Dr. Steve Kolmes

Molter Chair, Professor, Department of Environmental Science at the University of Portland

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Steven A. Kolmes is Director of University of Portland‘s Environmental Studies Program, Professor of Biology, and occupant of the Rev. John Molter, C.S.C., Chair in Science. Dr. Kolmes has degrees in Zoology from Ohio University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His interests are in the areas of salmon recovery planning, combining ethical and scientific analyses in environmental policy discussions, water and air quality issues, and the sublethal effects of pesticides. He has served on government scientific advisory panels (NOAA-Fisheries Technical Recovery Team for the Willamette and Lower Columbia Rivers; Oregon Dept of Environmental Quality Toxics Technical Advisory Committee) and on the Steering Committee for the Columbia River Pastoral Letter (The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good). Dr. Kolmes teaches courses in marine biology, invertebrate zoology, environmental science, animal behavior, and team-teaches a course entitled theology in ecological perspective with theologian Dr. Russell Butkus.

Dr. Russell Butkus

Professor, Department of Theology at the University of Portland

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Russell A. Butkus, Ph.D. is currently a University of Portland Associate Professor of Theology and Environmental Studies and the Associate Director of the Environmental Studies Program. He received his BA in Religion from St. Lawrence University and his M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Boston College. His research and teaching interests are in the field of environmental theology and ethics. In collaboration with Steven Kolmes, Ph.D., he is currently engaged in research on salmon recovery in the Lower Columbia River and has recently published three articles on this issue titled “Got Wild Salmon,” “A Scientific and Ethical Analysis of Salmon Recovery in the Pacific Northwest and California” (in Salmon 2100: The Future of Wild Pacific Salmon, R. Lackey, D. Lach, S. Duncan, eds., 2006. pp. 333-361), “Salmon Restoration in the Lower Columbia Basin: A Scientific and Theological Analysis” (Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2004, pp. 69-94), and “Strategic Interdisciplinarity: A Scientific-Theological Analysis of Salmon Recovery in the Lower Columbia Basin,” (Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, Vol. 103, No. 1, 2003, pp. 19-32). He has also served as a theological consultant for the pastoral letter, The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good (2001), and is the co-editor (with Carol Dempsey, O.P., Ph.D.) and a contributor to All Creation is Groaning, An Interdisciplinary Vision for Life in a Sacred Universe (Liturgical Press, 1999).

Collaborations available for download

Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes. Ecology and the Common Good: Sustainability and Catholic Social Teaching. Journal of Catholic Social Thought.

Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes. Sustainability, Catholic Institutions of Higher Learning, and the Natural Step. Journal of Catholic Higher Education. *Copying of the article for personal, non-commercial use is permitted.

Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes. Children in Jeopardy: Toxins and Childhood Exposure. Journal of Catholic Social Thought.

Dr. Butkus and Dr. Kolmes’s Collaborations

Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes (2010) Anthropogenic Environmental Toxins and Children’s Health: Children’s Right to a Toxic Free Environment in Light of Catholic Social Teaching. The Journal of Catholic Social Thought 7:83-114.


Steven Kolmes and Russell Butkus (with contributions by Matthew Baasten, George Basile, Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., Maureen Beezhold, David Carrier, Joseph Carver, S. J., Jane Emrick, John Emrick, Eban Goodstein,, Christopher Hamlin, Regina Hauser, Gregory Hill, Timothy Kautza, Chad King, James Male, Daniel Misleh, Patricia Nagle, David Olszyk, Kenneth Otto, William Purcell, Bishop Walter Sullivan, Daniel Sundseth, Cristina Vanin, Margaret Young, Archbishop John Vlazny). (2009). Sustainability, Catholic Institutions, and The Natural Step. Journal of Catholic Higher Education. 28:83


Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes. (2008) Salmon Restoration. In: Encyclopedia of Science and Public PolicyEnvironmental Ethics and Philosophy , Macmillan Reference USA / Gale / Cengage Learning, 515 pp, ISBN 9780028661377.


Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes (2007) Ecology and the Common Good: Sustainability and Catholic Social Teaching. The Journal of Catholic Social Thought 4:403-436.


Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes (2008) Theology in Ecological Perspective: an Interdisciplinary Inquiry-Based Experiment. Teaching Theology and Religion 11:42-55.


Steven A. Kolmes, and Russell A. Butkus. (2006) Got Wild Salmon?  An Scientific and Ethical Analysis of Salmon Recovery in California and the Cascadia Bioregion, In: Salmon 2100 Project: The Future of Wild Pacific Salmon, the American Fisheries Society Press, edited by Robert T. Lackey, Denise H. Lach, and Sally L. Duncan, 333-362.


Russell A. Butkus and Steven A. Kolmes (2006) Global Climate Change and the Church in the Modern World: A Sign of the Times.  An Interdisciplinary Examination of a Contemporary Issue in Light of Catholic Social Teaching.Teaching, Faith and Service: Foundations of Freedom, 231-252, University of Portland Press, Portland,ISBN 978-0-9817771-0-4


Butkus, Russell and Steven A. Kolmes. 2004. Salmon Restoration in the Lower Columbia  Basin: a Scientific and Theological Analysis. Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education 24: 69-94.


Butkus, Russell and Steven A. Kolmes. 2003. Strategic interdisciplinarity: a scientific-theological analysis of salmon recovery in the Lower Columbia River Basin. Colorado School of Mines Quarterly 103:19-32.

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