Seth T. Kannarr, PhD

I am originally from Machesney Park, Illinois and graduated from Harlem High School in 2016. I spent a lot of my youth exploring the outdoors in my pursuits with local Scouting, as well with friends and family across the country.

I have also spent 15 summers working on Staff at Canyon Camp, a Scouting America summer camp in Stockton, Illinois. I have worked in positions ranging from Handicraft CIT to Nature Director to Camp Director. It was here, in teaching merit badges to Scouts, that I found a knack for teaching young adults about nature, society, and beyond.

I earned a Bachelor of Science in Geography as a Meridian Scholar in the University Honors Program at SIUE (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) in 2020 and earned my Master of Arts in Geography at the University of Missouri in 2022. I earned my Doctor of Philosophy in Geography degree at the University of Tennessee in 2026, working with Dr. Derek Alderman. I now serve as a Visiting Honors Lecturer back at my alma mater, SIUE.

My academic areas of expertise include critical parks geographies, place naming studies, and geography education. I am fascinated by protected areas such as our 'National Parks' and how factors such as a place's name can shape the perceptions and experiences that people have when visiting them. If you want to learn more, just ask me about the redesignation of the Gateway Arch National Park in downtown St. Louis, that will get me going quick! You often can find me presenting at AAG and other academic conferences.

One of my greatest passions is to teach others about our natural world. As a well-rounded geographer taught and trained in physical geography, cultural geography, and GIS technology, I enjoy teaching a mixture of courses that cross geographic specialty areas and present interdisciplinary work from a spatial lens as a geographer. I value the impact of field trips and hands-on experiential learning, as well as offering courses that are "low-workload, high-learning" for students.

Would you like to learn more about me? Feel free to keep perusing around this website! You also are welcome to set up a meeting with me via Koalender or to email me as found below. Thank you!