American University
WASHINGTON—For Ken Conca, teaching has been his unintended, yet most fulfilling passion. He wants his work to be relevant for people and problem solving.
Now a professor at American University, Conca grew up on the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, where the people in the community were dependent on the bay.
When pollution problems in the bay became so prevalent, Conca and his family had to stop shell-fishing—an activity that supplemented the family income. His early life experiences with regard to the environment led him to question the relationship between the environment and policy; that in turn set the tone for his professional career and research.
His studies are separated into three areas. The first area concerns the international politics of water as a source of conflict, cooperation, poverty, climate change and as a human right. The second area has to do with environmental peacemaking, which is an area that he is one of the founders of. The third area involves work with the United Nations, looking into how to improve its environmental initiatives.
Conca is a member of the Expert Advisory Group on Conflict and Peacebuilding for the United Nations, particularly focusing on war-torn countries and trying to help stabilize them after having undergone environmental damage.
After having worked in Washington after graduate school, Conca decided to get his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. It wasn’t until then that he discovered his love for teaching.
“That’s where I got the bug about being a professor. I never intended to, but I started teaching and I discovered that I loved it and I just came to the conclusion that this is what I was put on Earth to do. It just took a while to figure out,” said Conca.
His teaching career began at the University of Maryland where he taught for 17 years. After his time at the University of Maryland, he came to American University in 2010. “I didn’t want to just teach pre-law students, which is mostly what I was doing at Maryland. I wanted to teach more AU-type students who had this kind of active, I want to change the world but I recognize the value of knowledge in doing so type of mentality,” he said.
Jiameizi Jia, a master’s student in the School of International Service, said, “Every time when you feel nervous and you feel confused and you don’t know what you’re going to do in the future, like those kinds of things that confuse you, I just go to his office and he’ll just try to figure it out. It makes you feel better. He cares about students.”
Lino Gallo, another student in the master’s program, said, “Not only is it the writing, the reading and teaching, it’s just the combination of all those and just being like a very down-to-earth, humble person on top of all that.” He later added, “It’s an honor to be treated as an equal by him.”
Moreover, Conca has won significant prizes as a researcher. He won the International Studies Association’s Harold and Margaret Sprout award for best book in international and environmental affairs, specifically for his chapter on confronting consumption. He won that same award three years later in 2006 for his book, “Governing Water.” He received the International Studies Association’s Chadwick F. Alger Prize for best book, also for, “Governing Water.” For his research, he was awarded the Al-Moumin Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding in 2017.
Regardless of the accolades, being a professor comes first to Conca.
He received the Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award for the School of International Service in 2013, 2016 and this year. He has also received the Mentor Award for the Doctoral Program in the School of International Service this year.
“At the core of my identity, I’m a teacher first. Something that acknowledges that I’ve done good work in the core has more meaning to me, in all honesty. Another thing is, teaching is another path to the kind of social change that I want to see occur,” he said. Although he hopes for his research to change the world, the students he trains and what they learn is more likely to have a bigger impact, according to Conca.
“I mean this room is full of books, the library is full of books, but the problems are still with us. I conclude from that, that the scarce resource is probably not yet another book. The scarce resource is probably the people that are going to take the ideas and figure out ways to turn them into practice,“ he said.