Faculty
Full-time Faculty
Dr. Thomas Ballinger
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Kent State University, 2015
Research Interests: Arctic Change, Cryosphere-Climate Interactions, Synoptic Climatology
Dr. Sarah Blue
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, 2004
Research Interests: Latin America, Population, Migration
Dr. David R. Butler
Texas State University System Regents' Professor and University Distinguished Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of Kansas, 1982
Research Interests: Zoogeomorphology, Dendrogeomorphology, Mountain Geomorphology, Mountain Biogeography, Mountain Environments and Environmental Change, Geomorphology in the Anthropocene, History and Philosophy of Geography, Glacier National Park (Montana)
Dr. Edwin Chow
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of South Carolina, 2005
Research Interests: GIS, Environmental Modeling, Big Data Analytics, Population Estimation, Hazards
Dr. Nathan Currit
Associate Professor & Director, Texas Center for Geographic Information Science
Ph.D., Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, 2003
Research Interests: Uncertainty and Change in Human-Environment Systems, Remote Sensing and Land-Cover Change
Dr. Rene DeHon
Senior Lecturer
Ph.D., Geology/Geochemistry, Texas Tech University, 1970
Research Interests: Mineralogy, Petrology, Planetary Geology
Dr. Richard Dixon
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Texas A&M University, 1996
Research Interests: Climatology, Meteorology, Oceanography, Environmental Geography, Quantitative Methods, Hazards
Dr. Ron Hagelman
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Environmental Geography, Texas State University, 2002
Research Interests: Environmental Geography, Hazards and Disasters, Historical Geography, Land Management and Conservation, Urban Environment / Agriculture
Dr. Suzon Jammes
Senior Lecturer
Ph.D., Université of Strasbourg, Geology/GeoPhysics, 2009
Research Interests: Tectonic, Rheology, Deformation Processes at Lithospheric Scale in Extension and Contraction
Dr. Injeong Jo
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Texas A&M University, 2011
Research Interests: Geography and Spatial Thinking Education, Geography and Social Studies Teacher Preparation, Geospatial Technologies for Education, Assessment in Geography
Thomas Barclay Larsen
Lecturer, The Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education
M.A., Geography, Kansas State University, 2016
Research Interests: Geography Education, Human-Environment Relationship, Place, Learning Progressions
Dr. Timothy Loftus
Professor of Practice and Meadows Endowed Chair in Water Conservation
Ph.D., Geography, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2000
Research Interests: Water Supply Planning, Watershed Planning, Water-Use Conservation and Efficiency, Drought Preparedness, Water Policy, Utility Water Loss
Dr. Robert Mace
Professor of Practice
Ph.D., Hydrogeology, University of Texas at Austin, 1998
Research Interests: Water Policy, Policy and Science, Water Resources, Water Planning, Stakeholder Processes, Numerical Groundwater Flow Modeling, Water Conservation, Innovative Water Technologies
Dr. Osvaldo Muñiz-Solari
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of Tennessee, 1991
Research Interests: Population, Transportation, Economic Geography Flows, World Regional Networks, Geography Education
Dr. Andrew Sansom
Professor of Practice
Executive Director, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
Ph.D., Texas State University, Geographic Education, 2013
Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Savelyev
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, 2015
Research Interests: Geovisualization and Geovisual Analytics, Cartography, and Visual Cognition
Dr. John Tiefenbacher
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Rutgers University, 1992
Research Interests: Environmental Geography, Hazards & Disasters, Air Quality, Environmental Problems of the US-Mexico Borderlands, Human Dimensions of Wildlife, States of the Former Soviet Union, Geography of Viniculture, Historical Environmental Geography, Genealogy & GIS
Dr. Dolores van der Kolk
Lecturer
Ph.D., Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, 2016
Research Interests: Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Paleoenvironment Reconstructions, Basin Analysis, Arctic and Petroleum Geology
