Donald A. Friend
Home People Programs Facilities
Home People Programs Facilities
Department of Geography
Minnesota State University
206 Morris Hall
Mankato, MN 56001
Phone: 507-389-2618
FAX: 507-389-2980
Dr. Friend is a seasoned academic professional with over 30 years of experience as a professor, researcher, administrator, manager, advisor, outdoor educator, and Fulbright Scholar. He is recognized for superior written and verbal communication, leadership and coalition building skills in a complex higher education system. He has a demonstrated capacity to effectively cultivate relationships with diverse constituents, understand and succeed within complex organizations, and adapt to changing environments. He also has excellent problem solving, decision-making, strategic planning and fund-raising skills. He demonstrates the values of ethics and integrity in all actions.
Dr. Friend’s research and teaching interests focus on physical geography, especially earth surface and atmospheric processes, their interaction and human impacts in mountains. He is also keenly interested in geographic, environmental and international education.
At Minnesota State University (MSU) Dr. Friend serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, is Founding Director of the Minnesota Modeling and Simulation Center, and is Founding Program Director of the Professional Science Masters in Geographic Information Science. He served as Director of Earth Science Programs for 17 years, he served one year as Special Assistant to the Provost, and he and the Provost Co-Chaired the University 2010-2015 Strategic Planning Committee.
In service beyond his host institution Dr. Friend completed three-year terms on a Fulbright National Screening Committee, and on the American Association of Geographers (AAG) governing body, the AAG Council. He is the US Representative to the International Geographical Union Commission on Mountain Response to Global Change, and is past Chair and Founder of the Mountain Geography Specialty Group of the AAG. He is also past Chair of the Geomorphology Specialty Group of the AAG. From 2007 to 2010 he served as Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Mountain Science published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and remains as Editorial Advisor, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as North American Regional Editor for Geographische Rundschau – International Edition published by Westermann in Germany. He sits on the advisory board of the Mountain Studies Institute.
Dr. Friend has written over 50 scholarly papers and reports, edited two books, and he has delivered dozens of scholarly presentations and lectures. He has garnered $1.86 million in funding through grants, contracts and awards, and he manages $2 million per year in external and internal resources.
Honors Dr. Friend has received include: a Fulbright Senior Scholarship; the “Barry Bishop Distinguished Career Award” from the Mountain Geography Specialty Group of the AAG; an award for Exceptional Service to the AAG; the “J. Warren Nystrom Award” for the Most Outstanding Dissertation Research in the AAG; membership in Gamma Theta Upsilon, the International Geographical Honor Society; and listing in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in Science and Engineering. At MSU, awards he has received include: the only "Super Advisor" award ever given for garnering "Outstanding Advisor" nominations ten years in a row; an outstanding teaching award; the "Global Citizen Award" for major contributions to globalization efforts; being named a "Presidential Teaching Scholar Fellow;" being named an “MSU Author” for publishing a scholarly text; and he has delivered the annual "Frontier Forum" distinguished lectureship.
His education includes a Certificate in Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His Ph.D. is in Geography from Arizona State University. He earned the M.A. in Geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he earned the B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley in Conservation of Natural Resources.
Dr. Friend has held several invited appointments: Guest Professor at Universität Erlangen, Germany, and at the University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany; and he served as Visiting Scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography as well as at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He has held summer lectureships with Wildlands Research in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska; and with The Mountain Institute.
In addition to academic pursuits, Dr. Friend is a mountaineer, husband and father, and remains active in the community. He instructed for the Colorado Outward Bound School seasonally from 1987 to 1994, is married with three children and served four years as the International Youth Exchange Officer in his local chapter of Rotary International.