UCHI’s Environmental Humanities Initiative Presents:
Environmental Careers Panel
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 12:15pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)
The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.
This event will have a special focus on humanities careers within the realm of the environment. There will be an opportunity for questions at the end of the moderated panel, and refreshments will be served.
Panelists:
Sydney Barnwell is a strategic communications leader, consultant, and community advocate working at the intersection of environmental justice, policy, storytelling, and community power. As Managing Partner and Principal at Integrity Acts, she draws on her experience leading statewide advocacy campaigns and coalition communications to help mission-driven organizations strengthen their narratives, mobilize communities, and advance meaningful change.
Julie Castillo is a graduate of UConn’s MEEM (Master’s of Energy & Environmental Management) program and a senior analyst supporting commercial renewable energy incentive programs at Eversource. Julie took a less conventional path, earning a B.A. in Political Science from ECSU in 2007, and working in Corporate Real Estate for 13 years until changing industries and starting the MEEM program.
Zoya Dhakam is an Energy Policy specialist, currently at CT Dept of Energy and Environment Protection, with over four years of experience in energy, climate, and sustainability at the U.S. federal level in Washington, D.C., and internationally in Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia. MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (2023) and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Connecticut (2018).
is a senior Cooperative Extension educator, the director of the UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR), and the co-director of the CT NEMO program. CLEAR seeks to provide communities with tools, research, and support to make land use decisions that balance natural resource protection with community growth.
Moderator:
Professor Clarissa Ceglio. As a U.S. cultural historian trained in the interdisciplinary field of American Studies, Clarissa Ceglio works at the intersections of museum studies, public history, and digital humanities. Much of her research focuses on the affective and rhetorical roles that artifacts—material, visual, and digital—play in constructing national and social imaginaries within the context of museum work.
Cosponsored by the Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills, with support from the Office of Sustainability.
Access note
If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities. Requests should be made at least five business days in advance whenever possible.
Photography disclaimer
Photographs may be taken at this event and posted on social media or otherwise used for communication purposes.
Support UCHI
For twenty-five years the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute has served as the hub for the study of human society and culture at UConn. Help us celebrate UCHI at 25 with a gift to the Institute. Every gift will help us promote innovation and creativity in humanities research for the next twenty-five years.