Dr. Yihong Yuan
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2013
Research Interests: GIScience, Spatio-Temporal Data Mining, Human Mobility Modeling and Travel Behavior
Denise Blanchard
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1992
Research Interests: Natural and Environmental Hazards, Economic Geography, Environmental Studies, Research Methods, Historical Geography
Dr. Richard Boehm
Professor and Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Chair in Geographic Education
Ph.D., Geography, The University of Texas at Austin, 1975
Research Interests: Geographic Education, Economic Geography, Applied Geography
Mr. Mark Carter
Senior Lecturer & Internships Coordinator
MAG Geography, Texas State University, 1994
Research Interests: Quantitative Methods, Spatial Statistics, Land Use Planning Management and Conservation
Dr. Brian Cooper
Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Coordinator
Ph.D., Geography, Texas State University, 2012
Research Interests: World Regional Geography, Sub-Saharan Africa
Dr. Rebecca Davio
Associate Professor of Practice
Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, 2001
Research Interests: Applied Research in Data-Driven Decision Making, Health & GIS, Customer Service, Policy Analysis, Recycling and Sustainability, and Social and Emotional Learning
Dr. Jennifer Devine
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2013
Research Interests: Human-environmental relations, Latin American - US politics, critical social theory
Dr. Richard Earl
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Arizona State University, 1983
Research Interests: Physical Geography, Water Resources, Environmental Change and Management, Field Methods
Dr. Alberto Giordano
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Syracuse University, 1999
Research Interests: Historical GIS, Holocaust and Genocide Geography, Policy Applications of GIScience, Spatial Applications of Forensic Anthropology
Dr. Don Huebner
Senior Lecturer
Ph.D., Geography, University of Texas at Austin, 2002
Research Interests: Environmental Geography, Coastal Hazards, Historical Ecology, Geomorphology, Texas and American Southwest, Human Perception of Risk
Dr. Jennifer Jensen
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Environmental Science, University of Idaho, 2009
Research Interests: Lidar, Remote Sensing of Vegetation Structure, Multi-Sensor Data Synthesis, Land Use/Land Cover Change, Remote Sensing/GIS Integration
Dr. Jason Julian
Professor & Associate Chair
Ph.D., Geography, University of North Carolina, 2007
Research Interests: Water Resources, Land Use/Land Cover Change, River Ecosystems, Fluvial Geomorphology
Dr. Nancy Li
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2015
Research Interests: Glacial Geomorphology, Paleo-climate and Environmental Change, and Digital Terrain Analysis
Dr. Yongmei Lu
Professor and Chair
Ph.D., Geography, SUNY Buffalo, 2001
Research Interests: GIScience, Urban and Regional Analysis, Health and Medical Geography, Crime Geography
Dr. Kimberly Meitzen
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of South Carolina, 2011
Research Interests: Fluvial Processes and Geomorphology, River Basin Management, Biogeography
Dr. Colleen C. Myles
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, University of California, Davis, 2012
Research Interests: Political Ecology; Land and Environmental Management; the Rural-Urban Interface (RUI), especially Rural-Urban Linkages and Metabolisms; Wine, Beer, and Cider Geographies (aka “fermented landscapes”); Environmental Politics and Policy, Qualitative and Participatory Methods
Dr. Eric Sarmiento
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 2015
Research Interests: Urban Development, Cultural Geography, Political Ecology, Economic Geography, Social Theory
Dr. Michael Solem
Research Professor & Director of Research, Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education
Co-Director, National Center for Research in Geography Education
Research Interests: Geography Education
Dr. Christi Townsend
Senior Lecturer
Ph.D., Environmental Geography, Texas State University, 2012
Research Interests: Environmental Geography, Geomorphology, Natural Hazards, The Geography of Agriculture and Viticulture, Research Methods
Dr. Russell Weaver
