Kim R. De Wolff
Assistant Professor
University of North Texas
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Email: Kimberly.Dewolff@unt.edu
Education
-
PhD, University of California, San Diego, 2014
Major: Communication and Science Studies
Dissertation: Gyre Plastic: Science , Circulation and the Matter of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -
MA, Queen's University, 2007
Major: Sociology
Dissertation: H20 to Go: Marketing and Materiality in the Normalization of Bottled Water -
BM, University of British Columbia, 2003
Major: General Music
Professional Positions
- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Merced. University of California, Merced. (2015 - 2017).
Academic - Post-Secondary
Professional Memberships
- Society for Social Studies of Science. (2008 - Present).
Development Activities
- Other (Online Teaching Training), Fall 2020 Remote Delivery Training, UNT CLEAR. Denton,TX,United States of America. (July 11, 2020 - July 13, 2020).
- Other (Online Course Development Training), Course-in-a-box Training, UNT CLEAR. Denton,Texas,United States of America. (May 2019 - June 2019).
- Other (Online Teaching Development Program), Service & Community Engaged Learning, UNT Career Connect. Denton,Texas,United States of America. (October 2018 - January 2019).
Teaching
Teaching Experience
- PHIL 2500 - Environment and Society, 7 courses.
- PHIL 2600 - Ethics in Science, 4 courses.
- PHIL 3440 - Bioethics, 1 course.
- PHIL 4200 - Science, Technology, and Society, 3 courses.
- PHIL 4700 - Environmental Philosophy, 4 courses.
- PHIL 4740 - Environmental Justice, 7 courses.
- PHIL 4900 - Special Problems, 1 course.
- PHIL 5900 - Special Problems, 5 courses.
- PHIL 5950 - Master's Thesis, 1 course.
- PHIL 6740 - Environmental Ethics, Science, and Public Policy, 1 course.
- PHIL 6750 - Environmental Justice, 2 courses.
- PHIL 6760 - Topics in Environmental Philosophy, 3 courses.
- PHIL 6900 - Special Problems, 4 courses.
- PHIL 6950 - Doctoral Dissertation, 9 courses.
University of North Texas
Teaching at Other Institutions
- University of California San Diego, Global Economy and Consumer Culture, Summer 2014.
- University of California San Diego, Junior Seminar in Communication: Plastic Culture, Fall 2013.
- University of California San Diego, Cultures of Consumption, Summer 2013.
- University of California San Diego, Senior Seminar in Communication: Plastic Culture, Summer 2012.
Directed Student Learning
- Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (January 2024).
- Dissertation Committee Chair, Philosophy and Religion. (October 2023).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (October 2023).
- Dissertation Committee Co-Chair, Philosophy and Religion. (August 2023).
- Dissertation Committee Member, Philosophy and Religion. (August 2023).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (December 2022).
- Dissertation Committee Member, Other - Outside UNT. (August 2022).
- Dissertation Committee Member, Biological Sciences. (April 2022).
- Dissertation Committee Chair, Philosophy and Religion. (January 2022).
- Dissertation Committee Member, Philosophy and Religion. (January 2022).
- Dissertation Committee Member, Philosophy and Religion. (May 2019).
- Dissertation Committee Member, Philosophy and Religion. (November 2017).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (November 2022 - June 2023).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (October 2022 - June 2023).
- Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (April 2022 - December 1, 2022).
- Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (March 2022 - May 2022).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (January 2022 - May 2022).
- Master's Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (January 2022 - May 2022).
- Master's Thesis Committee Member, "Re-envisioning the Future: A Research Study about Increased Plastic Pollution from Desalination Plants and Environmental Education in Texas," Anthropology. (November 2021 - May 2022).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (May 2021 - January 2022).
- Doctoral Comprehensive Exam Member or Grader, Philosophy and Religion. (January 2021 - January 2022).
- Master's Thesis Committee Member, "The role of values and psychosocial barriers on plastic use, and perception of the EU 2021 single-use plastic ban," Other - Outside UNT. (August 2020 - November 22, 2021).
- Master's Thesis Committee Member, "Hurricane Harvey and the Devastation of Dispossession," Geography and the Environment. (April 2021 - August 19, 2021).
