About me
This is me when I was hired at UW-Eau Claire (Sept 2002). |
Professional Background
This is me last week (Dec 2013). |
I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I attended pre-K through MSc. I attended Ann Arbor Huron High School (the River Rats, '78), attended Calvin College for a bit, and graduated from the University of Michigan with degrees in English Literature and Geology (BSc '82). After a traveling year, I returned to the U of M's Engineering College to get a Masters in Water Resources Sciences (MSc '85).
Government years
In spring 1986, I took an internship at the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Federal Activities in Washington, DC. Within a few months, I was on civil servant career path. For 3-4 years, I was EPA's liaison to other Federal Agencies, including the US Forest Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. After another 2-3 years, I transferred to the Office of Solid Waste, where I joined a new office to develop national waste reduction programs and policies. From there, I was loaned out to Montgomery County, MD, to develop a waste reduction plan for the county.
Geography Years
In 1993, I left Washington, DC and my government career for Tucson to start the PhD program in geography at the University of Arizona. It was a trusting move on the part of the Department of Geography and Regional Science (now the School of Geography & Development) -- I had not had a geography class since junior high school, in fact, I did not really know geography existed as something one could actually study, much less get a degree or job in. But lucky me. Seven years and two kids later, I received my PhD (2000) in Geography under the dear mentorship of Dr. Michael Bonine.
I got my first teaching job in Joplin, Missouri, where I spent two years as the lone geographer in the Department of Social Sciences at Missouri Southern State College (now University). It was a good experience that prepared me for the position at UWEC, where I started in Fall 2002.
I am one of the Department of Geography and Anthropology's human/cultural geographers and regularly teach a section of our introduction to human geography (GEOG 111), the Geography of Food (GEOG 369), and the Geography of the Middle East and North Africa (GEOG 319) and occasional special topics or interdisciplinary seminars, such as a travel writing seminar with colleagues in English. Among other things, I am advisor to the Foodlums student organization, take students on faculty-led immersions to Turkey, and serve on the University's Senate and Executive Committees. Since Spring 2013, I have been the chair of UWEC's Council on Internationalization and Global Engagement.
Personal Background
Susa, our Finnish Lapland Dog |
I met my wife Washington, DC. when she was working there as an intern with the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, a not-for-profit refugee advocacy organization. Since those days, she has become an experienced middle school social science teacher and developed into a librarian with specialties in children's and adolescent literature. We have two children, one currently in middle school and the other off at college. Both went through the Eau Claire Area School District's Montessori elementary school.
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