Katherine Thompson Professor of Modern World History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

John R. Gillis, Professor of History Emeritus, Rutgers University

Lisa M. Brady, Professor of History, Boise State University

Edward Morris, Professor of Practice, Department of Transmedia, Syracuse University