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Geography, The State University of New York at Buffalo, 2012
Research Interests: Neighborhood Change, Land Use Policy, Community Geography, Community Economic Development
Dr. F. Benjamin Zhan
Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator
Ph.D., Geography, SUNY Buffalo, 1994
Research Interests: Health/Medical Geography; Geographic Information Science; Spatial Data Science; Earthquake Hazards Reduction; Transportation; China
Associated Faculty
Dr. Laura Cano Amaya
Assistant Professor of Practice, LBJ Institute for STEM Education and Research
Ph.D., Environmental Geography, Texas State University, 2014
Office: ELA 373
Phone: 512.245.7989
Email: lc16@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Dr. Nathaniel Dede-Bamfo
Lecturer
Ph.D., Geographic Information Science, Texas State University, 2014
Office: ELA 374
Phone: 512.245.7809
Email: nd1115@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Dr. Jo Beth Oestreich
Senior Lecturer, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Ph.D., C&I, The University of Texas at Austin, 2002
Office: ELA 355
Phone: 512.245.7976
Email: jo15@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Dr. Benjamin Schwartz
Associate Professor, Biology
Ph.D., Virginia Tech University, Geosciences, 2007
Office: FAB
Phone: 512-245-7608
E-mail: bs37@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Lyn Clancy
Lecturer
J.D., Univ. Texas-Austin 1996, M.S. Univ-Wisconsin 1993
Office: ELA 374
Phone: 512.636.4036
Email: l_c337@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Mr. Neil Kucera
Lecturer
MAG, Geography, Southwest Texas State University, 2001
Office: ELA 362
Phone: 512.245.3440
Email: kuceran@hotmail.com
Vita HB2504 website information
Shelley Plante
Lecturer
MAG, Geography, Texas State University, 2007
Office: ELA 362
Phone: 512.245.7976
Email: ss1331@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Dr. Cathy Springer
Lecturer
Office: ELA 374
Phone: 512.2457809
Email: ca06@txstate.edu
Vita HB2504 website information
Retired Faculty
Dr. Byron "Doc" Augustin
Distinguished Professor and Regents' Professor Emeritus
D.A., Northern Colorado, 1975
Research Interests: Conservation, Latin America, geographic education, Middle East
Dr. Fred Day
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Geography, The Ohio State University, 1982
Research Interests: Population, Economic Development East and Southeast Asia
Dr. Jim Kimmel
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Geography, University of Texas at Austin, 1992
Research Interests: Interpretive Environmental Geography, Nature and Heritage Tourism, River Studies, Southwestern Geography
Dr. Susan Macey
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Geography, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1982
Research Interests: Geographic Information Systems, Environmental Hazards, Energy, Medical Geography, Behavioral Geography, Aging
Dr. Phil Suckling
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Geography, University of British Columbia, 1977
Research Interests: Climatology, natural hazards
Dr. Sent Visser
Professor
Ph.D., Geography, Ohio State University, 1979
Research Interests: Agricultural Geography, Economic Geography, Quantitative Methods
Dr. Brock Brown
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Geography, University of Oklahoma, 1992
Dr. Ron Eyton
Professor
Ph.D., Illinois, 1974
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Computer Cartography, Quantitative Methods
Dr. Bob Larsen
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Ph.D. Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Research Interests: Urban and Regional Planning, Solid Waste Management
Dr. James Petersen
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Geography, University of Utah, 1981
Research Interests: Geographic Education, Geomorphology, Applied Physical Geography
Dr. David Stea
Professor
Ph.D., Stanford, 1964
Research Interests: Spatial Cognition, Environmental Perception, Sustainable Development
Faculty in Memoriam
Dr. Lawrence Estaville
Texas State University System Regents' Professor and Texas State University Distinguished Professor
Director, Texas Atlas Project
Ph.D., Geography, University of Oklahoma, 1984
Dr. Allen Hellman
Professor & Chair, Southwest Texas State University
Ph.D., Geography, University of Michigan, 1962
