John Lindenbaum

Specialty Assistant Professor of Geography, Department of Anthropology

1. What do you like most about geography? What inspired your interest in geography?

I have always loved maps, road trips, and knowing where rock bands and rappers are from, but I didn’t know geography was something I could teach until after college. My high school and my undergraduate university didn’t have any geography classes, so it wasn’t until I applied to graduate school that I learned this was even an option. What I like most about geography is that it combines ideas from lots of different disciplines.

2. Which class is your favorite to teach and why?

Right now, I am developing a brand new class called Climate Migrants, so it is my current favorite. The class will combine several different sub-disciplines of geography and anthropology (climate science, biogeography, political geography, cultural geography, archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, etc.), so I get to learn a lot myself as I create the class. It is a chance to look deeper into why people migrate or why they do not, going beyond simplistic “everyone who lives in a flood zone will move” predictions.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

When I was young, I think I wanted to be an entertainment lawyer or record industry executive. Being a professional soccer player was never really in the cards, though that would have been great. Both of my parents were college professors, so all I knew when I was young was that I DID NOT want to go into higher education for my career. Oops.

4. How did you get to CSU?

When I finished graduate school, my wife started a post-doctoral fellowship based at CSU. I taught at the University of Northern Colorado for a year and then grew my Ram horns.

5. What is one thing students would be surprised to learn about you?

I cry during sports drink and pet food commercials.