Gregory Koutnik
Visiting Assistant Professor of Government
Kirner-Johnson 114315-859-4091
gkoutnik@hamilton.edu Website
Greg Koutnik’s research in political theory focuses on environmental political thought, and especially thinkers like Wendell Berry and Aldo Leopold, with an eye to questions of environmental stewardship, local economics, and human belonging in the landscape.
This academic year, he will teach introductory courses in political theory and environmental political theory as well as a two-course sequence on conservative and liberal political thought. Koutnik enjoys cultivating open, engaged, and critical discussions in his seminars to help students come to a better understanding of their own political commitments as well as those of others.
Recent Courses Taught
Political Theory and the Environment
Introduction to Political Theory
Conservatism
Liberalism and the Left
Research Interests
Environmental political thought, American political thought, agrarianism, property and economic thought, ecological belonging, populism
Distinctions
- Christian Bay Award for best paper at APSA’s Caucus for New Political Science, 2020
- Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student, 2019
- Rubenstein Award in Political Science for excellence in teaching, 2016
- Graduate Fellow, Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, 2018-19
- Graduate Fellow, Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities, 2016-17
Select Publications
"Ecological Populism: Politics in Defense of Home." New Political Science, 43.1 (Spring 2021), 46-66.
“Aldo Leopold and the Stewardship Vocation: A Civic Education in Ecological Perception.” American Political Thought, 9.2 (Spring 2020), 235-263.
Appointed to the Faculty: 2020
Educational Background
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
M.A., University of Pennsylvania
B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison