How do I pronounce “Phaedra Pezzullo?” Fay-dra Pet-zull-o. Listen at this link.
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers

Phaedra C. Pezzullo (BS, BA, MA, PhD) is a professor and Kleiman Faculty Scholar in the Department of Communication in the College of Communication, Media, Design, & Information at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA, as well as a Faculty Associate/Affiliate of Environmental Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Media Studies. Named in 2026 as a Distinguished Scholar by the National Communication Association, she is an internationally recognized researcher with interdisciplinary expertise in the humanities and sciences, focusing primarily on environmental and climate justice studies and environmental communication.

Pezzullo also has extensive academic leadership experience on and off campus. At CU Boulder, she is the Director of the Sustainability and Storytelling Lab. Pezzullo also serves as the inaugural Associate Director of Faculty Engagement for the SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education, and the Just Transition Collaborative, which engages in pedagogy and public engagement about the necessary global transformation from a carbon-based extractive economy to sustainable, life-affirming cultures. Relatedly, Pezzullo is co-director of Inside the Greenhouse, which fosters creative climate communication for decision-makers, youth, & fenceline communities. She is the Director of the CU Boulder Graduate Certificate in Environmental Justice, and a faculty affiliate of the Center for Environmental Journalism.

Pezzullo’s research is consistent and notable. Her latest monograph is: Beyond Straw Men: Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of Care (University of California Press, 2023), which is based, in part, on her podcast, Communicating Care. Beyond Straw Men has been recognized with three national awards: the Tarla Rai Peterson top Book Award in Environmental Communication; the James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric/Public Address; and the Diamond Anniversary Book Award.

Pezzullo co-edits a University of California a book series, Environmental Communication, Power, and Culture, with Prof. LeiLani Nishime. Pezzullo also serves as Editor of the international and interdisciplinary journal Environmental Communication (2023-2026). She has given talks throughout the US and internationally, including at the Grand amphithéâtre de la Sorbonne, Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris), the University of Aalborg (Denmark), Fudan University (Shanghai), the Communication University of China (Beijing), and The Education University of Hong Kong (China). In 2026, she has been invited to guest teach and speak at Swarthmore College, participate in the CSU Global Environmental Justice Conference, and participate in “Beyond Symptoms: Healing Climate at the Roots,” a symposium supported by the Kenan Institute of Ethics, the Science and Society Initiative, and the Hot or Cool Institute, Duke University. 

Pezzullo has coauthored and/or (co)edited over a half dozen additional books, including four editions of Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (Sage,  2016, 2018, 2021, 2025, coauthored with Robert Cox), and Green Communication and China (MSU Press, 2020, co-edited with Jingfang Liu). She has published in and currently serves on the editorial boards of over a half dozen journals and has published widely (see Vita). Pezzullo also authored the award-winning Toxic Tourism: Rhetorics of Travel, Pollution, and Environmental Justice (University of Alabama Press, 2007), which examines how communities use noncommercial tours to map counter-geographies and to raise awareness about the impacts of toxic pollution and environmental injustices more broadly. Perhaps most unexpectedly, an indie-rock song, Toxic Tour, was inspired by drawing lyrics from her book (The Holland Dutch, 2008).

Committed to public service, Pezzullo has consulted, trained, and worked with many organizations and partners, including the Office of Environmental Justice at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), University Cooperation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), The Pulitzer Center, the American Bar Association, the Sierra Club, and local government planning departments. She has been quoted in the news for her expertise, including in The Guardian, TIME, the Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post, Open Canada, and CNN Travel.  

Pezzullo’s current research projects are focused on: ethics of care, data + storytelling, the cultural politics of waste, environmental and climate justice in Colorado, climate-related public health and human rights risks for people living inside incarceration infrastructure, cultural politics of climate discourses and democracy, sustainability education, and environmental communication.

In addition to research talks, public service, and consulting, Pezzullo also consistently serves as a peer reviewer for promotions at R1 or research intensive universities, a curriculum advisor, and a departmental program reviewer. 

(Banner image credit: Gloria Bridges, 2017)