The mission of the McAllister program in Community, Culture, and the Environment (CC&E) is to “enable the arts, cultural, scientific, and environmental institutions of the Colorado Plateau to meet the long-term needs of the communities they serve.” The McAllister program is housed in partnership with the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss), and enables Ecoss to better and more imaginatively serve communities of the region.

Through this partnership, Ecoss seeks opportunities to communicate about science and climate-based concerns with frontline communities and diverse stakeholders. We also work to expand the spaces in and beyond the university that make such conversations both possible and productive.

As stewards of the McAllister Program in Community, Culture, and the Environment, Ecoss aims to:

• Foster new and inclusive conversations about ecology and climate action, aiming especially to include and amplify voices historically excluded from these conversations;
• Strengthen bridges between NAU and its neighbor communities and build new ones that will allow us to collaboratively address environmental questions and challenges;
• Imagine and develop cultural opportunities that illumine the intersections of art, climate, and science, and extend their luminance and lasting power beyond the campus community;
• Support work that serves communities in and around NAU engaged in a spirit of inquiry around climate change, environmental science, and associated cultural questions and challenges.