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Jean Eichhorst

Jean Eichhorst headshot
  • Lecturer
  • Geography and Anthropology

I have spent most of my life living on the Great Plains in North Dakota and Nebraska after growing up in Wisconsin. As a child my family spent a great deal of time outdoors, and we took a camping trip every summer 'out West.' Sometimes that meant South Dakota, other years Montana or Arizona. My camping experiences exposed me to a variety of environments and gave me an appreciation of the world around me. Although I found some places more attractive than others, I learned to find beauty no matter where I traveled.

During the summers I take time to bike, swim, read, garden (gosh, this sounds like an old person!) and spend time with my husband and grown children (at least when they are around). Over the winter, I hibernate and read more books, along with doing my regular job, university teaching. I enjoy teaching and sharing my experiences with students, as well as learning from them, too.

Teaching Interests

Human Geography

Public Policy

Socio-Hydrology

Physical Geography

Natural Disasters

Conservation/Management

Responsibilities

GEOG 104: Physical Geography lecture and lab (Barron County)

GEOG 111: Human Geography
GEOG 178: Conservation of the Environment

Research and Creative Activities

I am a broadly trained geographer with a specialty in human-environment interactions. I focus on people and water, or socio-hydrology--how human and hydrological systems jointly impact each other with special attention on public policy and law.

My current projects include an analysis of Nebraska water policy compacts/statues and recent legislative mandates for the Republican River basin. Further, I am engaged in exploring the hybridity and agency of non-human actors' borders as social constructions.

Education

Ph.D., University of Kansas, Geography
M.A., University of North Dakota, Geography
B.S., University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, English and Geography

Published Research

Eichhorst, Jean and Millsaps, Lisa. 2018. "Climate Science Representations: How language shapes climate change education in US secondary school textbooks, 2002-2012." In Handbook of the Changing World Language Map, ed. Stanley Brunn. (digital and print (2019)).

Professional Memberships

American Association of Geographers (AAG)

National Council of Geography Educators (NCGE)

Geological Society of America (GSA)

Association of Women Geo-scientists (AWG)

Previous Professional Experience

University of Kansas

University of Nebraska at Kearney

University of North Dakota