Positions
Associate Professor (Adjunct) Public Administration and Decision Making, PADM, College of Business & Public Policy
University of Alaska & Principal, Konkel and Associates, Understanding Social and Economic Systems; Natural Resources Management, Energy, Environmental Policy, Arctic Policy, Sustainable Drinking Water and Sanitation and Utility Systems June 2015 – present
Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Sciences, College of Health Environmental Health Sciences, U. of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Jan. 2012 – May 2015
Associate Professor. Department of Health Sciences, U. of Alaska Anchorage, (Jan. 2012 — date) College of Health. Coordinated new UAA Minor in Public Health and two new tracks of the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences (BSHS) program. Program currently has attracted over 200 pre-majors in its second year of delivery.
Sr. Consultant, Health and Environment, Dublin, Ireland 2011 (Summer USA 859.779.2045)
Senior Research Fellow, Health and Environment, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), College of Sciences and Health, DIT Kevin Street, Dean's Office, 1st Floor, Dublin Ireland 2008 - 2010
US Fulbright Scholar 2007/08 Ireland, Irish-American Fulbright Commission Award, DIT Cathal Brugha St., School of Food Science & Environmental Health
On extended leave from Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), Department of Environmental Health Science 2007-2010
Initial appointment at EKU, Fall 1998. Co-developer, with Prof. Joe E. Beck, of a Masters of Environmental Health Science (MSc degree); served as Graduate Program Coordinator for the first 5 years; program was accredited by the Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH) and became an option in the Master of Public Health (MPH) offered by EKU.
Extensive publication, research, and scholarly achievements, active in the scholarship of teaching and learning at EKU's Teaching and Learning Center, and service to the University in environmental stewardship as well as two terms on Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate (3-term Senator). Please See C.V.
Educational Journeys and Professional Experience
Steve Konkel was born in Denver, Colorado. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in Architectural Engineering in 1972, he earned a Master in City Planning from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. His first job in New England was work in Portland, Maine as an economist/planner on projects to clean up Maine's lakes and ponds and environmental impact evaluations of electrical energy projects. After several years in Oak Ridge, TN, working as a Senior Research Scientist in the Energy Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he serves in the Office of the Governor, State of Alaska from 1980 - 1984 as a policy Analyst. During the second administration of former Governor Jay Hammond, Dr. Konkel had oversight responsibilities involving rural energy conservation programs and renewable energy research and development programs including wind generators. He has been active in the past decade evaluating drinking water and sanitation systems in rural Alaska and has contributed to the development of a novel state-wide Alaska rural utility co-operative program developed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
Dr Konkel earned his Ph.D at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, where he specialized in Environmental Planning and Policy (September 1991). Upon completion of his Ph.D., he signed up for another stint in the national laboratory system, this time as a Senior Research Scientist in the Technology Planning Analysis Center at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNWNL). He worked in Energy Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory before serving in the Office of the Governor in the State of Alaska, Division of Policy Development and Planning. The "Hammond Years" under Jay Hammond were some of the most exciting and productive years following territorial days and Statehood for Alaska. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, HR 39, was passed due to the extraordinary leadership of Morris Udall (D-AZ) during the time Dr. Konkel was responsible for oversight of the Division of Energy and Power Development in conservation and alternative energy technologies.
In 1998, Dr Konkel was hired in a tenure-track position as an assistant professor in Environmental Health Science at EKU (Eastern Kentucky University) in Richmond, Kentucky. In August 2001 he was promoted to program coordinator of the Master of Public Health-Option in Environmental Health. In January 2003, he was promoted to Associate Professor. During this year he was appointed as an Associated Professor in Health Sciences at TUI University Cypress, CA and as an Associate Professor in the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health. He is currently adjunct doctoral program faculty at Trident U. in Cypress, CA and serves as an External Course Adviser for an Environmental and Occupational Health course (BSc Hons.) in Malaysia (KL) as well as two masters degrees in environmental and public health at the University of Birmingham in the Midlands of ENGLAND (in the third year of this appointment).
Dr Konkel was awarded the National Environmental Health Association's Sabbatical Exchange Ambassador Award in 2003. He was appointed as a Visiting Scientist at King's College, London in March 2004. During his assignment overseas he visited over a dozen environmental and public health programs at universities in England, Wales Ireland Northern Ireland and Scotland. His travels also took him to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Amsterdam, where he visited Institutes who have research interests in connecting environment and human health.
During his year as a US Fulbright Scholar, Dr Konkel and Colleagues at the DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology) developed an all-island research institute in health and environment. Dr Konkel worked with the Dublin City Council and with the Health Service Executive, Environmental Health Services division, in Ireland where he led projects in environmental health policy and planning. He has been an invited keynote speaker at the annual conference of Environmental Health Officers in Athlone, County Westmeath, and he annually speaks at conferences of NEHA (National Environmental Health Association) and has attended World Congresses on Environmental Health in Dublin, Brisbane, and Vancouver (presenting papers, and in Brisbane, facilitating an International Faculty Forum (IFF) that developed a "breakthrough" strategy in competency-based curriculum design. He network of collaborators includes colleagues in the United Kingdom, USA, and Malaysia, as well as Ireland. Professor Konkel has served as a technical section chair for the NEHA's Environmental Health Research section since 2005 and was re-appointed by in-coming President of NEHA Mel Knight as Environmental Health Research Coordinator in June 2011.
He has over twenty-five years of experience in the field of environmental health planning, environmental regulation, policy and decision-making. He is a certified mediator and member of the AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners), of the APA (American Planning Association) and past editor of the Chronicle of the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (AEHAP) during its founding years supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA.
For a more detailed Biographical profile please click here