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Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18)

Phaedra C. Pezzullo has worked with media scholars, journalists, documentary makers, advertisers, architectural experts and more as she seeks the broadest possible approach to the challenge of sustainability.

That emphasis on connections among people, especially in different disciplines, is why the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information named her the first Kleiman Faculty Scholar in Communication this summer.

“What I love about being part of a college like this are the opportunities to publish, edit, co-author or just talk to people in so many different disciplines. So, when we have a challenge like sustainability, we approach engaging people from a more holistic perspective—from face to face to social media,” said Pezzullo, a professor of communication at CMDI who was trained in environmental rhetoric. “And when we work together, we’re smarter. We all bring different experiences from the institutions and companies and communities we’ve worked with.”

It isn’t just her affinity for connections that led to Pezzullo earning this honor. Earlier this year, she launched the Sustainability and Storytelling Lab, which studies the role communication plays in advancing environmental, economic and social justice goals. She is an influential author whose most recent book, Beyond Straw Men: Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of Care, won multiple awards from the National Communication Association; her 2007 book, Toxic Tourism: Rhetorics of Travel, Pollution and Environmental Justice, inspired a punk rock song about the cause. She also maintains the podcast, featuring insights from experts working across disciplines to address issues of sustainability and environmental fairness.

“It gives me such pride to announce Phaedra as the college’s Kleiman scholar,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMDI. “When we envisioned what this college might look like during its founding, 10 years ago, we imagined breaking down disciplinary silos and empowering the kind of cross-disciplinary work that would allow us to take on the most complex problems of our time. By inviting students and faculty from across the college and university to work with her, Phaedra has brought new and invaluable perspectives to sustainability.”

The Kleiman Faculty Scholar is supported by an endowment from alumnus David C. Kleiman (PhDComm’73), who said he considers his support to be a way of paying forward the influence others had on his career. ��

Stepping up ‘in any way they can’

“With the various challenges going on right now, I think it’s important for people to step up in any way they can,” said Kleiman, who taught at CUNY Bronx, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Northwestern before spending three decades working for his family’s business, LA-CO Industries Inc. “For me, it’s also about being able to honor the people who have been generous to me—in money, but also in spirit and in kindness.”

He called Pezzullo “a renaissance woman” whose research certainly fits the bill of tackling current crises, bridging rhetorical studies with a range of disciplines.

“I expect Phaedra is one of those people who really make a difference to their students—who inspire you in ways that stay with you throughout your life,” Kleiman said. “That was true of so many people I learned from at Boulder, and it gives me such pleasure to be able to honor someone who has those same gifts and can inspire the next generation of students.”

A way she combines her gifts for teaching and collaboration is through her work with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Alongside her students, she creates story maps that illustrate how different communities are affected by environmental and climate injustice. She’s careful to work alongside, instead of lecturing down to, people in those communities, which improves public participation and engagement in demanding solutions.

It’s why she’s so committed to storytelling as being part of the solution for issues of climate and the environment.

“Storytelling is a survival skill without which imagining, let alone building, a more sustainable future is not possible,” Pezzullo said. “It’s important to recognize that people who study the science of sustainability do better, build more public trust and more effectively explain their ideas when they collaborate with people who have expertise in communication.”��

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.��