- Dissertation Committee Chair, "Environmental Philosophy After Standing Rock," Philosophy and Religion. (December 2018 - May 2021).
- Master's Thesis Committee Chair, "ORCA RECOVERY BY CHANGING CULTURAL ATTITUDES (ORCCA): How Anthropocentrism and Capitalism Led to an Endangered Species in Puget Sound," Philosophy and Religion. (August 2018 - May 2020).
- Master's Thesis Committee Member, "Identifying Community Access to Veterinary Services in Southern Dallas," Anthropology. (June 2018 - May 2019).
Research
Published Intellectual Contributions
- De Wolff, K. Synthetic Frontiers: Ocean Plastic and the Persistence of Trash Islands.
- De Wolff, K., Faletti, R., López-Calvo, I. (2022). Hydrohumanities: Water Discourse and Environmental Futures. University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520380455/hydrohumanities
- De Wolff, K. (2023). Plastivores and the Persistence of Synthetic Futures. Living in the Plastics Age. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/L/bo184776259.html
- De Wolff, K. (2023). Review of The Wonder of Water. Other. https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/boh/item/344-wonder
- De Wolff, K. (2023). De Wolff on Davis, 'Plastic Matter'. H-Net. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58020
- De Wolff, K. (2021). De Wolff on Zubiaurre, 'Talking Trash: the Cultural Uses of Waste.'. H-Net Reviews. https://networks.h-net.org/node/19397/reviews/7257222/de-wolff-zubiaurre-talking-trash-cultural-uses-waste
- De Wolff, K. (2018). Review: Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet edited by Anna Tsing, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan and Nils Bubandt and Unreal Objects by Kate O’Riordan. Other. 4 (1) https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/article/view/29643
- De Wolff, K. (2011). Small Tech: The Culture of Digital Tools. Other. 5 570-573.
- De Wolff, K. (2014). Garbage Patch. Discard Studies Compendium.
- De Wolff, K. (2012). Water Treatment. Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste.
- De Wolff, K. (2024). 'Floating things' and methodological drift: Accounting for haunted materialities in the North Pacific Ocean. Social Studies of Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/03063127241226829
- De Wolff, K. (2017). Plastic Naturecultures: Multispecies Ethnography and the Dangers of Separating Living from Nonliving Bodies. Other. 23 (3) 23-47. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1357034X17715074
- De Wolff, K.R. (2018). Materiality. Keywords for Ethnography and Design. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/materiality
Book
Book Chapter
Book Review
Encyclopedia Article
Journal Article
Other
Presentations Given
- De Wolff, K. (Author & Presenter), Crosscurrents Seminar, Welcome to New Texas: Ocean Plastic Pollution as Synthetic Frontier, UNT Geography, Denton, Texas, United States of America. (2018).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Cultures of Energy 7, The Plastic Island that Isn’t There: Media Entanglement at Sea, Rice University, Houston, United States of America. (2018).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Texas Environmental Ethics Workshop, Flows of Responsibility: Disappearing Disaster Debris in the North Pacific, Texas State University, San Marcos, United States of America. (2018).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Science and Technology Studies Annual Lecture, The Plastic Island that Isn’t There. How Absences Matter for Science and the Ocean, St. Thomas University, Canada. (2016).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Ethnography and Design: Mutual Provocations. UC Collaboratory for Ethnographic Design Conference, Materiality, San Diego, United States of America. (2016).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Accounting for Indeterminacy, Dangerous Species and the Matter of Belonging in the Plastisphere, Lancaster University, United Kingdom. (2013).
- De Wolff, K. (Author & Presenter), ISOE Annual Lecture, How to Live Responsibly on a Plastic Planet, Institute for Socio-Ecological Research, Goethe University Frankfurt (via Zoom), Germany. (2021).
- De Wolff, K. (Author & Presenter), A Sense of Place in an Epoch of Loss, Islands of Lost Plastic: Challenging the Material Politics of Anthropocene Frontiers, University of Pittsburgh Cultural Studies, Pittsburgh, United States of America. (2019).
- De Wolff, K. (Author & Presenter), Philosophy of Science and Technology, Thinking About Plastic with STS, University of Twente, Netherlands. (2022 - 2022).
