RESEARCH & FACULTY
William Crumplin
William Crumplin
Associate ProfessorEnvironmental Studies
Humanities and Social Sciences
705.675.1151 ext. 3357
A-250
Sudbury Campus
Dr. Crumplin has taught at Laurentian University since 2003 and has been a university professor since 1992 when he began teaching at the Corner Brook campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland (1992-94). He then moved to Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (1994-2003) where, in additon to teaching, he also served as Registrar from 1998 to 2001. He served as the President of the Ontario Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAGONT) from 2004 to 2010 and has presented nearly 30 papers at professional conferences. He has been a keynote speaker on several occasions presenting links between obesity, urban sprawl and contemporary lifestyles in northern Ontario. More recently he has investigated the ecological impacts of various cultural activities including selected competitive sports and the western meat based diet. Another long time interest has been geo-politics.
He highly values teaching and learning with undergraduate students and frequently uses everyday events to illustrate theoretical models and/or approaches to make learning relevant for students. Along this line, he uses films, poetry, music, news items, TED Talks, and video clips to enrich classroom presentations and spawn informed discussions.
The courses he currently rotates through his teaching schedule include:
- ENVI 1507 Intro to Environmental Studies;
- ENVI 2506 Cultural Representations of the Environment;
- ENVI 2516 Ecological Footprints and Demographic Change;
- ENVI 2526 Diet, Food Choice and the Environment;
- ENVI 3506 The Living City;
- ENVI 3516 Greening the Built Environment; and
- ENVI 4746 Reaching Sustainability with Incremental or Massive Change.
Since developing and teaching the Diet, Food Choice and the Environment course, he has made advances, with support from his wife, in following a vegan lifestyle. He continues to play pick-up hockey, is a motorcycle enthusiast and loves animals and nature. He considers himself a connoisseur of fine beer and has migrated his charcoal barbequing talents from meat to vegetables. And he is currently in the process of developing the perfect home made grilled veggie burger – a seemingly elusive goal.
- B.A. (Hons) Geography, University of Western Ontario 1986
- M.A. Geography, University of Victoria, 1989
- Ph.D. Geography, Queen's University at Kingston, 1994
- M.A. Geography, Waterloo University, 2002
Dr Crumplin's research interests focus on the impact of climate change on small island states and territories, the ecological footprints associated with selected cultural activities, preparedness of Canadian cities for effects of climate change, and greening the built environment.
- Certificate of Appreciation from LU Student Success Centre 2013
- Certificate of Appreciation from LU Student Success Centre 2012
- Certificate of Appreciation from LU Student Success Centre 2010
- with C. Bouchard, forthcoming, The Marine nationale in the southern Indian Ocean Maritime Zone, Conference Proceedings for the 2012 Royal Australian Navy Sea Power Conference themed, The Naval Contribution to National Security and Prosperity, Sydney Australia, February, 2012.
- with C. Bouchard, 2013, France as a Pertinent and Significant Indian Ocean Player, Foreign Policy Research Centre (FPRC) Journal, Vol. 14, No. 2: 88-100.
- with C. Bouchard, 2011, Two Faces of France: France of the Indian Ocean/France in the Indian Ocean, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, Vol. 6, No. 1: 161-182.
- with C. Bouchard, 2011, Chapter 3: Regionalism: The experience of the South-West Indian Ocean Islands, in Reinvigorating IOR-ARC, edited by V. Sakhuja, Pentagon Press, New Delhi, pp. 27-59.
- with D. Williams, 2010, Chapter 2: The Impact of Travel on Families with Youth Competitive Athletes, in Family Geographies The Spatiality of Families and Family Life, edited by Bonnie C. Hallman, Oxford University Press, Don Mills, pp. 31-50.
