Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President

Faculty Spotlight

Philip Reeder

Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program

College of Arts and Sciences, Geography Department

Undergraduate Degree

B.S., Earth Science, Frostburg State University (Maryland)

Graduate Degree

M.S., Geography, Western Kentucky University

Doctoral Degree

Ph.D., Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Previous Post(s)

1992-1994 tenure track Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geoscience at Valdosta State University (Georgia); 1994-2002 tenure track Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor (received tenure in August 1999) in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; 2002-2003 Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Science at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse; 2003 to present Associate Professor in the USF Department of Geography (became Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program in August 2006.

Selected Published Works

Five most recent published works:

• 2007 : James W. Webster , George A. Brook, L. Bruce Railsback, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, Clark Alexander, and Philip Reeder, Stalagmite Evidence from Belize indicating significant droughts at the time of Preclassic Abandonment, the Maya Hiatus, and the Classic Maya Collapse, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Volume 250: pp.
1 - 17.
• 2007 : Polk, J., van Beynen, P. and Reeder, P., Late Holocene Environmental Reconstruction Using Cave Sediments From Belize, Quaternary Research. Elsevier Publishing. Volume 68, pp. 53-63.
• 2006 : With Jol, H., Water Resource Utilization at the Qumran Archaeological Site, Israel, Papers of the Applied Geography Conferences, Vol. 29, pp. 224-234.
• 2004 : With Jol, H., Freund, R. and Savage, C., Geoarchaeology of the Qumran Archaeological Site, Israel, Focus on Geography, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 12-19.
• 2003 : Physical and Cultural Landscapes on the Northern Vaca Plateau, Belize. Journal of Belizean Affairs. Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 5-30.

Area of Specialization / Research

Geoarchaeology, Karst Studies, Water Resources, Geomorphology, Middle East (Israel), Latin America (Belize)

Current Course Offerings

• GEO 2200 – Introduction to Physical Geography
• GEO 2371 – Introduction to Earth System Science
• GEO 4210 – Process Geomorphology
• GEO 4265 – Soil Genesis and Classification
• GEO 6209C – Physical Geography Seminar: Caves and Karst
• GEO 6209C – Physical Geography Seminar: Hydrologic Systems
• GEO 6217 – Karst Geomorphology
• GEO 6262 – Soils Seminar

How and when did you first become interested in your field of study?

I first became interested in Geography when I took several General Education classes as a junior undergraduate at Frostburg State University. I took “Geography of Maryland” and “introduction to Physical Geography” and became so interested is geography that I switched my major from Wildlife Management to Earth Science, with a Geography Minor (they did not have a geography major at that time). As I progressed through the courses that comprised the major I became convinced that Geography and Earth Science were the perfect disciplines for me because they pulled together many aspects of other disciplines to allow the linkages between humans and the physical aspects (soils and water mostly) of the planet Earth to be studied. After receiving the BS degree, after a year away from school, I returned for a masters degree wherein I continued to study this linkage between humans and the Earth system, with an emphasis on karst landscapes (limestone landscapes that contain sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage systems). I did my Masters at Western Kentucky University, which was a perfect natural laboratory to study karst landscapes, and I was a Graduate Assistant (GA) at the Center for Cave and Karst Studies.

What made you decide to pursue a career in higher education?

After completing my MS, I went into a doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and I continued to study these linkages between humans and Earth Systems. My doctoral dissertation was on Groundwater contaminate pathways in a karst area in Southwestern Wisconsin. As I progressed through the process of getting a Ph.D I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in academics because I enjoyed teaching others about Earth Systems and Geography, and I enjoyed conducting research, and traveling to locales to conduct this research that I would not generally visit. This has grown in to currently active research programs in Belize and Isreal, and other research programs in the Philippines, Peru, New Zealand and Mexico.

Why did you choose to be a part of the academic community at USF?

After being employed at smaller local and regional universities earlier in my career, I decided that I wanted to work at a large university that offered a doctoral degree in Geography. A position became available at USF, I applied, interviewed, and was offered and accepted a position in 2003.

What do you enjoy about teaching the students of USF?

I enjoy the wide variety of students we have at USF and in our programs in the Geography Department. We offer two undergraduate degrees (BA in Geography and BS in Environmental Science and Policy), three graduate degrees (MA in Geography, MS in Environmental Science and Policy, and Ph.D in Geography and Environmental Science and Policy), as well as graduate certificates in Geographic Information Systems and Environmental Management. Because of this diversity of programs, we have a diversity of students which keeps the atmosphere in the department fresh and exciting.

What do you like about the university community?

I like the diversity of the USF community, as well as the fact that USF seems to have a very active faculty in terms of teaching, research and service. Using our department as an example, we strive to be engaged not only with our students in the classroom and in our research, but with the university community through service to the university, as well as the general public through community service and outreach. Being in a large metropolitan area it makes our profession more exciting to be engaged with our colleagues and the community.