- Mandiberg, S.J. (Presenter), De Wolff, K.R. (Presenter), Mediating Change, Feminist Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, University of North Texas, Denton, United States of America. (2018).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Leader), The Bridge Is History: Water and the Humanities, Teaching Water in the Humanities, Sierra Nevada Research Station, United States of America. (2016).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Panelist), 4S Annual Meeting, The Shapes of Things, Society for Social Studies of Science, Honolulu, United States of America. (2023).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Co-Chair), 4S Annual Meeting, Islands of STS: Refiguring Environmental Futures, Society for Social Studies of Science, Honolulu, United States of America. (2023).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Chair), 4S/ESOCITE 2022, Disentangling the Politics of Plastic, Society for Social Studies of Science, Cholulua, Mexico. (2022).
- De Wolff, K. (Panelist), Sustainability and Justice Panel, Sustainability and Justice, UNT We Mean Green Fund, United States of America. (2022).
- De Wolff, K. (Panelist), California Science and Technology Studies Retreat, Informational Interview Sessions with STS Graduate Students, STS Futures Initiative, Online, United States of America. (2021).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Chair), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Mediated Seas, Elemental Oceans, New Orleans, United States of America. (2019).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Chair), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, The Substance of Absence: How Missing Things Matter, Denver, United States of America. (2015).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), 4S Annual Meeting, Waste(Is)Landing the Pacific, Society for Social Studies of Science, Honolulu, United States of America. (2023).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), 4S/ESOCITE 2022, Plastivores and the Persistence of Petro-Capitalism, Society for Social Studies of Science, Cholula, Mexico, Mexico. (2022 - 2022).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Synthetic Frontiers of Mediated Seas, New Orleans, United States of America. (2019).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting, Flows of Responsibility: Disaster Debris in the North Pacific Ocean, Washington DC, United States of America. (2017).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Coordinator/Organizer), American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting, Transborder Waterscapes: Towards and Eco-Politics of Flows, Washington DC, United States of America. (2017).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Disappearing Disaster Debris in the North Pacific, Boston, United States of America. (2017).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Merced Seminar in the Humanities, Plastic Currents: Science, Circulation and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, University of California Merced, United States of America. (2016).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Encounters with a Trash Island that Isn’t There (But Could Be), United States of America. (2015).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author), Mandiberg, S.J. (Author & Presenter), 8th DiGRA Conference, We are Never Alone: Sharing Culture through ‘World Games, Lüneburg, Germany, Germany. (2015).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Science Studies Colloquium, Plastic Species: Living, Mattering, Belonging in the Plastisphere, University of California San Diego, San Diego, United States of America. (2014).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Symposium on Information Materialities, Plastic Materialities: Matter in the Pacific Ocean, University of California Irvine, Irvine, United States of America. (2013).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting, Downhill from Everywhere: Watershed Solutions for Plastic Ocean Pollution, Chicago, United States of America. (2013).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Current Collections: Material Encounters on a Plastic Beach, San Diego, United States of America. (2013).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Oceans of Plastic: Environmental Knowledge and the Circulation of Waste, San Juan, United States of America. (2012).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Dangerous Species: tangled nature-cultures in the plastisphere, Copenhagen, Denmark. (2012).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Communication Course Group, Trash Island and Plastic Soup: ‘Things that Matter’ in the Pacific Ocean, University of California San Diego, United States of America. (2012).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), American Society for Environmental History Annual Meeting, Plastic Witnesses: Algalita Marine Research Foundation and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Madison, United States of America. (2012).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: plastic waste as ‘matter of concern, Cleveland, United States of America. (2011).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Number 7 Plastic: Recycling, classification and the politics of material others, Tokyo, Japan. (2010).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Congress of the Humanities, H2O to Go: Marketing and Materiality in the Normalization of Bottled Water, Canadian Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada. (2008).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Author & Presenter), Water: Ways of Knowing and Being, Closing Remarks, Center for the Humanities, University of California Merced, United States of America. (2017).
- De Wolff, K.R. (Discussant), Ecologies of Justice: Wastelands, Wastewaters, and Human Disposability, Ecologies of Justice: Wastelands, Wastewaters, and Human Disposability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America. (2023 - 2023).
- De Wolff, K. (Author & Presenter), Oceanic Humanities, New Texas and the Synthetic Frontiers of Ocean Plastic Pollution, Melbern G Glasscock Center for the Humanities, Texas A&M, United States of America. (2019).
