Richard Kujawa Emeritus Professor of Geography

Richard Kujawa

Bio

M.A., Ph.D. University of Iowa
B.Sc. Brunel University, London

Courses I Teach:

  • Place and Placelessness (First Year Seminar)
  • Introduction to Human Geography
  • Urban Geography
  • Political Geography
  • Economic Geography
  • The Geography of Water
  • Environmental Policy
  • Community and Environmental Planning

My Saint Michael’s:

In my classes, advising and in the human geography program, one-on-one contact is encouraged. I encourage students to present their findings to external audiences and professional conferences. I help students with graduate school applications (especially those in Urban and Regional Planning). In the past few years, I have helped Saint Michael’s graduates successfully apply to Cornell, Rutgers, SUNY-Albany, Kansas State University, the University of Iowa and several others. I also have some connections for internships in the local area.

Hands down, my favorite thing about this college is the class sizes. At Saint Mike’s I am able to shorten the distance between my role as faculty member and expert, and my role as motivator and mentor. I see part of my job as a salesperson for the power of intellectual growth and lifelong learning. I work hard each and every day to make the sale!

Research

Research Interests:

My research is most strongly linked with the development and implementation of policy.  I have interests in policy related to cities and city regions but also at regional, national and global scale in environmental dimensions.

In my own work and in collaborative research with students I’ve examined governance issues related to water, sustainability and climate change.

I am current part of a research team examining the impact of climate change on water quality in the Lake Champlain Basin which is funded by a large grant from the National Science Foundation. Details of the grant are available here: http://epscor.w3.uvm.edu/2/node/3123

Recent News

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of environmental studies and science, presented the paper “Meet the Ferals, pigs, that is: A story of space, place and power” at the Centennial meeting of the New England and Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society (NESTVAL) held at Salem State University on November 5. The paper examined the increasing threat of invasive swine species in the USA and Australia by exploring geographic patterns, biology, ecology, impacts on ecosystems and agriculture and techniques of removal as well as media coverage, social media engagement, and public policy at different scales. Richard recently completed his service as NESTVAL’s representative to the National Council of the American Association of Geographers.
(posted July 2023)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography, completed his three-year service on the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Honors Committee. Richard was elected nationally by the more than 12,000 members of the AAG.  He was elected to serve a three-year term, which ends in 2022, representing the New England and Saint Lawrence Valley region on the governing council of the organization.
(posted July 2021)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of environmental studies and science, in partnership with Clare Ginger, professor of natural resources, from the Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont, was informed that their poster titled “Community Resilience, Climate Change, and Governance in Vermont: An examination of hazard mitigation, emergency response and water quality policy and practices” has been accepted for the International Symposium for Society & Resource Management (ISSRM) 2020. The website for the Symposium notes that it emphasizes local to global resource management issues, environmental justice, collaborative stakeholder processes, and the social impacts of natural resource management and that ISSRM is a venue for presenting cutting-edge research and engaging in productive discussions focused on the sustainable management of natural and cultural resources. The poster comes from continuing research that Clare and Richard have conducted as part of the Building Resilience to Extreme Events project funded by the National Science Foundation through Vermont EPSCoR (OIA #155670). The conference, this year, was to be a virtual one and Clare Ginger will present the poster, Richard says.
(posted February 2021)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of environmental studies and science, in partnership with Clare Ginger, Professor of Natural Resources, from the Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont, has been informed that their poster titled “Community Resilience, Climate Change, and Governance in Vermont: An examination of hazard mitigation, emergency response and water quality policy and practices” has been accepted for the International Symposium for Society & Resource Management (ISSRM) 2020. The website for the Symposium notes that it emphasizes local to global resource management issues, environmental justice, collaborative stakeholder processes, and the social impacts of natural resource management and that ISSRM is a venue for presenting cutting-edge research and engaging in productive discussions focused on the sustainable management of natural and cultural resources.  The poster comes from continuing research that Ginger and Kujawa have conducted as part of the Building Resilience to Extreme Events project funded by the National Science Foundation through Vermont EPSCoR (OIA #155670). The conference, this year, will be a virtual one and Clare Ginger will present the poster, Richard says.
(posted June 2020)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Science, has been elected to a three-year term on the Council of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) as the regional representative for New England and the Saint Lawrence Valley.  The Council is the governing body for the AAG, a 10,000 member organization with members in approximately 100 countries. Richard also presented at the panel “Increasing the Participation and Validation of Geographers at Underrepresented Institutions: Teaching Strategies” at the national meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in Washington D.C. on April 4. He continues his role as a nationally-elected member of the Honors Committee for the AAG.  Also, he was recently informed that the paper “Establishing and Implementing Flood Resilience Policy across Government Scales: Disaster Preparedness and Planning from State to Regional to Municipal Levels in Vermont,” co-authored with University of Vermont Professor Clare Ginger, was accepted for presentation at the International Symposium on Society and Resource Management to be held the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, June 2-7.  The paper draws on the on-going research funded by the National Science Foundation funded Vermont EPSCoR grant “Building Resilience to Extreme Events.”
(posted June 2019)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Science, presented the paper “Exploring and Defining Flood Resilience in the Context of Climate Change: Disaster Preparedness and Planning in Vermont” at the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences held at American University in Washington, D.C.  The paper, co-authored with Professor Clare Ginger from the Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont, is drawn from their work with the Vermont EPSCoR project Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) which is supported by the National Science Foundation under VT EPSCoR Grant No. NSF OIA 1556770.
(posted January 2019)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and inaugural Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Science, was nominated for, and has been elected to, the Honors Committee of the American Association of Geographers. The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a nonprofit scientific and educational society founded in 1904. For more than 100 years the AAG has contributed to the advancement of geography. Its members from nearly 100 countries share interests in the theory, methods, and practice of geography. Members of the Honors Committee, elected from more than 10,000 members of the Association, review and make recommendations for a series of national and international awards.  Richard previously had been elected as the New England and Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society representative to the national Council of the Association. Richard also was invited to present an “interactive paper” at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in New Orleans in April, titled: “Evolving pedagogies of space and place using cloud-based GIS platforms.” His examples were drawn from Saint Michael’s classes he teaches in Urban Geography, Environmental Policy/Justice and an interdisciplinary class called Maps and Mash-Ups. Richard also has a paper being reviewed for presentation at the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences for a conference in June.
(posted June 2018)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography, joined other contributors for an author’s reception and launch of the International Encyclopedia of Geography at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Boston.  Richard wrote the entry on Urban Managerialism.
(posted June 2017)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography, received the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the New England-Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society at its annual meeting at Bishops University in Quebec. Richard was particularly recognized for his work representing the organization on the National Council of the American Association of Geographers.  He also presented a paper at the meeting and chaired the session focused on “Geography, Maps and Education.”  The paper, entitled “Cloud-based Geographic Information Systems and Effective Spatial Pedagogies: An Exploration in the Liberal Arts,” included student maps and graphics from the Saint Michael’s College geography course Maps and Mash-Ups.
(posted November 2016)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of the Department of Economics and Geography, presented in a panel session focused on “The role of geography in nexus thinking: Becoming institutional and community leaders while defending the discipline!” at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in San Francisco, CA.  He also finished out his term as the elected representative from the New England and Saint Lawrence Valley region to the Council of the AAG.  Richard also served as the elected Chair for all Regional Representatives on the AAG Council for this year.
(posted June 2016)

