Meet our Faculty & Staff

The Department of Geography & Environment is home to world class experts. With their guidance, students receive a first class education in the exciting fields of archaeology, environmental science, geography, remote sensing and urban & regional studies. Learn more about these talented educators and researchers, and our staff, below:

Philip Bonnaventure

Associate Professor
Environmental Science Coordinator

Office: WE2052 (Alberta Water & Environmental Science Building)
Phone: (403) 317-5028
Email: philip.bonnaventure@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Permafrost in mountain and High Arctic environments, climate change, microclimatology of mountain and boreal environments, geomorphology and Earth surface processes, hydrology, environmental modelling and Geographical Information Systems

Shawn Bubel

Shawn Bubel

Professor

Office: B872 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 329-2531
Email: bubest@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Geoarchaeology, Site formation processes, Postdepositional processes, Plains archaeology, Near Eastern archaeology, Lithic analysis, Faunal analysis. Current excavation projects include Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump UNESCO World Heritage Site and  the Fincastle bison kill site in southern Alberta, Fort Vermilion in northern Alberta, and Tel Beth-Shemesh in Israel.

Laura Chasmer

Associate Professor

Office: WE2066 (Alberta Water & Env. Science Bldg.)
Phone: (403) 332-4661
Email: laura.chasmer@uleth.ca

Research Interests: My research interests focus on the influences of vegetation canopy structure and ground surface topography on ecosystem energy balance and CO2 and H2O fluxes within northern Boreal and discontinuous permafrost ecozones. To address these questions, I use a range of remote sensing technologies (including airborne and terrestrial LiDAR, multi-spectral remote sensing, and historical aerial photography), hydro-meteorological equipment, and in situ vegetation measurements.

Craig Coburn

Craig Coburn

Professor
Department Chair

Office: WE2002 (Alberta Water & Env Science Bldg)
Phone: (403) 317-2818
Email: craig.coburn@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Bidirectional Reflectance, Airborne Systems

Jolene Debert

Instructor

Office: C755 (University Hall)
Phone:
(403) 332-4033
Email: jolene.debert@uleth.ca

Research Interests: I have a long-standing interest in lithic analysis, and geoarcheology. I focus mostly on the Neolithic in Northwest Europe, Britain and Scandinavia; but continue to research Mexico and Central America as well.

markus-dostie-2019

Marcus Dostie

Instructor

Office: C755 (University Hall)
Phone:
(403) 394-3925
Email: marcus.dostie@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Organism and Environment Interactions, Movement Ecology, Spatial Behaviour.

Kenneth Holyoke

Assistant Professor 

Office: B882 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 329-2534
Email: kenneth.holyoke@uleth.ca

Research interests: Lithic quarries and lithic analysis; hunter-gatherer mobility, settlement, and exchange; Pre-Contact archaeology in Northeastern North American and the Maritime Peninsula; CRM, heritage legislation and ethics in North America

 

 

Chris Hopkinson

Professor

Office: WE2066 (Alberta Water & Env Science Bldg)
Phone: (403) 332-4586
Email: c.hopkinson@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Natural resources assessment and environmental modeling through the integration of GIS and terrestrial, airborne and satellite lidar remote sensing

Hester Jiskoot

Professor

Office: WE2050 (Alberta Water & Env Science Bldg)
Phone: (403) 329-2739
Email: hester.jiskoot@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Glaciology, Ice Flow Dynamics, Glacier-Environment-Climate Interactions, Arctic and Alpine Regions

Dan Johnson

Professor

Office: WE1012 (Alberta Water & Env Science Bldg)
Phone: (403) 329-2040
Email: dan.johnson@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Grassland Ecosystems; semi-arid ecology; population dynamics; forecasting; biological control; spatial and temporal analysis; ecological agriculture; plant-insect-vertebrate interactions; biodiversity, biogeography, biometerology

Stefan Kienzle

Stefan W Kienzle

Professor

Office: WE2012 (Alberta Water & Env Science Bldg)
Phone: (403) 380-1875
Email: stefan.kienzle@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Modeling impacts of environmental change on watershed hydrology; Creation of a digital Hydro-climatological Atlas of Alberta; GIS Applications in Wildlife Habitat and Behaviour

Matthew Letts

Matthew Letts

Professor
Dean – Faculty of Arts and Science

Office: A560A (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 329-5101
Email: matthew.letts@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Plant physiological response to environmental stress: riparian woodlands, semiarid grasslands, subalpine forests, Mediterranean forests, neotropical cloud forests, peatlands

Kevin McGeough

Kevin McGeough

Professor

Office: C862 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 382-7168
Email: mcgekm@uleth.ca

Research Interests: History, languages, and cultures of the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean; integrating archaeological and historical evidence in the reconstruction of the past; public and non-specialist interpretations of archaeological data; 19th-century explorations of the Near East

Derek Peddle

Derek Peddle

Professor

Office: WE2004 (Alberta Water & Env Science Bldg)
Phone: (403) 329-2524
Email: derek.peddle@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Remote Sensing and GIS; Spatial Analysis and Computational Methods

Ivan Townshend

Professor
Urban & Regional Studies Coordinator

Office: C858 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 329-2226
Email: towni0@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Social inequality and change in urban Canada; Urban and rural community studies, Privatization of space, Resilience in wildfire communities, Geography of wellbeing and mental health, Urban systems, Quantitative methods in Human and Physical Geography

Carlee McElhaw

Assistant to Chair & Admin Support

Office: C866 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 329-2225
Email: c.mcelhaw@uleth.ca

Office Hours:

Monday - Friday 

8:30 - 4:30

Wei Xu

Professor

Office: B884 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 332-4561
Email: wei.xu@uleth.ca

Research Interests: China, urban and regional development, labor market dynamics, land use change, water resource management, research methods and GIS

Julie Young

Associate Professor

Office: B874 (University Hall)
Phone: (403) 329-2076
Email: julie.young@uleth.ca

Research Interests: Critical border studies, Refugee & migration policies and practices, North and Central America, Political geography

Professor Emeritus

  • Walter E. Aufrecht | aufrecht@uleth.ca
    Archaeology

  • Ian Maclachlan | maclachlan@uleth.ca
    Urban Economic, Industrial Restructuring, Intensive Livestock Operations
    Learn More

  • Robert Rogerson | rogerson@uleth.ca
    Glaciology and Glacial Geomorphology

  • Karl Staenz | karl.staenz@uleth.ca
    Remote Sensing
    Geography professor and Science Director at ATIC, Karl Staenz's research is focused in the broad area of applications of hyperspectral remote sensing and quantitative remote sensing algorithm research and development. Learn more.

Adjunct Professors