Steinberg Named Director of Environmental Studies at UPB

Dr. Jesse Steinberg, assistant professor of philosophy, has been named the new director of the environmental studies program at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

He takes the place of Dr. Stephen Robar, associate professor of political science, who resigned the post to make more time for his new position as chairman of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

“I am very happy to have Dr. Steinberg accept the leadership role of the environmental studies program,” Robar said. “He has the full confidence and support of the entire environmental studies faculty, and with a growing program Dr. Steinberg will have a good group of students to work with as well. Few first-year faculty members are given such a leadership position.”

Steinberg earned his doctoral degree in philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before coming to Pitt-Bradford, he taught at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of California, Riverside; Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; University of California, Los Angeles; and University of California, Santa Barbara.

One of Steinberg’s areas of expertise is moral theory.

“These issues are fascinating and especially challenging,” Steinberg said. “How is one to balance considerations of the obligations one has toward other people with other considerations like one’s right to personal property or one’s interest in having inexpensive utilities and food.

“Although much of my work is theoretical, it has implications on what sorts of policies we, as a society, should try to pursue. I’m especially excited to delve into some of these issues in a class we’re offering this spring, Environmental Ethics.”

The Pitt-Bradford environmental studies program is an interdisciplinary academic program that explores the relationship between humans and the environment, integrating knowledge from natural sciences, social sciences, the arts and humanities.

For more information on the environmental studies program, contact Steinberg at (814)362-7586 or steinbe@pitt.edu.