Laura Stroup, and Richard Kujawa, assistant professor of environmental studies,, professor of geography, and Jeffrey Ayres, professor of political science and dean of the College, recently published the article “ Envisioning a Green Energy Future in Canada and the United States: Constructing a Sustainable Future in the Context of New Regionalisms?” in American Review of Canadian Studies, Volume 45,  Issue 3, 2015: Special Issue:   The “Nature” of Canadian Studies in the United States.
(posted January 2016)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography, in October 2015 was a panelist discussing “The Roles and Value of Academics in Local Government” at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the New England-Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society in Bridgewater, MA. Richard also created web page and web video (See page and embedded video at http://www.uvm.edu/~crvt/?Page=news&storyID=21840&category=crvt) on “Land Trusts & Conservation Easements” for the Center for Research on Vermont.
(posted January 2016)

Richard Kujawa, professor of Geography, presented the paper “Critical Pedagogies of Environmental Governance: Coal Ash, Waste, and Discourses of Environmental Justice in the Liberal Arts classroom,” at the national conference of the Association of American Geographers held in Chicago in April, 2015.  He continues his term as the elected representative for the New England and Saint Lawrence Valley region on the National Council of the Association.
(posted April 2015)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography, Economics Department chair and human geography minor coordinator, Laura Stroup, assistant professor of environmental studies; and Jeff Ayres, professor of political science and dean of the College, have had the following paper accepted for publication: “Envisioning a Green Energy Future in Canada and the United States” in a Special Issue of American Review of Canadian Studies on the Place of Nature in Canadian Studies in the U.S.  The paper is slated for volume 45.3 (Fall 2015).
(posted April 2015)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography and chair of the Economics & Geography Department, has been engaged in collaborative research with Saint Michael’s graduate Patrick Crannell ’12. In addition to regular employment, Patrick, who graduated with a Human Geography minor and majored in English, has devoted regular blocks of time to the shared project which focused on an important regional and global environmental issue.  Experimenting with the use of the online information management software Zotero, they have developed an annotated index of media and other resources focused on end of life disposal and geographical destinations of electronic devices or e-waste.  They presented their paper “Poverty or Poison: Discourses of Environmental Justice in the Evolving Geographies of Electronic Waste” at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) in a special session focused on approaches to environmental justice. The conference was held in Tampa, Florida in early April.  The conference also provided an opportunity for Patrick to meet with faculty and graduate students from an array of Geography programs in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  Richard continues his service to the organization as the elected representative of the New England-Saint Lawrence Valley region to the national Council of the AAG.  He also has been informed that his entry on Urban Managerialism has been reviewed and accepted for inclusion in The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology to be jointly published by Wiley and the AAG.
(posted August 2014)

Richard Kujawa, professor of geography, has been elected as the New England-Saint Lawrence Valley Geography Society representative to the National Council of the Association of American Geographers. In March, Richard participated in a professional development workshop “Discovering Community: Digital Media, Ethnography and Place-Based Learning” sponsored by the Vermont Folklife Center. Richard has been selected as one of the faculty participants in the NSF-funded InTeGrate program workshop “Teaching Environmental Justice: Interdisciplinary Approaches” to be held at Carleton College in Minnesota in April. The workshop resulted in a contribution to the peer-reviewed collection of teaching materials titled “Hazardous Waste and Toxics: Real Data for Real Places”  Kujawa’s case is available at:  http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/envirojustice2013/activities/70645.html
(posted 2013)