Campus Directory

Pronouns she, her, her, hers, herself

Division Social Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit Environmental Studies Department

Title Lecturer in Environmental Studies
Director, Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program, Center for Reimagining Leadership

Affiliation Faculty

Faculty Type Lecturer

Primary Office Location Nat Sci 2 Main Building
459

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours Not available Fall 2025

Mail Stop Environmental Studies

Biography, Education and Training

Emily Murai (she/her) is a Lecturer in the Environmental Studies Department and Director of the Emerging Leaders Fellowship program (ELF) at the Center for Reimagining Leadership (CRL). Since joining UCSC in 2009, she has also held academic and leadership appointments in the Writing Program and at College Nine. Her scholarly work explores interdisciplinary writing, critical environmentalism, and inclusion and belonging in higher education.

She is co-editor, with Environmental Studies Professor Flora Lu, of Critical Campus Sustainabilities: Bridging Social Justice and the Environment in Higher Education (Springer, 2023) and the author of multiple articles on pedagogy and professional development in higher education. Dr. Murai earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and is a proud UCSC alum.

Education:

Ph.D, Geography, University of Minnesota
M.A., Cultural Sociology, New School for Social Research
B.A., Psychology and American Studies, University of California Santa Cruz

Summary of Expertise

Critical Environmentalisms and Inclusive Sustainabilities

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education

Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines (WAC/WID)

First-Year Writing (FYW) and Student Success

Selected Publications

Murai, E. (2025). How to Foster Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Geography: Guo Chen and LaToya E. Eaves, eds. The AAG Review of Books, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/2325548X.2025.2567376

Murai, E., & Foote, K. (2025). Non-tenure track faculty in U.S. geography: strategies for support. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2025.2569363

Convening of Care Collective. (2024). Care in the Academic Research Enterprise: Reflections and a Call to Action from the Inaugural Convening of Care. https://doi.org/10.14433/2017.0169

Lu, F., Murai, E., Campbell, S. and Angelo, H. (2024). Building more epistemically inclusive and environmentally equitable universities. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 14, 511–524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-024-00935-z

Murai, E. (2024). Navigating non-tenure career tracks. In Solem, M., et al. (Eds.), Thriving in an Academic Career: An International and Interdisciplinary Guide for Early Career Faculty. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003342953

Lu, F. and Murai, E. (Eds.) (2023). Critical Campus Sustainabilities: Bridging Social Justice and the Environment in Higher Education. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30929-8

Murai, E. (2023). Teaching critical sustainability studies: towards a relational pedagogy. In Lu, F. and E. Murai (Eds.), Critical Campus Sustainability: Bridging Social Justice and the Environment in Higher Education. Springer Nature.

Courses ENVS 100/L - Ecology and Society (Disciplinary Communications requirement)
ENVS 159 - Environmental Justice Literature
ENVS 173 - Global Environmental History
College Nine College 1/1A - Global and International Affairs (required Core course)
Writing 1 & 2 - Rhetoric and Inquiry (Composition requirement)
Stevenson, Porter & Kresge 26 - Navigating the Research University