Alberto Arenas

Publications
Journal of Environmental Education

Alberto Arenas is Professor of Environmental and Sustainability Education in the Department
of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education at the University
of Arizona. He specializes in the connections between pedagogy and environmental
sustainability; experiential education, with an emphasis on vocational education; and the
decolonization of education with a focus on restoring culturally-rich, non-commodified
knowledge and skills.

In 2019, Dr. Arenas became Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Environmental Education, a
premier educational journal and the world’s oldest journal in environmental education.

Dr. Arenas has a Ph.D. in Sociocultural Studies in Education from the University of California,
Berkeley. He was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst teaching in the Center for International Education. From 2008-2019, Dr. Arenas was
the co-director of the Study of the United States Institute (SUSI), a federally-funded grant
that awarded short-term scholarships to 400 Indigenous Latin American college students to
the University of Arizona to learn about sustainability and Indigenous issues. In 2014, Dr.
Arenas further enriched his academic repertoire as a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico, delving
into research on the country's environmental education programs. From 2017-2021, he was
Associate Editor for Environmental and Sustainability Education of the Oxford Encyclopedia
of Educational Administration. Starting in 2013, Professor Arenas has been a member of the
Scientific Committees of the World Environmental Education Congresses held in Morocco
(2013), Sweden (2015), United Arab Emirates (2024), and Australia (2026).

Professor Arenas grew up in Bogotá, Colombia. After studying at the Universidad de los
Andes in Bogotá he relocated to the United States and transferred to the University of
Arizona in Tucson to finish his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Journalism. Upon his
graduation in 1989, he returned to South America, first to Colombia and then Brazil. While
working in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil), he became immersed in the field of literacy. He then
returned to the United States to pursue his graduate education, which he did by entering
the Graduate School of Education at Berkeley. Over there, he became interested in the field
of environmental studies, which he combined with his interests in sociology and
anthropology of education, and it is that combination of fields that drives his teaching and
research up until the present. Upon receiving his Ph.D. degree in 2000, he went to teach at
the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he taught at the Center for International
Education in the Department of Educational Policy, Research, and Administration.

In 2002, he was hired by his old alma mater, the University of Arizona, and has taught in the
College of Education since then. At the University of Arizona he has taught courses related
to Environmental and Sustainability Studies; History of Education; Educational Leadership;
and Research Methods. His publications have appeared in leading educational journals in
the world, including Phi Delta Kappan, Teachers College Record, Compare, the International
Review of Education, Environmental Education Research, and the Journal of Environmental
Education.

In 2026, Professor Arenas received the prestigious “Outstanding Contributions to Research
in Environmental Education” Award from the North American Association for Environmental
Education (NAAEE).