Dana R. Fisher

Dana R. Fisher is an American sociologist, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Program for Society and the Environment^[1] at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research interest is the relationship between environmentalism and democracy.^[2]

Career

Fisher graduated with an AB in East Asian Studies and Environmental Studies from Princeton University, an MS in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was awarded the Katherine DuPre Lumpkin Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prior to her appointment at the University of Maryland, Fisher's previous faculty positions were at Columbia University, the Sciences Po, and University of Konstanz. Her Research has been featured in media outlets such as The Washington Post,^[3] The Christian Science Monitor,^[4][5] Chicago Tribune, USA Today, CBS News,^[6] NPR,^[7] the No Jargon podcast of the Scholars Strategy Network,^[8] and in "The Collectors: Political Action," a documentary short by FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films.^[9] She has presented her work to federal agencies, foundations, and other organizations, including the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Let's Move! campaign at the White House, the Brookings Institution, the World Policy Institute,^[10] and to program members at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.^[11]

Research and publications

Fisher's current research involves data collected from environmental activists, stewardship organizations, volunteer stewards, students in the D.C. school system, as well as political elites engaged in climate policy-making in the United States.

Notable and recent publications include:

Books

• Dana R. Fisher, Erika S. Svendsen, and James Connolly. (2015). Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement: How Planting Trees Strengthens the Roots of Democracy. New York: Routledge.^[12]
• Shamus Khan and Dana R. Fisher. (2013). The Practice of Research: How Social Scientists Answer Their Questions. New York: Oxford University Press.^[13]
• Stewart Lockie, David A. Sonnenfeld, and Dana R. Fisher (editors). (2013). Routledge International Handbook of Social and Environmental Change. New York: Routledge.^[14]
• Dana R. Fisher. (2006). Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns is Strangling Progressive Politics in America. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.^[15]
• Dana R. Fisher. (2004). National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.^[16]

Journal articles

• Dana R. Fisher, Joseph Waggle, and Lorien Jasny. (2015). "Not a Snowball's Chance for Science." Contexts. Fall: 44-49.^[17]
• Lorien Jasny, Joseph Waggle, and Dana R. Fisher. (2015). "An Empirical Examination of Echo Chambers in US Climate Policy Networks." Nature Climate Change. 5:782-786.^[18]
• Dana R. Fisher, Joseph Waggle, and Philip Leifeld. (2013). "Where Does Political Polarization Come From? Locating Polarization within the U.S. Climate Change Debate." American Behavioral Scientist. 57(1):70-92.^[19]
• Dana R. Fisher, Philip Leifeld, and Yoko Iwaki. (2013). "Mapping the Ideological Networks of American Climate Politics." Climatic Change. 116:523-545.^[20]
• Dana R. Fisher (2012). "Youth Political Participation: Bridging Activism and Electoral Politics." Annual Review of Sociology. 38:119-137.^[21]
• Dana R. Fisher and Paul-Brian McInerney. (2012). "The Limits of Networks in Social Movement Retention: On Canvassers and Their Careers." Mobilization. 17(2):109-128.^[22]

Book chapters

• Dana R. Fisher and Anya M. Galli. (2015). "Civil Society Engagement in Climate Governance: Between Collaboration and Conflict." Research Handbook on Climate Governance. Karin Bäckstrand and Eva Lövbrand, editors. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 297–309.^[23]

References