Darla Munroe, professor in the Department of Geography, was named interim chair of the department, effective July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019.

Munroe specializes in human-environment geography and land change, focusing on the interactions between people and their environments at a landscape level. She researches how forests are impacted by changes in land-use systems such as urban conversion and shifts in agricultural production patterns. Munroe has authored dozens of publications over the span of her career, the latest of which includes “Rural-to-urban migration and the geography of absentee nonindustrial private forest ownership: A case from southeast Ohio,” “Effects of Land Use” and “Using economic geography to reinvigorate land-change science.”

Munroe’s current work includes a three-year, $439,966 grant as a part of the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. Munroe, along with researchers from the University of Maine, James Madison University and the University of Connecticut, is studying biodiversity, ecosystem services and the socioeconomic sustainability of rural, forest-based communities.

Munroe earned her PhD in geography from the University of Illinois and earned her MA in applied economics from the University of Michigan.

"I am honored for the opportunity to serve the Department of Geography in this new capacity,” Munroe said. “I consider it my mission to work for and with all members of the department.”