Anna VersluisFaculty

Associate Professor in Environment Geography and Earth, LALACS, and Geography

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.

Education

B.A. Eastern Mennonite University; M.S. Oregon State University; Ph.D. Clark University


Courses Taught

ENV-250 (Environment & Society), GEG-105 (Environmental Geog w/Lab), and GEG-250 (Environment & Society)

Past
Synonym Title Times Taught Terms Taught
GEG-105 Environmental Geog Lab 31 2023/FA, 2023/SP, 2021/SP, 2020/SP, 2019/FA, 2019/SP, 2018/SP, 2017/SP, 2014/FA, 2014/SP, 2013/FA, 2013/SP, 2012/FA, 2012/SP, 2011/FA, 2011/SP, 2010/SP, 2009/FA, 2009/SP, and 2008/FA
GEG-250 Environment & Society 16 2023/FA, 2023/SP, 2022/FA, 2021/SP, 2020/SP, 2019/SP, 2018/FA, 2018/SP, 2017/SP, 2014/FA, 2013/FA, 2013/SP, 2012/FA, and 2011/FA
ENV-250 Environment & Society 16 2023/FA, 2023/SP, 2022/FA, 2021/SP, 2020/SP, 2019/SP, 2018/FA, 2018/SP, 2017/SP, 2014/FA, 2013/FA, 2013/SP, 2012/FA, and 2011/FA
GEG-105 Physical Geography 13 2017/SP, 2014/FA, 2014/SP, 2013/FA, 2013/SP, 2012/FA, 2012/SP, 2011/FA, 2011/SP, 2010/SP, 2009/FA, 2009/SP, and 2008/FA
GEG-242 Research Methods 6 2022/FA, 2020/FA, 2019/FA, 2016/FA, 2014/SP, and 2013/SP
GEG-345 Remote Sensing Envrmnt 6 2020/FA, 2018/FA, 2016/FA, 2015/SP, 2012/SP, and 2010/SP
GEG-345 Remote Sens Env Lab 4 2020/FA, 2018/FA, 2016/FA, and 2015/SP
GEG-344 ST:Political Ecology 4 2017/FA, 2011/SP, 2010/SP, and 2009/SP
GEG-397 Honors Thesis Project 4 2014/FA, 2014/SP, 2013/FA, and 2012/SP
FTS-100 FTS:This Land 2 2020/FA and 2018/FA
GEG-340 Geographic Information Systems 2 2009/FA and 2008/FA
GEG-350 Political Ecology 1 2022/FA
GEG-244 ST:Plan Nobel Conf 1 2017/FA
GEG-342 Research Methods 1 2012/SP
ENV-109 Future Sustainability 1 2009/JN