A West Virginia University professor will speak on “Garbage Humanities: Environmental Thinking and the Future of the Humanities” Thursday, Feb. 1, at the Center for the Environment at Catawba College. The event is co-hosted by the Center and the Catawba College English department.

Stephanie Foote, the WVU Jackson and Nichols Chair and professor of English, researches and teaches American literature and culture from the 19th century to the present with a focus on environmental issues.

She is the author of “The Parvenu’s Plot: Gender, Class and Culture in The Age of Realism” and “Regional Fictions: Culture and Identity in Nineteenth-Century American Literature.” She and Elizabeth Mazzolini co-edited “Histories of the Dustheap: Waste, Material Cultures, Social Justice.”

Most recently, she edited and co-founded “Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities.” Her new project, “The Art of Waste,” uses garbage to explore how American culture narrates its relationship to environmental crisis.

The presentation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Room 300. It is free and open to the public but registration is required. To register, visit centerfortheenvironment.org or call 704.637.4791.