Corina McKendry is Director of the Environmental Studies Program and Associate Professor of Political Science. She teaches courses on environmental politics and political economy including Environment & Society; Cities, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice; Global Environmental Policy; Subnational Climate Governance; Introduction to International Political Economy; and U.S. Environmental Politics. She also serves as the principal advisor for the urban studies minor.
Professor McKendry's research focuses primarily on subnational environment governance, with a particular emphasis on effectiveness, political legitimacy, and social justice in city climate policies. Her first book, Greening Post-Industrial Cities: Growth, Equity, and Environmental Governance, was published by Routledge Press in 2018. Studying three post-industrial cities of the global North (Chicago, IL; Birmingham, UK and Vancouver, BC), the book examines how city leaders negotiate the relationship between environmental protection, economic growth, and equity, the oft-cited "three pillars" of sustainability. Her second book, Urban Cascadia and the Pursuit of Environmental Justice (University of Washington Press, 2021) is a co-edited volume that brings together political scientists, historians, geographers, urbanists, and others to critically examine the tensions between the progressive green urbanism of the Cascadia region (Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia) and the legacies of settler colonialism and environmental injustices that also shape the region. In addition to these two books, McKendry has published numerous book chapters and journal articles, including articles co-authored with Colorado College students.
Professor McKendry earned her Bachelor's degree in International Studies from Macalester College (MN) and her PhD from the Department of Politics at the University of California Santa Cruz. She began teaching at Colorado College in the fall of 2011.
