Dr. Michael Peel is a member of the Distance Education Graduate Faculty team. He received an EdD in Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University, an MEd in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University, and a BA in Government and Leadership from Claremont McKenna College. Dr. Peel’s research and teaching interests focus on collaborative climate justice and action, equitable community engagement, and sustainability project implementation. He also specializes in capacity building and planning methods. For his mixed-methods dissertation and study, he developed a toolkit titled the “Climate Justice Collaborative Toolkit” that is designed to be a holistic and action-based framework for improving community engagement and equity processes to increase intersectional climate justice-based outcomes including community capacity-building efforts. Dr. Peel has 17 years of experience in community-driven climate planning, including a series of applied and collaborative climate educational programs in California, Arizona, and elsewhere where he implemented community-based climate courses for community colleges in partnership with the EPA, and led a coalition that successfully competed for federal funds for an energy conservation jobs program supporting low-income individuals through the California Energy Commission’s Clean Energy Workforce Training Program. Dr. Peel’s experience conducting research and planning has been done in partnership with a diverse range of community partners to advance equitable, resilient climate solutions through sustainability projects and programs. Dr. Peel is a proud parent to his daughter Emma with his partner Dr. Cassandra Peel. He enjoys reading, running, film, music, and especially time with family including his dogs Jesse and Rudie.