Dorn Van Dommelen
Education
- Ph.D., Geography, University of Toronto, 1996
- M.A., Geography, University of Kentuky, 1988
- B.A., Geography, Pennsylvania State University, 1985
Teaching Responsibilities
I teach introductory courses on global issues and physical geography and also teach one upper-division course each semester. Each upper-division course includes content on the application of geospatial and cartography tools.
GEOG/INTL A101 Local Places/Global Regions: An Introduction to Geography [Global Studies]
GEOG A111 Discovering Alaska and Earth鈥檚 Physical Geography: From Weather to Glaciers
SOC/GEOG A307 Demography [Taught with a population geography emphasis]
GEOG A390A Selected Topics in Global Geography [Recent offerings include 鈥淐onsuming Globalization鈥�, 鈥淓ffective Development/Effective Altruism鈥漖
GEOG A470/670 Environmental Policy and Regulation in Alaska
GEOG A475 Geospatial and Cartographic Techniques for the Sciences
Professional & Department Service
I am currently the chair of Anthropology and Geography. Earlier in my career I led the development of a Bachelor of Science program in Environment & Society as chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. In 2020 this program was deleted as a result of budget cuts, but elements of it live on in the Cultural and Natural Resource Management Minor. Much earlier in my career I served as Director of Canadian Studies and later as Chair of International Studies.
Research Interests
My broad disciplinary interests include landscape and settlement history and population geography. I also use my GIS and cartography skills in local community mapping projects, especially as a volunteer cartographer with the Arctic Orienteering Club. My faculty workload does not have a research component so I have a limited record of peer-reviewed publications, but I have successfully published and give presentations at conferences, including on pedagogical techniques. I am an avid backpacker, cross country skier and orienteer and love spending time at our family cabin.