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

Academic - Post-Secondary

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Merced. University of California, Merced. (2015 - 2017).

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

University of North Texas

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.

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

Book

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

Book Chapter

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

Book Review

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.

Encyclopedia Article

De Wolff, K. (2014). Garbage Patch. Discard Studies Compendium.
De Wolff, K. (2012). Water Treatment. Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste.

Journal Article

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

Other

De Wolff, K.R. (2018). Materiality. Keywords for Ethnography and Design. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/materiality

Presentations Given

Invited Talk

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).

Keynote/Plenary Address

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).

Lecture

De Wolff, K. (Author & Presenter), Philosophy of Science and Technology, Thinking About Plastic with STS, University of Twente, Netherlands. (2022 - 2022).

Other

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).

Panel Presentation

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).

Paper

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).

Scholarly Meeting Contribution

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).

Symposium

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).

Media Contributions

Newspaper

"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).

Contracts, Grants, Sponsored Research

Grant - Research

De Wolff, K.R. (Principal), "Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant," sponsored by NSF, Federal, Funded. ( - 2013).

Grant - Service

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).

Grant - Teaching

De Wolff, K.R., "Connect Learning Grant," sponsored by Career Connect, University of North Texas, $1500 Funded. (2018).

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).