Kyle Powys Whyte, an expert in the moral and political issues around climate policy and indigenous peoples, has been named as the inaugural Timnick Chair in the Humanities at Michigan State University.
MSU alumnus and retired businessman Henry O. Timnick (BA 1955, MA 1958, Business) endowed the position in honor of his mother, Ottilie Schroeter Timnick.
Whyte’s work in the cooperative relationships between indigenous peoples and climate science organizations has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Climate Science Center, Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center, the Sustainable Michigan Endowed Program, and Spencer Foundation.
“I’m honored to accept this chair as I am committed to creating unique and engaging learning experiences for MSU students and for the scientists and environmental professionals I work with in my research,” Whyte says.
He is currently a professor in the MSU College of Arts and Letters Department of Philosophy and is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
“The Timnick Faculty Position in the Humanities was established to impart through excellence in teaching, the habits of mind embodied by Henry Timnick’s mother: her humanist sensibility, cultural curiosity, and active engagement with the humanities,” says College of Arts and Letters Acting Dean Elizabeth H. Simmons.
Whyte is a faculty member of the Environmental Philosophy & Ethics graduate concentration, and is affiliated faculty at Michigan State for Peace and Justice Studies, Environmental Science and Policy, the Center for Regional Food Systems, Animal Studies and American Indian Studies.
For more information on making a gift to the College of Arts and Letters, contact Director of Development Bridget Paff at paff@msu.edu or call (517) 353-4725.