As you sit in on one of Evan Larson’s geography lectures, you cannot help but notice his passion and enthusiasm for teaching, the environment ― and whitebark pine.

Submitted photo


Evan Larson teaches Planet Earth at UW-Platteville.

“Teaching and the environment are central to my life,” Larson said. “I spent my childhood immersed in the natural world, paddling the lakes and exploring the woods of northern Minnesota, helping manage my family’s 80 acres of woods and traveling throughout the country on family vacations. These experiences grounded me with a strong appreciation for the complexity and beauty of the natural world and the connections that can form between people and their environment.”

“He is a very personable and animated when he is teaching,” junior business administration major Megan Hertzfeldt said. “I have never enjoyed learning about geography as much as I do with Professor Larson.”

Larson is in his first year as  an assistant professor of geography at UW-Platteville, but he started his higher education at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.  After graduating with a bachelor’s in environmental and earth sciences, he was accepted to University of Tennessee-Knoxville where he received his masters degree in geography. His most recent educational achievement is a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Minnesota.

“When I was finishing my Ph.D. I knew I wanted to work at an institution where teaching was the focus but still afforded me the option of conducting research,” Larson said. “That led me to look at small- and medium-sized schools, but I was also fairly picky about where I wanted to work geographically. UW-P fit both of my desires – it is a student-centered school that is situated in a spectacular landscape. When I was offered the job it didn’t take long to make my decision and I’ve been happy with it ever since.”

Larson is working on a number of projects, including research on the dynamics of whitebark pine forest ecosystems, the ecological effects of European earthworms as they invade North American forests, and the use of tree ring samples from ancient whitebark pine and its close relative limber pine to reconstruct past climates in the Wallowa Mountains of Eastern Oregon.

Larson has also won a number of awards, grants and scholarships in his field of research. Some of these include: National Science Foundation Grant to study Climate and Forest Dynamics near Arctic Treeline in Northern Manitoba, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, University of Minnesota; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results; Graduate Fellowship Graduate School Fellowship, University of Minnesota; and the Morris K. Udall Scholarship for Excellence in Environmental Policy.

Larson said he would like to get a thriving tree-ring research laboratory going while also getting actively involved in ecological restoration projects in the surrounding area while at UW-P.

“I’ve got thoughts rolling around in my head about developing a course in conservation biogeography, but that’s still a few years down the road,” Larson said. “Along that line of thought, I would also love to see UW-P take a leadership role on issues of sustainability in the region. I think UW-P is perfectly situated to have a really profound influence on the communities and environment of southwest Wisconsin. We have an excellent engineering program – there’s no reason we shouldn’t have a fleet of vehicles running on grease or wind turbines around campus. It would just make sense and I’d love to see it happen.”