Duquesne Names New Dean of Natural and Environmental Sciences

President Charles J. Dougherty has named Dr. Philip Reeder as the new dean of Duquesne’s Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences effective Monday, July 1. He will succeed Dr. David Seybert, who, after serving as dean of the Bayer School since 2002, has decided to return to scholarship and teaching full-time.

Reeder is chair of the Division of Environmental Science and Policy as well as an associate professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Planning at the University of South Florida.

“To be part of an established school like the Bayer School, and to be selected to lead it into the future is truly exciting,” said Reeder. “The aspirations for the University, and the Bayer School, are very much in line with my perspectives on what makes a strong School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.”

Reeder’s research and areas of expertise focus on environmental change, paleo-climate and landscape evolution; environmental education, sustainability and the human role in environmental change; and paleo-environments, geoarchaeology and cultural landscape evolution.

During his career, Reeder has garnered grant funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Geographic Society, among others. His fieldwork and research have been conducted around the world, including sites at Jeju Island in South Korea, Mary’s Well in Nazareth, the Cave of Letters in the Judean Desert and the Northern Vaca Plateau in Belize.

In addition, Reeder teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels, is director of USF’s Environmental Policy and Management Graduate Certificate program, and has served on the University’s Faculty Senate Executive Committee.

“My areas of expertise fit very nicely within the existing areas of specialization in the Bayer School,” explained Reeder. “I feel that this makes me well-equipped to enhance cross-disciplinary academic endeavors in the Bayer School and University, and to build upon the great tradition of the Bayer School and to continue to stress hands-on learning experiences for the students within the confines of the classroom and in the field.”

Prior to his work at USF, Reeder taught at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Waikato in New Zealand and Valdosta State University. In 1994, Reeder served as a prestigious Fulbright Scholar in Peru, where he led workshops about the environment for Peruvian educators and conducted environmental contamination and geoarchaeological research.

Reeder’s work has appeared in the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, Focus on Geography, Professional Geographer and Geoarchaeology and Karst: A New Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his master’s degree in geography from Western Kentucky University and his bachelor’s degree in Earth science from Frostburg State University.

“I look forward to the challenges and rewards as the administrators, faculty, staff and students work together to continue to make the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences a place of national and international importance collectively,” said Reeder.