Climate Scientist, Alumna Katharine Hayhoe Urges Climate Collaboration

^{Photo by Ashley Rodgers, TTU}

By Leslie Shepherd

Katharine Hayhoe Vic 9T4 has advice for university students who are worried about climate change: there’s so much to do, and no one can do it alone.

“Think about a Venn diagram – what needs to be done, what you’re good at and what gives you joy,” she says. “Study what you’re passionate about and apply it to building a better future. Whoever you are, we need your skill set. If math gives you hives, don’t do it. Study psychology, or theatre, or whatever you love instead. We need those skills too!”

Hayhoe's own academic path to becoming one of the world’s most respected climate scientists and communicators began with an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy earned while a student at Victoria College.

Today, Hayhoe is chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and a professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. She works with people trained in journalism, marketing, psychology, economics, engineering, conservation, public administration, health care and more.

That experience has shaped her belief that to effectively address global challenges like climate change, we need to understand people, values and the stories that make change possible.

“So much climate information paints a dire picture of what will happen if we don’t act,” she said. “But neuroscience tells us that the human brain is wired to move toward something better, not something worse. Physical science has a hard time painting that picture of something better. But humanities, especially the arts, can do that. They can show what the world could look like and how our lives could be different. We also need philosophy and ethics: what is the right decision, for whom and how decisions are even made.”

That view aligns closely with Victoria University’s long-standing emphasis on interdisciplinary education. Hayhoe points to programs like Vic One as examples of how the college intentionally brings students from different disciplines into shared intellectual space.

“I would have wanted to participate in the Vic One program if it had existed back then,” she said. “The more I advance in my career, the more I realize how essential the humanities and social sciences are.”

Hayhoe comes from a long line of Vic graduates, including both her parents and her great-aunt. Her son just finished his first year at Vic, studying physics and astronomy, like his mother and grandfather.

Author and activist Naomi Klein was a student at Vic at the same time as Hayhoe, though the two didn’t know each other then. “I think of Vic as a garden bed,” Hayhoe says. “You don’t always know what’s sprouting there at the time, but you see the fruit later.”

Hayhoe received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Victoria University in 2019, alongside her aunt, Ruth Hayhoe, a professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

This spring she is being recognized with a Victoria College Distinguished Alumni Award, an honour she describes as deeply meaningful, given the strength of Vic’s alumni community.

“Look at the quality of our graduates today,” she said. “With all the amazing things they are doing, it's going to get harder and harder to choose the distinguished alumni. So, I'm grateful I made it in.”

Originally published in the Spring 2026 issue of Vic Report.

This edition features Kathleen Wynne reflecting on teaching at Victoria College, a Q&A with Professor Ira Wells on his role as president of PEN Canada, and Bob Rae’s return to Vic One after his UN tenure.

Read the full issue →