A Place-based History of Yellowstone National Park: New Book from Randall Wilson, MA 1993, Featured in Various News Outlets

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:25:41 +0000

A Place-based History of Yellowstone National Park: New Book from Randall Wilson, MA 1993, Featured in Various News Outlets Gabriela Rocha Sales Tue, 04/29/2025 - 13:25

A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World's First National Park

I just published a place-based history of Yellowstone National Park (A Place Called Yellowstone) with Counterpoint Press. It has received positive reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and the LA Times. It has also been featured in articles in USA Today (Sunday Dec. 15), the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and other outlets. The book is intended for general audiences and uses a historical geographic approach to articulate the profound legacies of Yellowstone on the way nature is valued and perceived in American society.

The program at CU led me to a PhD program at the University of Iowa, and then to a decades-long career as an educator and researcher. I have been a professor of environmental studies at Gettysburg College since 2000. My research has focused on public lands and resource management issues in Colorado and across the western United States (and beyond).

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Phurwa Gurung to Join UBC Geography, Advancing Research on Indigenous Territorialities and Biodiversity Conservation

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:15:43 +0000

Phurwa Gurung to Join UBC Geography, Advancing Research on Indigenous Territorialities and Biodiversity Conservation Gabriela Rocha Sales Tue, 04/29/2025 - 13:15

Tashi Delek! My name is Phurwa Dondrub Gurung, a fifth-year doctoral student at the department. I also did an MA here. Over the years, I feel so grateful to have received rigorous training from and with outstanding teachers and peers in theories and methods relevant to the key areas of my focus: political ecology, critical development studies, and Indigenous geographies. I have benefited immensely from the dedicated support of my Committee and the unparalleled mentorship from my Advisor, who guided me in all aspects of graduate training: teaching, research, publishing, grant-writing, and the job market. I feel truly fortunate to have been part of the vibrant and supportive ��ſ�app Geography community!

Based on nearly two years of ethnographic field research (2023-24) in Dolpo, Nepal, my home and research site, my PhD dissertation research develops a deep and critical understanding of how Himalayan lifeways interweave and fare with global biodiversity conservation efforts and national state-making projects. I focus on two key nonhuman agents, the caterpillar fungus and the snow leopard, to understand the intersections of global and national conservation governance with Indigenous territorialities and place-based governance. I examine how these nonhumans participate in coproducing the state, Dolpopa identity, and multispecies worlds in a context of profound socio-environmental transformations in the high Himalaya.

My research is grounded in participatory, visual, community-engaged, and Indigenous methodologies. To this end, I employed ethnography, documentary filmmaking, participatory mapping and painting, solicited journals, and a collaborative in-situ documentation of oral literature as the primary methods of knowing and being in good relation with my community. The dissertation fieldwork and the multimodal, community-engaged works have been supported by generous grants from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC IDRF), Wenner-Gren Foundation, Firebird Fellowship, National Geographic Society, American Philosophical Society, and the CU Office of Outreach and Engagement. I am currently working on my dissertation, which I plan to defend in August 2025.

I accepted a new position in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia (UBC). I will join in July 2025 as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences. UBC is an ideal academic home for the kind of work I do, with its vibrant community of Indigenous scholars engaged in critical work on Indigenous issues, both locally and globally. In addition to teaching, I will continue expanding my community-engaged works I began during my PhD studies here. I am especially looking forward to the postproduction of a documentary film I shot during my field research and publishing a bilingual multimedia book of Dolpo folk songs.

I will also be affiliated with UBC’s Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory, where I am eager to collaborate with scholars across the disciplines to develop policy-relevant solutions to biodiversity conservation that center Indigenous knowledge. I also look forward to joining and getting to know new colleagues in the Department of Geography, the Himalaya Program, and Critical Indigenous Studies at UBC. And of course, my family is excited to explore the beautiful mountains and waters of British Columbia!

