Meet Zane Frentress, who graduated from Northwestern University in 2021.
What inspired you to pursue study in the Environmental Policy and Culture (EPC) Program?
I put together an ad hoc major called “urban sustainability” that was intended to be an interdisciplinary program studying the interactions of people, place, and power in urban environments. When I was designing the curriculum for this major, I kept finding myself drawn to EPC courses because of how they encourage students to think through complex ideas from a variety of perspectives. The EPC faculty are amazing teachers who value interdisciplinary and I had great experiences in every class I took. My major professor and senior capstone advisor are co-directors of the program and I’m so grateful for their mentorship and open-mindedness while I worked out the twists and turns of my own major.
How did your studies in the EPC Program impact you personally and/or professionally?
The EPC program stands out among Weinberg College programs for offering classes at the forefront of emerging critical scholarship in the environmental humanities. Many of the classes I took outside of the EPC program addressed the historical development of a particular subject up to the present, but EPC classes focus on contemporary issues and works across a range of disciplines. I had so many positive experiences with this program and EPC is a huge part of why I decided to go to graduate school and pursue a career in academia. I started graduate school in a completely new discipline, but because of my EPC classes, I was ready to engage with people from different backgrounds and their ongoing work without feeling like I was behind.
Is there a specific course, event, or memory associated with the EPC program that sticks out to you from your time at NU?
I took so many great EPC courses, but the course I took at Northwestern that stands out to me the most was actually a comparative literature course, taught by Dr. Harris Feinsod, who is an affiliated faculty member with EPC. The course was titled “Learning to Walk: Experiments in Externality,” and was offered remotely during the pandemic. I’m a chronic walker and this class taught me to walk with intention and think more carefully about my surroundings. All of my interests and everything I was learning in my other courses came alive on the streets of my hometown once I trained myself to look for them. Developing this practice of spatial thinking ultimately led me to the discipline of geography. Making connections across space is what we do! I now encourage my own students to practice walking this way– notice, question, reflect– as a way of learning geography. Some of them have gotten really into it, and getting updates from them about their own walks and what they’re learning is always the highlight of my day. Who would have thought that a literature course taken as part of an environmental policy curriculum would lead me to a completely different discipline? Interdisciplinary study opens so many doors, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to explore different ways of thinking.
What are you working on right now that excites you the most, OR are there any accomplishments you would like to share?
I’m excited for my field work this summer! I can’t seem to stay away from Louisiana and I will be returning this summer to do a mapping project in collaboration with a queer and indigenous led organization, Imagine Water Works. We will be working to identify sacred sites and mounds in several areas of coastal Louisiana that are vulnerable to sea level rise. The indigenous peoples of coastal Louisiana and their sacred sites are typically un-or-underrepresented in state planning for climate adaptations, and we will be working to put these places “on the map,” quite literally, so that communities will have access to the locations of their sacred places even after sea level rise might take them “off the map.” We were just awarded a Monroe Fellowship from the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South for this project, in which I’ll help lay the digital groundwork for this mapping project, and collect some initial site locations, and we will find ways to make this data publicly available and adaptable so that this project can live on through community members and Imagine Water Works in the future.
What fun fact do you want to share with the Northwestern community?
Al Capone spent his last free Saturday (before going to prison) at a Northwestern football game. Go ‘Cats, I guess?
How do you enjoy spending your free time?
I like to spend my time doing just about anything that gets me outside and in motion, but my favorite way to do this is on horseback. I was on the equestrian team at Northwestern, my first job out of undergrad was at a horse farm, and one of my dreams in life is to ride the Continental Divide Trail on horseback. I also love to hike, to bike, to kayak, to rock climb, to go on drives– anything but running. My knees just don’t do that anymore.