Education

B.S. with High Distinction (Civil Engineering) Minnesota, 1986; M.S. (Civil Engineering) Washington, 1989; M.C.S. (Theological Ethics) Regent-Vancouver, Canada, 1995; Ph.D. (Geography) Minnesota, 2000

Areas of Expertise

urban environments, urban planning, GIS, Sustainable Development, and Water Resources

Interests

bicycling, sea kayaking, cross-country skiing, and jazz

Mark Bjelland

Associate Professor, Geography Chair

Geography and Environmental Studies
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Dr. Bjelland teaches a wide variety of geography courses and is an active member of the Environmental Studies program at Gustavus. His research interests center on the dynamics of cities and regions with a particular focus on urban planning and environmental quality. Current research projects include a study of eco-communities in Canada and the U.K. and watershed changes in Southern Minnesota brought about by agricultural drainage. He also has active projects on the changing demographics of the Upper Midwest and spatial analysis of immigrant religious groups. He has been at Gustavus since 1998. In 2002, he was a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia and in 2004-2005 he was a Fulbright Scholar at Cardiff University in Wales.

Teaching geography is a second career for Dr. Bjelland, but one that suits him well. He grew up in South Minneapolis with a love for exploration, his two favorite haunts being the old mills by St. Anthony Falls and the urban wilds along the Mississippi River. His first two degrees were in civil engineering with a focus on water and environment. He worked for six years as an engineer on water quality projects in Puget Sound, the cleanup of a polluted harbourfront in Victoria, BC, and the restoration of contaminated groundwater in Minnesota. His engineering work exposed him to geographical questions such as why poor people and minorities bore a greater burden of pollution. His second Master's degree was in theology focusing on the ethics of technology and environmental stewardship. In Canada, he also discovered that geography was an ideal discipline to explore his questions since it combined knowledge of earth systems with an understanding of human societies and their use of the earth. His passion at Gustavus is to introduce students to geography so that they can better understand and appreciate the world and their place in it.

Contact Information

Geography
Gustavus Adolphus College
800 West College Avenue
Saint Peter, MN 56082

Phone: 507-933-6283
E-mail: mbjellan@gustavus.edu

Courses Taught

• Geog Info Systems
• Human Geog Lab
• Intro Human Geography
• Urban Regional Analys
• Water Resources
• Weather/Climate Lab
• Weather/Climate w/Lab

Mark Bjelland's Schedule