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Rebecca Theobald, MA, PhD: Maps for Everyone

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:24:18 +0000

Rebecca Theobald, MA, PhD: Maps for Everyone Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 14:24

Whenever I prepare a presentation, I always try to provide a map so that participants can explore multiple spatial perspectives or situate themselves in relationship to the discussion. And of course, giant floor maps command the most attention! The comprehensive Department of Geography at ��ſ�app provided me with the ability to explore multiple spatial perspectives and to collaborate across a variety of disciplines. Learning that physical and human geography, as well as environment-society relations and geographic tools, were all honored within the department cemented my understanding of the value of a broad education for students at all levels. Following six years of commuting from Colorado Springs, I joined the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at UCCS where for ten years, I coordinated the Colorado Geographic Alliance, which supported professional development for elementary and secondary teachers across the state. I also served as a consultant to National Geographic’s Alliance for Geographic Education, expanding my understanding of policy and professional practices across the country. Drawing on these geography education connections, I edited the National Council for Geographic Education’s journal, “The Geography Teacher”, for nine years. I could not have made it through that process without the willingness of graduate school colleagues and CU faculty to provide service to the discipline as authors and reviewers.

Giant Map of Colorado

My time in elementary and secondary classrooms reinforced the knowledge that geospatial technology tools continue to be unfamiliar to the majority of K-12 teachers. While geography is often not taught as a separate course in middle or high school, government or civics classes are usually required, so I developed GeoCivics (geocivics.uccs.edu) in 2017 to introduce online mapping tools as part of an instructional unit on electoral redistricting. I am working to keep these tools in place as we approach the 2030 Census. More recently, I have turned to the connection between civic action and environmental issues. Last November, I attended the United Nations Climate Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan as an observer for the United States League of Women Voters (USLWV). You can read my impressions (and see some maps) at https://ges.uccs.edu/news-events, and view a presentation from several of the national League’s participants at https://youtu.be/HsPtH8TboiI. When I share my experience, I always try to offer information about the location, which has been well received. I continue to appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with Boulder geographers throughout the last several decades. As geographers, no matter the setting, we are all educators, so don’t hesitate to locate a map to illustrate your story.

Rebecca is currently an Associate Research Professor with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

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Lionel D Lyles (PhD 1977)

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:14:38 +0000

Lionel D Lyles (PhD 1977) Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 14:14

My name is Dr. Lionel D. Lyles. I graduated in August 1977 with my Doctoral Degree in Urban-Historical Geography with an emphasis on the evolutionary development of contemporary urban problems. My major Professors at the time were, namely, Theodore Myers, Melvin Albaum, Yuk Lee, and Nicholas Helburn.

These Professors prepared me for the social, economic, political, judicial, and environmental (e.g., climate change) problems that the American Working Class People are facing today. From the moment I graduated, and my training taught me that the cause of all the mentioned categories in which problems exist cannot be understood without first conducting an exhaustive, scientific analysis of the American Capitalist System.

Thus, for the past 40 years, I researched and objectively examined this system using the dialectical method, from pre-colonial times to 1980 and the present. The central theme is if an American is a wage earner, then he or she belongs to the American Working Class; if an American is a wealthy, non-producer, who owns multiple million and billions of dollars, he or she belongs to the American Ruling Class. My work shows American Society is the product of an historical class struggle between these mentioned classes.

At this time-2025-the American Working Class is only aware of itself via trade unionism. This level of political awareness can only win the working class people a disproportionate increase in wages relative to the millions of dollars of surplus value they lose during the process of production.

To help American Working Class People realize their historical mission of change, it took me five years to research and write the following books:

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Joseph Kerski contributed a chapter to the new book Thriving in An Academic Career

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:12:27 +0000

Joseph Kerski contributed a chapter to the new book Thriving in An Academic Career Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 14:12

Thriving in an Academic Career: An International and Interdisciplinary Guide for Early Career Faculty

Joseph Kerski wrote Chapter 13 - Integrating web mapping and geospatial technologies – in a new book that should be very helpful for all students considering a faculty career – and all faculty as well – Thriving In An Academic Career, recently published by AAG and Routledge. Kerski’s chapter will help faculty teach with web mapping tools in and out of GIS courses, in physical geography, cultural geography, mathematics, business, economics, and in other disciplines.

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Don Friend (M.A. 1988) is continuing work on water in mountains begun as a graduate student at CU

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:01:49 +0000

Don Friend (M.A. 1988) is continuing work on water in mountains begun as a graduate student at CU Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 14:01

With climate change causing a water supply crisis in high mountain Asia, a panel of experts, including Don, gathered in summer 2024 to discuss the biophysical and human impacts of this crisis in an “International Expert Dialogue on Mountains, People, and Climate.” The event, was opened by the Prime Minister of Nepal, featured remarks from Ministers of Environment from across Asia and from United Nations dignitaries. During the opening scientific session, Don delivered the keynote presentation titled, “From Vulnerability to Building Resilience: The Mountain Water Security Crisis Requires Expanding Water Supply and Water Demand Management.”

