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Stephen Cunha

Professor & Director, California Geographic Alliance

Contact Information:
Office: Founders Hall 134
Office Hours: MWF 2:00-3:00
Phone: (707) 826-4975
E-mail: sc10@humboldt.edu
Web Site: https://www. humboldt.edu/~sc10

Personal Statement:

I became a geographer reading National Geographic in my Grandmother’s attic. The musty old magazines, summers in Yosemite with an uncle, and reading the Travels of Marco Polo fixed an early and enduring interest in far away lands, especially mountains. Ten summers as a park ranger in Yosemite and Alaska and travels to every continent raised the flat map to life.

My goal as a geography teacher is to help students enrich their mental map of the world—to fill in the blank spaces with the social, economic, and environmental characteristics that order our world. During the last decade, the hurried pace of our global society—the rising dependence of nations upon each other for trade and security—makes geographical studies more important today than ever.

Along the way students must learn college level research, writing, presentation, and technology skills. A foreign language and another technical skill such as cartography/GIS, statistics, or graphic arts is also very important. Finally, a mix of summer employment and internships completes preparation for life beyond Arcata.

I spent last summer traveling with my family in Alaska/Yukon. Current projects include a grade-school science textbook series and another volume on environmental challenges in the Sierra Nevada. I also direct the California Geographic Alliance, a group dedicated to improving K-12 geography education in a state that will soon count 40 million people.

Specialty Area:
Environmental geography, mountain environments, Central Asia, Alaska, Sierra Nevada

Courses Taught:
•GEOG 105: Cultural Geography
•GEOG 301: Environmental Conservation
•GEOG 353: Mountain Geography
•GEOG 411: Senior Field Research
•GEOG 672: Graduate Seminar in Central Asia

Education/degrees:
PhD UC Davis - Geography
MA UC Davis - Geography
BA UC Berkeley - Geography
BS UC Berkeley - Conservation and Resource Science

Research Interests:
Biodiversity analysis and land use history, parks and protected areas, and geographic education. Current writing projects involve a grade school science textbook series, and another volume investigating contemporary environmental challenges in the Sierra Nevada.

Publications:
Cunha, S. F. (in press. Agriculture, Pastoralism, and Forestry. In: Friend, D., Byers, A., and Price, L. (eds.). Mountains and Humans: A Study of Process and Evolution. Berkeley, UC Press.

Cunha, S. F. 2005. The Mountain Tajiks: Central Asia’s Forgotten Tribe. In: Burszta, W. J., Kamusella, T., and Wojciechowski, S. (eds.). Nationalisms Across the Globe: An Overview of Nationalisms in State-Endowed and Stateless Nations, Volume II. Instytut Slawistyki PAN (Slavic Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences), Warsaw.

Cunha, S. F. 2005. National Geographic Bee Official Study Guide, Revised. Washington, D. C. National Geographic Society.

Cunha, S. F. 2004. Allah’s Mountains: Establishing a National Park in the Central Asian Pamir. In: Warf, B., Jannelle, D., and Hansen, K.: WorldMinds: Geographical Perspectives on 100 Problems. New York, Kluwer.

Bockenhauer, M., and Cunha, S. 2004. Our 50 States. Washington, D. C. National
Geographic Society.

Cunha, S. F. 2003. Tajikistan and Alaska. In: Page, M. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Colonialism. New York. East River Books.

Cunha, S. F. 2003 To Bee or Not to Bee: Integrating the National Geographic Bee into the Middle School Curriculum. Social Studies Review 42:2.

Cunha, S. F., and Schell, E. 2003. E. Instilling a Passion for Geography. Social Studies Review 42:2.

Alford, D., Cunha, S., and Ives, J.D. 1999. Mountain Hazards and Development
Assistance: Lake Sarez, Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. Mountain Research &
Development 20:1

 

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