Geography : Faculty - Karl Lillquist

Karl Lillquist Professor, Geography and Land Studies Department Co-Director, Resource Management Graduate Program Lind Hall 117C Phone: (509) 963-1184 Email: lillquis@cwu.edu

Karl is a physical geographer who has been a faculty member since Fall 1995. Prior to coming to CWU he was an assistant professor of geography at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa from 1993-95. This is a homecoming of sorts for Karl as he earned degrees in Geography and Geology as a student here in the early to mid-1980's.

Karl's first academic love is physical geography field study. His upbringing in Coulee City, WA probably played a big part in this love. "I grew up amidst the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington. My parent's house was situated on a late Pleistocene flood scoured basalt surface, and I grew up recreating in this unique landscape. Also, I spent my summers picking glacial erratics out of wheat fields located behind the terminus of the Okanogan Lobe of the Cordilleran Icesheet". He teaches physical geography, geomorphology, soils, airphoto analysis, mountain environments, and arid lands. Karl's recent research has focused on geomorphic and stratigraphic evidence for environmental change in the western U.S. including mass wasting, glaciers, and arroyos. He has also researched the geography of Japanese American relocation centers in the western U.S.

Karl's spouse Nancy is also a Geography alumnus (1983) and they have two young boys–Erik and Jensen. In his spare time, Karl enjoys most human-powered outdoor activities (including rock rolling), wrestling with his boys, making compost for Nancy's garden, and yard saling.

Top image: In Skaftafell National Park, Iceland,
Bottom image: Kayaking on the Columbia with Missoula flood erratics in the background. From left, Nancy, Karl, Jensen, and Erik Lillquist