May 24, 2018

Chloupek, Maddison present papers at ecotourism symposium

By Grace Niemeyer, communication assistant

Dr. Brett Chloupek, assistant professor of geography at Northwest Missouri State University, and student Michael Maddison presented April 18-20 at the Great Plains Ecotourism Symposium in Kearney, Nebraska.

Chloupek presented his paper, titled “Chernobyl as a Prototype for Geopolitical Ecotourism,” which discussed the role of tourism in ecological disaster areas such as Chernobyl, Ukraine. Chloupek traveled to Chernobyl, the site of a 1986 nuclear accident, and examined tour company materials in preparation for his paper.

Maddison, a Norwalk, Iowa, native, who graduated this spring with his bachelor’s degree in Geographic Information Systems, presented his paper, titled “Identifying Outdoor Classroom Sites in the Missouri Arboretum,” which was supported by a Northwest undergraduate research grant. The paper analyzed the Missouri Arboretum at Northwest, ideal outdoor learning environments on campus and outdoor classroom construction practices.

Patrick Ward, director of the Missouri Arboretum at Northwest, also attended the symposium to promote the Missouri Arboretum. The Missouri State Legislature designated the Northwest campus as the Missouri Arboretum in 1993, and the campus is home today to more than 1,700 trees and more than 130 species cultivated from throughout the world.

Chloupek joined the Northwest faculty in 2013 and teaches coursework focused on the geography of Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as map investigation and political geography. He earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and computer information systems from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, a master’s degree in geography and a certificate in geographic information system from Oklahoma State University, and his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Kansas.