Darla Munroe, professor and interim chair in the Department of Geography, was recently named chair of the department, effective July 1, 2019, through June 20, 2023, pending approval by the Board of Trustees.

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