Don is now Distinguished Professor of Geography at Minnesota State University. Some highlights of his faculty career include serving as a US National Academy of Sciences Jefferson Science Fellow (2019-2020), and as a Fulbright Senior Scholar (2004-2005). He was the US Representative to the International Geographical Union Commission on Mountain Response to Global Change (2000-2016) and is past Chair and Founder of the Mountain Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. After completing his M.A. at CU, he earned the Ph.D. at Arizona State University.

Don being thanked for his presentation at the International Expert Dialogue, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2024.

Don delivering remarks at the International Expert Dialogue, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2024.

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Local Institutions and Resource Conflict in Northern Kenya: Fieldwork Insights from PhD Candidate Sarah Posner

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:53:10 +0000

Local Institutions and Resource Conflict in Northern Kenya: Fieldwork Insights from PhD Candidate Sarah Posner Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 13:53

Posner and her Research Assistant, Noor Hussein Noor, piloting the questionnaire with a Samburu pastoralist at his manyatta (homestead) March 2025.

Sarah Posner is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography advised by Professor John O’Loughlin. Her current work focuses on the role of local institutions used by four pastoralist societies to manage resources and associated conflict and thus sustain their livelihoods in an arid region of Northern Kenya.

The arid rangelands of Northern Kenya support the livelihoods of diverse pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities, which depend on natural resources including grazing areas and water sources that are seasonally available and thus prone to environmental pressures. When conflicts arise over resource use, traditional reconciliation forums exist which have evolved alongside mechanisms implemented by formal county and national governments as well as NGOs and other non-state actors, creating increasingly hybridized local institutions.

In March 2025, with CU support from the CARTSS grant, Posner conducted pilot dissertation fieldwork in Isiolo County, Northern Kenya. At the time, US federal funding remained uncertain, and her recently awarded NSF-DDRI (Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement) grant had not yet been disbursed. Posner piloted her questionnaire through focus group discussions (FGDs) to refine the design of a large survey (N=1000) and ensure contextual relevance. These FGDs were conducted in three of her four field sites in ethnically distinctive wards. Posner sought to identify the roles and practices of local committees, specifically those responsible for grazing, water, and conflict management. These FGDs built upon earlier participatory mapping exercises Posner conducted in summer 2024 and had two primary aims: first, to validate the participatory maps with a new set of respondents in each site; and second, to understand the institutional architecture governing the management of water and pasture resources, as well as mechanisms for resolving associated conflicts.

Posner and her RA taking notes during a focus group discussion with the local grazing committee in Ngaremara, Isiolo county March 2025.

Posner found that each community manages peace, water, and grazing through committees that range from customary to formalized structures. In two wards, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), which oversees 43 conservancies in Northern Kenya, manages these committees. Respondents generally viewed NRT positively due to its provision of essential services often lacking from the state. However, in one ward, Borana respondents criticized NRT over transparency, accountability, and alleged land appropriation. The Borana rely on a customary system, dedha, governed by elders to manage grazing and water, but its lack of formal recognition hinders negotiations with other groups, including Somali communities in neighboring Wajir and Garissa County. Posner will conclude this phase of fieldwork in eastern Isiolo county to gather Somali perspectives on rangeland management and conflict, particularly over frequent cattle raids with the Borana.

Data from the FGDs was instrumental to Posner’s dissertation work as she used the local knowledge to inform a questionnaire that is more locally appropriate and context specific. The large N survey will be implemented in Summer 2025 to investigate whether the efficacy of these local institutional arrangements is associated with attitudes towards armed conflict and cooperation arrangements.

