Faculty Articles
Message from the Chair: Jennifer Fluri
We returned to campus this fall for in-person classes. Mask and vaccine requirements helped to ensure more in-person interactions, while our faculty, staff, and students continue to face challenges associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I would like to extend my gratitude to the entire Geography Department for their ongoing...
Climate Change River Trip with Two United States Senators
I was recently invited to take a river rafting trip on the Colorado River with Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Mitt Romney (R-UT), among others, and to provide a scientific perspective on climate change and its impacts on the western United States. The purpose of the trip was to draw...
American Association of Geographers
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is the national scholarly association to which the most geographers – including professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and professionals - in the US belong. Founded in 1904, it has members from over 100 countries and its total membership has fluctuated over the past two...
Floodplain Ecogeomorphic Processes
Dr. Katherine Lininger , Assistant Professor, is a fluvial geomorphologist who studies the interactions between geomorphic (physical) and ecological processes in rivers and floodplains. She is particularly interested in the influence of river and floodplain processes on the flux and storage of organic carbon in floodplain soil and dead, downed...
Student and Alumni Updates
Graduate Student Update: Katie Tyler
Kathryn (Katie) Tyler is a second year master’s student whose research focuses on addressing gaps in public transit service. More specifically, she is examining bus networks in four US cities using GIS multi-criteria suitability modelling. Her research is largely motivated by the positive climate and social benefits of public transit...
A Student's Journey: Ally Fitts
I entered college as an undeclared major in hopes a general elective would spark interest for my future studies. I was quick to find inspiration within an introductory geography course where the professor presented his research pertaining to his work in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. As a snow hydrologist, his fieldwork...
Graduate Student Update: Katarena Matos
Katarena Matos is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Geography Department and is part of Associate Professor, Holly Barnard 's Ecohydrology Lab. This fall she was awarded the ARCS Foundation Scholarship! The award has been donated by Mr. Earl L. Wright in honor of his late wife, Nancy Seacrest Wright,...
Alumni Update: Robert J. Czerniak, PhD 1979
After completing my Ph.D. I taught at Metro State College for a couple of years. In 1981 I moved to Gunnison and worked at Western State College on a Community Development program for the Kellogg Foundation. In 1983 I began my career as an Asst Prof in Geography at New...
Recent News
Jennifer Fluri: Reflections on Gender and Development in Afghanistan 2001-2021
Afghanistan garnered a significant share of media attention when the Taliban took control of the capital city, Kabul. This attention continued during the subsequent chaotic and disorganized US-led evacuation of American citizens and some but not all Afghan allies. As someone who has been researching gender, economic development, conflict, and...
Robert Andrus: Extreme heat, dry summers main cause of tree death in Colorado’s subalpine forests
Even in the absence of bark beetle outbreaks and wildfire, trees in Colorado subalpine forests are dying at increasing rates from warmer and drier summer conditions, found recent CU ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ research. The study, published in February in the Journal of Ecology , also found that this trend is increasing. In...
Phurwa Gurung Awarded 2020 Dor Bahadur Bista Prize for Best Graduate Student Paper
The Dor Bahadur Bista Prize honors the life, career, and service of Dor Bahadur Bista, Nepal’s first anthropologist and former Honorary President of the ANHS predecessor organization, the Nepal Studies Association (NSA). The purpose of the prize is to recognize outstanding scholarship by students whose research focuses on the areas...
Donor Support
Thank You! The Department of Geography is grateful to its alumni and friends for their financial support over the years. Our donors have had a big impact, making a difference not only to the Department as a whole, but to the lives of many individual students. As we strive for...