Undergraduate instruction

Geography courses

In my time at Michigan State University, I’ve taught over 10 different classes—some of them on a regular basis. Prior to my arrival, many of these courses (or the specified sections/topics that I taught) did not exist for & were not available to MSU students. In the Department of Geography, the courses that I teach include:

Human Geography  |  GEO-151 & GEO-151 Honors
  • A systematic study of the spatial patterns of people & the human & physical processes that have shaped the human use & alteration of the earth.

Geography of Drugs  |  GEO-214
  • A study of the physical, ecological, & human geographies of drugs, drug crops, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, & their diffusions. Cultural geographies & geopolitical implications of drugs’ consumption, trade, & regulation & prohibition.

Geography of the Middle East & North Africa  |  GEO-339
  • A study of the physical & human geographies of the Middle East & North Africa. Includes historical & contemporary topics of ethno-nationalism, religion, state-building, peace & conflict environment, development, urbanization, & global interactions.

Geography of Eurasia  |  GEO-340
  • A study of the physical, ecological, & human geographies of the lands & peoples of the former Russian & Soviet empires & of neighboring regions.

Critical Geopolitics  |  GEO-440
  • Political geographies of origins & conduct of nation-states. Includes identity-place dynamics, colonialism & imperialism, resistance & terrorism, & resource & environmental politics.

Cultural Geography  |  GEO-441
  • Survey of the geographic study of world cultures, cultural ecologies, cultural landscapes, & cultural influences on societies’ patterns of spatial organization.

Senior Seminar in Geography  |  GEO-480
  • A review of the history, philosophy, & methodology of the geographic discipline as it has evolved within academic & social contexts. Includes resume building & semester projects.

Extra-departmental courses

Alcohol, Drugs, & Society  |  SSC-499 Capstone Interdisciplinary Seminar for Studies in the Social Sciences
  • Capstone seminar covering social science dimensions of drugs; for senior IDS majors.

Eurasian Geopolitics, Past & Present  |  ISS-315 Global Diversity & Interdependence
  • Survey of the cultural & political dynamics found in the Eurasian region, past & present.

People & Environment  |  ISS-310
  • Social science survey of people-environment ideas, topics, & issues.

Graduate instruction

Graduate advisees

In the Department of Geography at Michigan State University, I have advised a number of graduate students. This is one of the aspects of teaching that I most enjoy. I list below a number of the people who I’ve been fortunate enough to work with thus far:

David L. Baylis  |  Assistant Professor, Delta State University
  • PhD thesis (2015): Governmental narratives of health, gender, & place in the early Turkish republic
  • MS thesis (2009): Frames of Mackinder & "the Muslim question": a critical geopolitics of U.S. geographical imaginaries regarding environmental security in Uzbekistan

Jordan P. Howell  |  Assistant Professor, Rowan University
  • PhD thesis (2013): Technology & place: a geography of waste-to-energy in the United States
  • MS thesis (2010): An historical geography of Michigan's electricity landscape

Robert A. Kopack  |  energetic doctoral student in geography
  • MS thesis (2013): Monuments & memory in the landscapes of Kazakhstan

Nathan J. Zukas  |  accomplished brewer
  • MS thesis (2009): Liminal ecologies: backpackers, expatriates, & the production of Koh Tao, Thailand

Joel B. Gruley  |  experienced geography instructor
  • MS thesis (2008): ‘Framing’ Darfur: representations of conflict, people & place in The New York Times & The Washington Post, 2004

Graduate courses

Geography & Environmental History  |  GEO-872 Seminar in Human Geography
  • The interdisciplinary field of environmental history has deep roots within both human geography & work on people-environment interactions. Over the past decades, as a field, it also has been at the forefront of theoretical & methodological developments within both historical & environmental scholarship. This seminar engages with environmental history as both subject & approach from the perspective of geography. Through the seminar, we will address established themes & influential works in environmental history, & we will engage with several of the main trajectories along which it continues to develop. Related approaches & fields, methods, & topics to be addressed include: themes in history, historiography, & historical geography; cultural & political ecology; the place of both landscape & region—& traditions in their study; practices of cartography & spatial representation; variations in perspective & narrative approach within geography & environmental history; &, historical & geographic scholarship on associated phenomena & processes—such as modernization, empire & colonization, state-/nation-building, development, & urbanization.

Themes in Historical Geography  |  GEO-872 Seminar in Human Geography
  • A key sub-discipline of human geography, historical geography has sometimes been described as a field concerned with geographies of the past, changing landscapes, aspects of the past in the present, & geographical history. In its first weeks, this seminar will address these traditional themes & will then progress to engage with historical geographies of: exploration & discovery; empires & colonialism; identities, nations, & nation-states; nature & ideas of nature; urban areas & societies in both Western & non-Western contexts; &, memory, commemoration, monuments, & museums.

Traditions & Topics in Human Geography  |  GEO-872 Seminar in Human Geography
  • One of the three major sub-disciplines of geography, human geography has included many conceptual approaches, theories, & topical orientations through time. This seminar examines major traditions & works in human geography in order provide graduate students with a breadth of knowledge about the sub-discipline. Related disciplines, sub-disciplines, theories, & approaches to topics & methods will be addressed, as well. These include:  traditional concerns of landscape & place-making; humanism; Marxism; & postmodernism & critical theory.