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Sara Fleming: New Course Engages Students in ��ſ�app's Climate Action Plan

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:42:49 +0000

Sara Fleming: New Course Engages Students in ��ſ�app's Climate Action Plan Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 13:42

Members of the Co-teaching team (Pictured from left to right: Mariah Bowman, Brigid Mark, Sara Fleming, and Sean Benjamin)

The Geography Department is offering a new Special Topics course this semester, GEOG4002: Climate Action Planning. This unique interdisciplinary course was co-designed and is being co-taught by five graduate students from across departments: Sara Fleming (Geography), Sean Benjamin (Mechanical Engineering), Jonah Shaw (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences), Brigid Mark (Sociology), and Mariah Bowman (Law). The 24 undergraduate students in the course are learning the fundamental skills of climate action planning and are now working on group research projects to better understand and reduce emissions from different areas of ��ſ�app's campus, including waste, business travel, commuting, and student/parent travel.

Students have been incredibly engaged in the class and excited about the hands-on opportunity to influence climate action at CU. They will present their ideas to administrators and stakeholders at the Sustainability Summit on April 22. The graduate students received financial support from the College of Engineering and Zonta Foothills Club to teach this class and hope to continue the course next academic year. If you are interested in supporting or being a part of future iterations of the course, please reach out to sara.fleming@colorado.edu.

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Millie Spencer Studying Glacier Retreat in Chile

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:35:36 +0000

Millie Spencer Studying Glacier Retreat in Chile Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 13:35

My name is Millie Spencer, and I am a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Geography Department. I am currently on a Fulbright Award studying glacier retreat and its downstream impacts in south-central Chile. Hosted jointly by the University of Chile’s Civil Engineering Department and Indigenous Peoples Program, my work integrates glacier field measurements, glacier-hydrological modeling, and semi-structured interviews with periglacial communities. This approach seeks to bridge scientific methods with Indigenous and local knowledge, recognizing community memory as a critical resource for understanding climate change and informing adaptation strategies.

The first month and a half of my time here in Chile has been a whirlwind. The season to safely and accurately measure glaciers here in Chile is February-April, so I am working hard to hike to as many glaciers as possible before winter begins in full force. Accompanied by my generous colleagues here in Chile, we are hiking a chain of stratovolcanoes in south-central Chile to fly uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) and build digital elevation models of the glaciers. These models enable us to compute the volume loss of the glaciers over time.

In March, I spent two days camping at the base of Glaciar Nevado with my colleague Robert Clasings. The hike to Glaciar Nevado is an arduous 8 miles up volcanic sand dunes and lahars. However, our gorgeous camp near a waterfall with a view of the glacier above made the effort worthwhile. This mission enabled us to map the entire glacier, including a debris covered portion that was previously unidentified by scientists.

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Geography Professor Abdalati Visits Capitol Hill

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:33:16 +0000

Geography Professor Abdalati Visits Capitol Hill Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 13:33

Figure: Professor Abdalati (4th from the right) in the lobby of the Capitol Building with other Cooperative Institute Directors

On March 24-25, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) Director and Geography Professor Waleed Abdalati, met with staff from the offices of both Republican and Democratic members of Colorado congressional delegation to discuss the potential impacts of threatened cuts to the NOAA, NSF, NASA, and other research agency budgets and how they would impact the interests of the State of Colorado and their respective congressional districts. In addition to meeting with the offices of senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, he met with staff from the offices of representatives Neguse, Crank, Hurd, and Evans. He and other cooperative institute directors also met with majority and minority staff from various relevant committees, which included the House Science Committee, the House Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee. The focus of these committee discussions was to encourage Congress to actively ensure their long-standing support for environmental research continues through the end of the fiscal year and beyond.

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Newsletter

A Place-based History of Yellowstone National Park: New Book from Randall Wilson, MA 1993, Featured in Various News Outlets

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Phurwa Gurung to Join UBC Geography, Advancing Research on Indigenous Territorialities and Biodiversity Conservation

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Rebecca Theobald, MA, PhD: Maps for Everyone

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Lionel D Lyles (PhD 1977)

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Joseph Kerski contributed a chapter to the new book Thriving in An Academic Career

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Don Friend (M.A. 1988) is continuing work on water in mountains begun as a graduate student at CU

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Local Institutions and Resource Conflict in Northern Kenya: Fieldwork Insights from PhD Candidate Sarah Posner

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Sara Fleming: New Course Engages Students in ���ſ�app's Climate Action Plan

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Millie Spencer Studying Glacier Retreat in Chile

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Geography Professor Abdalati Visits Capitol Hill

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Sara Fleming: New Course Engages Students in ��ſ�app's Climate Action Plan