Rod Parnell, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow, Sustainability Education

Rod Parnell is senior fellow for sustainability education core competencies at GCSE. In this role, he works to support the GCSE Sustainability Education Consensus Statement and Core Competencies Community of Practice that aims to identify the core sustainability competencies and student learning outcomes. Rod is also a coordinator of academic sustainability programs, past chair of the Environmental Caucus, and professor of earth sciences and environmental sustainability at Northern Arizona University (NAU). As coordinator of academic sustainability at NAU, he has worked to improve sustainability curricula across campus, promote and support academic programs with sustainability emphases, reduce redundancy in sustainability and environmental coursework, and work with the finance and administration division to promote sustainability-related internships and research. His current research focuses on the application of biogeochemistry and geomorphology to the sustainable management of river systems in the Western U.S. and on the transformation of environmental curricula to incorporate more sustainability. He has worked on the effects of acid rain, volcanic emissions, and sulfide mineral deposits on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Rod received his doctorate degree in geology from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College.