Connect With Us
The environmental community at OU is huge. It encompasses students, faculty, and staff from nearly every college on campus.
This page is devoted to the people directly involved with the Environmental Studies program.
The DGES Administrative Office is located in the Sarkeys Energy Center, Suite 510. Our office is open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Mondays through Fridays.
Environmental Studies Liaison
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
Lecturer; Environmental Studies Liaison
Office: Sarkeys Energy Center 674
Email: carriemcleslie@ou.edu
I have taught the Environmental Studies Capstone since 2023. It is a service-learning course partnered with the JFK Neighborhood Association in Oklahoma City where students research solutions for the environmental health inequalities from legacy air pollution exposure and discriminatory zoning. My doctorate is in environmental sociology, with a focus on environmental justice, environmental health equity, and community-engaged research. I am a Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability (DGES) and have worked with the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC), Native Nations Center and Institute for Resilient Environmental and Energy Systems (IREES) at OU.
Faculty
J.D., Vermont Law School
Lecturer
Office: Sarkeys Energy Center 510
Email: emilyremmel@ou.edu
Since 2016, I have taught numerous Environmental Studies courses related to water law and environmental law. In addition to teaching, I am the Director of Regulatory Affairs for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) in Washington, D.C., helping municipal wastewater and stormwater utilities navigate the Clean Water Act and other federal laws and regulations. I am a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and hold both a Bachelor’s and a Master's degree in Zoology and a Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School.
Ph.D., University of California, Riverside
Lecturer
Office: Sarkeys Energy Center 510
Email: rsherry@ou.edu
I am a botanist with a broad and varied background. I have worked for an environmental consulting firm in California, determined the mechanism of flower movement in solar-tracking buttercups in the Rocky Mountains, and studied the effects of climate warming on the tallgrass prairie ecosystem here in Oklahoma. I've taught with the Environmental Studies Program since 2011, becoming full-time in 2018. Among my current interests are plant community change and agricultural systems.
Former Director
Ph.D., Columbia University
Professor of Philosophy
Office: Dale Hall Tower 627
Email: ztrachtenberg@ou.edu
I was director of Environmental Studies from Fall 2019 through Summer 2025, and I was involved in the formation of its predecessor program, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment, in the 1990’s. I am also a professor in OU’s Philosophy Department; in addition to Environmental Ethics (an Environmental Studies elective), I teach courses on social and political philosophy. My research focuses on the topic of human beings’ transformations of the physical environment. To learn more about my research and teaching, please visit my Philosophy Department webpage.
