Dr. Christine Farias has a PhD in environmental economics from Texas Tech University and is an associate professor of economics in the Department of Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, where she teaches regular and honors courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, environmental economics, and labor economics using a human values, poverty, ecological, and global sustainability lens.  Dr. Farias also co-directs a multi-year project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities that aims to bring poverty-focused humanities texts into her college classrooms across the curriculum.  As the faculty advisor to the Economics Equality and Environment Student Academic Club, she also guides an interdisciplinary group of student officers to be leaders by creating awareness about local and global issues focusing on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Her specific areas of interest are: ecological economics; poverty; deforestation and land use; sustainability; and action learning pedagogy.  Her research focuses on the tensions arising out of sustainability and traditional economic perspectives and explores the dynamics between them.  In addition to her sustainability-related publications, she has written on pedagogical issues based on her teaching innovations and experiences in the classroom.  She has publications in several peer-reviewed journals focusing on themes mostly connected with sustainability and has presented her research at various domestic and international conferences.

In her Fulbright-Nehru project, Dr. Farias is teaching environmental, ecological, and labor economics in the context of business and sustainable development; she is also involved in mentor–student research projects, developing curriculum, and collaborating on research with the host faculty.  Besides, she is designing experiential learning opportunities for students to

explore opportunities of collaborations and partnerships with colleagues at her host institution as part of enhancing the economics program at her home institution.