Invited Talk
Keynote/Plenary Address
Lecture
Other
Panel Presentation
Paper
Scholarly Meeting Contribution
Symposium
Media Contributions
- "Wishcycling: The dos and don'ts of being good at recycling," BBC. (September 21, 2021).
- "How you're recycling plastic wrong, from coffee cups to toothpaste," The Guardian. (June 17, 2019).
Newspaper
Contracts, Grants, Sponsored Research
- De Wolff, K.R. (Principal), "Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant," sponsored by NSF, Federal, Funded. ( - 2013).
- Klaver, I.J. (Co-Principal), Kim, D. (Co-Principal), Samantha, L. (Co-Principal), Terra, R. (Co-Principal), "Women Philosophers Mentoring Group Grant," sponsored by CLASS Dean's Office, University of North Texas, $5000.00 Funded. (2018 - 2019).
- De Wolff, K.R., "Connect Learning Grant," sponsored by Career Connect, University of North Texas, $1500 Funded. (2018).
Grant - Research
Grant - Service
Grant - Teaching
Service
University Service
- Committee Member, Decolonial Philosophy Search Committee. (August 2023 - Present).
- Committee Member, Graduate Affairs Committee. (August 2021 - Present).
- Committee Member, Speakers Committee. (August 2021 - Present).
- Faculty Mentor, Graduate Writing Group. (January 2020 - Present).
- Faculty Advisor, Graduate Mentor. (October 2020 - June 2021).
- Committee Member, Admissions Committee. (August 2019 - June 2021).
- Committee Member, Curriculum Committee. (August 2019 - June 2021).
- Workshop Organizer, UNT Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. (2018 - 2020).
- Committee Member, Search Committee. (May 2019 - June 2020).
- Committee Member, Environmental Humanities MA exploration Subcommittee. (January 2019 - December 2019).
- Workshop Organizer, Hydrohumanities: Water and Power. (September 2019).
- Committee Member, Speakers Committee. (June 2017 - June 2019).
- Committee Member, Water: Ways of Knowing and Being Conference. (2017 - 2017).
- Workshop Organizer, Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. (2016 - 2017).
- Committee Member, Scholarship Committee. (January 2017 - June 2017).
- Committee Member, “The Bridge is History” Workshop and Conference. (2016).
- Committee Member, Center for the Humanities Grant Committee. (2015 - 2016).
- Committee Member, UC Merced Wild & Scenic Film Festival Committee. (2015 - 2016).
- Committee Member, Faculty Search Committee. (2011 - 2012).
- Committee Member, Graduate Curriculum Committee. (2010 - 2011).
- Committee Member, Students' Choice Speaker Committee. (2010 - 2011).
- Committee Member, Intellectual Life Committee. (2009 - 2010).
- Committee Member, Graduate Representative. (2006 - 2007).
Public Service
- Other (Science Communication Advisor), BIOTA TV. (2016 - 2017).
- Other (Event Organizer), Watershed Art + Science: A Vernal Pools Reserve Adventure. Merced, California. (2016 - 2017).
Professional Service
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. (April 23, 2024).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Social Studies of Science. (January 4, 2024).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, PNAS Nexus. (September 7, 2023).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Engaging Science, Technology and Society. (February 28, 2022).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. (December 13, 2021).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Marine Policy. (October 6, 2021).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. (October 1, 2021).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Social Studies of Science. (July 2020).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. (November 21, 2019).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. (May 31, 2019).
- Workshop Organizer, Refiguring Academia. (2018 - May 2019).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Medical Anthropology Quarterly. (January 2019).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. (2018).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. (2018).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Body & Society. (2017 - 2018).
- Committee Member, Mediating Change Conference Organizing Committee. (2017 - 2018).
- Reviewer, Book, Athabasca University Press. (November 2018).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Catalyst. (2017).
- Committee Member, UC Collaboratory for Ethnographic Design Fellowship Committee. (2016).
- Reviewer, Journal Article, Nature & Culture.. (2013 - 2016).
- Workshop Organizer, UC Collaboratory for Ethnographic Design. (2015).
- Other (Graduate Advisory Editor), Science, Technology & Human Values. (2008).