MANSFIELD, PA— Russ Dodson, longtime faculty member in the Department of Geosciences, will be the speaker at Mansfield University’s 151st Commencement on Saturday, December 12 at 11 a.m. in Decker Gymnasium.
“Dr. Russ Dodson has had a positive influence on countless student’s lives and has impacted our University in numerous ways,” MU President Fran Hendricks said in making the announcement. “Even though he is now semi-retired, Russ continues to be a leader and we look forward to hearing his advice and challenges to our newest graduates. We are honored to have Dr. Dodson speak at our Commencement.”
Dodson joined the Mansfield faculty in 1982 and served as chair of the Department of Geography and Geology, now known as the Department of Geosciences, from 1993 until 2014. He developed the Environmental Science program in Geography at MU and has been advisor to the Geography Club since its inception in 1986.
Dodson has led numerous three-week summer field classes to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and co-lead the 2014 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Summer Honors Program trips to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. He has served on or chaired numerous University committees.
He is a graduate of Wayne State University (B.S.E. Geography, 1972), and Michigan State University (M.S. Geography 1974; Ph.D. Geography, 1985). In his nonacademic life Dodson has had jobs ranging from surveyor in the U.S. Army to production foreman at Ford Motor Company.
Dodson is on the Board of Directors for the Wellsboro Community Concert Association and was recently elected their president. The outdoors are important to him and over the years Dodson has enjoyed taking students hiking and camping, canoeing and whitewater rafting, caving and skiing.