“At the heart of democracy is the paradox that fulfilling the public’s will and protecting the public’s welfare are often at odds with each other. Because for a democracy to work, the public can be unwise, and cannot be wrong”
Christopher Torres
Assistant ProfessorEnvironmental Studies
Christopher Torres is currently the Jane and Robert E. Meyerhoff Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Goucher College. He completed his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration at Boise State University. His training is at the intersection of philosophy, environmental studies, policy studies, and public administration. Prior to Goucher, he taught at Connecticut College, the College of Idaho, and Boise State University. At Goucher, he teaches courses in the “Environment and Society” concentration of the Environmental Studies major covering environmental history, literature, philosophy, politics, and policy. He also serves as a Co-Director of the Language House. His current research project is looking to better understand conservative environmental values and how they shape U.S. environmental politics and policy. Other research interests include exploring the relationship between public administration, public perceptions of “bureaucracy”, and public trust in democratic institutions.
Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress
Conservative Environmental Values: examining the relationship between conservative values and attitudes towards different environmental policy areas such as public land use, wildlife conservation, meat consumption, social and ecological impacts of consumer goods, and air and water quality.
Publications
Torres, C., & Fowler, L. (2023). Creatively interpreting policy to move science forward: Implementing participatory technology assessment at NASA. Review of Policy Research, 40(3), 389–405.
External Awards, Honors, Grants
Jane and Robert E. Meyerhoff Endowed Chair of Environmental Studies — Goucher College
Graduate Research Assistantship — Boise State University
Carl P. Burke Scholarship in Public Policy — Boise State University
James B. and Dana L. Weatherby Scholarship in Public Administration — Boise State University
Environmental Fellow | Environmental Fellows Program
University of Michigan (now at Yale) and the Environmental Grantmakers Association
Graduate Teaching Assistantship — University of Oregon
Regents’ & Chancellor’s Scholarship — University of California, Berkeley
Conference Papers & Panel Participation
Tomblin, David, Jen Schneider, Christopher Torres. “STS Boundary Spanners: An Essential Ingredient to Substantive Public Engagement Work with U.S. Federal Government Agency.” Society for the Social Studies of Science Conference (presented by David Tomblin). Honolulu, HI. November 2023.
Torres, Christopher, Jen Schneider, David Tomblin, Verra Yevsukov, Allison Griffith, Menal Shams, Luke Della Grotte, Mahmud Farooque, and Nich Weller. “Collaborative Research: Participatory Technology Assessment and Cultures of Expertise in the U.S. Federal Government.” Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes Workshop (presented by Jen Schneider and David Tomblin). Washington, DC. December 2021.
Torres, Christopher. “Participatory Technology Assessment as Policy Innovation in NASA’s Asteroid Initiative.” Society for Social Studies of Science. Virtual (COVID). October 2021.
Torres, Christopher. “Participatory Technology Assessment in the American Federal Bureaucracy.” STGlobal Conference. Virtual (COVID). April 2021.
Torres, Christopher. “Participatory Technology Assessment in the American Federal Bureaucracy.” Western Social Science Association Conference. Virtual (COVID). April 2021.
Tomblin, David, Jen Schneider, Christopher Torres, and Mahmud Farooque. “Technical Expertise Meets Public Deliberation: Going Beyond Laboratory Studies to Understand the Expert/Lay Divide.” Society for the Social Studies of Science Conference (presented by Jen Schneider and David Tomblin). New Orleans, LA. September 2019.
Crandall, Curtis, and Christopher Torres. “Treasure Valley Water Atlas.” Presented at the Andrus Center for Public Policy Conference. Boise, ID. April 2018.
Christopher Torres. “Who has Power on the Boise River: The Importance of Informal Relationships in the Boise River Water Management System.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Idaho NSF EPSCoR. Pocatello, ID. October 2017.
Academic or Professional Associations
American Political Science Association