Professor John McNeill became the first Cinco Hermanos Chair of Environmental and International Affairs on Feb. 4. The newly created position focuses on a faculty member who has explored global implications of environmental issues.

McNeill’s courses in the School of Foreign Service, as well as his research, focus on environmental history. McNeill has received two Fulbright awards as well as numerous fellowships, including ones from the MacArthur Foundation, the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Center.

“Environmental issues have surfaced throughout human history and affect the geopolitical make-up of the international arena,” Robert L. Gallucci, dean of the School of Foreign Service, said in a university press release. “We are fortunate to be able to support Professor McNeill’s efforts to understand the significance of these issues.”

The chair is endowed in the School of Foreign Service by a gift from an anonymous donor.

His most recent book is entitled The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History. Other published books include Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the 20th-Century World and The Mountains of the Mediterranean World: An Environmental History.