Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, directors of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale, have received the inaugural Joint and Common Future Award from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
 
The award recognizes individuals whose work transcends national and cultural lines to find solutions to planetary challenges.
 
In presenting the award during the university's fall convocation, UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley commended Tucker's and Grim's years of commitment "to raising our consciousness of the interdependence of all things and a deeper dialogue between science and religion."
 
The honor for Tucker and Grim was particularly appropriate as the university launches its new School for the Environment, which will integrate the study of science and the social sciences, said UMass Boston Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Winston Langley.

"To understand the environment, one has to understand the language of many disciplines," Langley said in an interview. "Their focus on the great religions of the world and the relationship of these religions to ecosystems and the environment, the relationship of the individual to the planet… in the search for meaning was impressive."
 
After receiving the award, Tucker spoke about the need for integration and partnership in the academic community. “There’s a freedom and creativity here," she said. "It’s not about your C/V, it’s about common good. And that’s what academia should be about. In the School for Environment, science, policy, management, and liberal arts will come together in new conversations."