Anna VersluisFaculty

Like many geographers, I study society’s interactions with the environment. The study of nature-society addresses age-old questions like how we procure food and how we prepare for and cope with natural disasters to how we understand our relationship with the natural world. It addresses recent and pressing questions like climate change, globalization, loss of biodiversity, sustainability, and social justice.

The big research questions that interest me revolve around the interactions of humans with the environment, especially those involving land transformation: the how and why of land use and land cover change, and the implications of these changes for ecosystems and human societies. I am particularly interested in land transformations involving agriculture. Additionally, I am interested in how society encounters the natural world through disaster. My research is based in Haiti, where I lived and worked prior to graduate school, and where I continue to visit as frequently as possible, as well as locally, in Southern Minnesota.

Courses Taught