Dr. Josh Kercsmar is an assistant professor of Environmental Humanities at Unity Environmental University. He earned his B.A. from Wheaton College (IL); an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; a Th.M. from Harvard Divinity School; and a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame he won an Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award (2009) and a Graduate Teaching Fellowship in the University Writing Program (2013-14). Dr. Kercsmar researches and publishes on the history of slavery and human-animal interactions in early America, and has received generous support from a Lilly Postdoctoral Fellowship, as well as grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and Animals and Society Institute. In his spare time he enjoys reading, hanging out with his family, and taking down opponents in ping-pong.