Director of Conservation and Environmental Science, UW-Milwaukee
Urban Ecology Center Institute, volunteer
Professor Emeritus of Biology at Alverno College
Adjunct Professor of History at UW-Milwaukee
Chris has been exploring the natural world as long as he can remember, starting on a small farm west of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. He lived and taught in the Pacific Northwest before moving to Milwaukee. He began to study the connections to nature in the city in 2000, which led him to the doorstep of the Urban Ecology Center.
He is the author of
- In the Absence of Predators: Conservation and Controvesy on the Kaibab Plateau (Nebraska, 2002) and
- The Environment and Science: Social Impact and Interaction (ABC-CLIO, 2005)
He is the co-editor of
- Evolution and Creationism: A Documentary and Reference Guide (ABC-CLIO, 2007) and
- Nature Remade: Engineering Life, Envisioning Worlds (University of Chicago, 2021)
In 2017, Chris began volunteering to develop a programmatic approach to sharing the Urban Ecology Center’s distinctive model, in conjunction with Ken Leinbach and the book, Urban Ecology. Since then, the Urban Ecology Center Institute has grown into an outreach effort, connecting to people in 27 cities around the world to case studies that show how the organization emerged from a neighborhood group and grew into an environmental community center with three branches and education program in schools and neighborhoods throughout the city of Milwaukee. In 2020, Chris took an academic leave from Alverno College and eventually retired from his long-time faculty position there. He led the UEC Institute as project manager until 2023.
Most recently, Chris has joined the academic staff at UW-Milwaukee as a teaching professor and director of the Conservation and Environmental Science program. He is also an adjunct professor in the department of history. The CES program prepares undergraduates for careers in a wide range of activities, including education, advocacy, ecological restoration, environmental consulting, and protection of habitat and green spaces.
Throughout his teaching career in higher education, Chris has taught courses that focus on evolution, climate change, environmental history, the natural history of the Pacific Northwest, the natural history of urban green spaces in Milwaukee, and social impacts of science, as well as introductory biology, and science methods for teachers.
Sharing the Urban Ecology Center model 