Center for Humans and Nature

Gavin Van Horn, Ph.D.

Director of Midwest Cultures of Conservation

As the Midwest Director, Gavin is developing and directing a series of interdisciplinary projects relevant to the sustainability, resilience, and restoration of human and natural communities in the Chicago and Midwest region.  His work focuses particularly on how place-based values are developed and strengthened in dialogue with local landscapes.  Gavin received a B.A. from Pepperdine University, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his doctorate from the University of Florida, with a specialization in Religion and Nature. His dissertation research examined the religious, cultural, and ethical values involved in the reintroduction of wolves to the southwestern United States.

He continues to explore cultural perceptions of wildlife; place-based pedagogy; endangered species recovery, ethics, and policy; and the values involved in ecological restoration projects, community gardening, and wildlife management.  Before coming to the Center, Gavin was the Brown Junior Visiting Professor in Environmental Studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Current CHN Projects: The Spirit of Agriculture (”Civitas in Horto”: Citizenship in the Garden), Chicago Regional Forum on Ethics and Sustainability, City Creatures: Rediscovering Human-Animal Relationships in Chicago’s Urban Wilderness