Image: Bill speaking on ethics and public policy.
Curriculum Vita
Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do.
- Bertrand Russell. Quoted in Antony Flew's Thinking About Thinking (1989)
William S. Lynn, Ph.D. is a visiting professor of Environmental Studies at Williams College, where he teaches courses in environmental studies, ethics, qualitative research and public policy.
Bill received his doctorate in Geography from the University of Minnesota. While there he studied ethics, environmental and human geography, interpretive social science, and qualitative methods. A founding editor of the international journal Ethics, Place and Environment, he is a member of the Ethics Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union/IUCN, and an International Associate of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies (www.nzchas.canterbury.ac.nz).
Before arriving at Williams College, Bill was a professor of Environmental Studies at Green Mountain College, a research scholar at non-profit think-tanks, and a professor at Tufts University. While at Tufts, he was the Assistant Director at the Center for Animals and Public Policy, and Program Director for its Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy (MAPP). Bill is also the founder and Senior Ethics Advisor of Practical Ethics (www.practicalethics.net), a website, blog and gallery dedicated to the well-being of people, animals and nature.
Bill's research is located at the intersection of ethics, public policy and environmental studies. He uses practical ethics, critical hermeneutics and interpretive methodologies to explore the ethics of environmental discourse and its policy implications. His empirical interests focus on wolf recovery, endangered species management, urban wildlife, global sustainability, and the role of ethics in science and public policy. His work has been featured in numerous books, journals, magazines, and radio talk shows.