Biology

Mitch Wagener, PhD

Professor l Ecologist l Climate Change Educator

145 Science Building

Western Connecticut State University

wagenerm@wcsu.edu



My Specialties:

  • Climate change education
    • I am available to present programs on climate change to the public. If you would like me to speak to your group, please contact me at wagenerm@wcsu.edu
  • Ecology of streams and soils
  • Entomology
  • Natural history of historic stone walls
  • Interdisciplinary education

Courses I teach at WCSU:

  • BIO 100 Concepts of Biology (general education)
  • BIO 150 Science of Climate Change (general education)
  • BIO 200 Ecology
  • BIO 203 Invertebrate Zoology
  • BIO 375 Climate Ecology
  • HON 398 Life, the Universe, and Everything (Honors)
  • HON 398 Life in the Anthropocene (Honors)
  • HON 498 Climate and Civilization (Honors)
    • courses specifically about climate change

Learn About Me

I teach climate ecology, entomology, and related courses at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. My research interests include the impact of historical events—such as the Industrial Revolution—on the environment.

I began life in the Missouri Ozarks and attending high school in Branson, MO. After spending a year as an exchange student in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I attended the University of Missouri Columbia and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In Fairbanks, I met the lovely Rita Kabali, a native of Uganda, East Africa, to whom I have been married since 1983. We have two lively daughters, Rohanna (a history teacher) and Danika (a nurse).

I enjoy—among other things—watching my grandson grow up, and explaining climate change to the public.

My Education:

PhD Soil Ecology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1995

MS Stream Ecology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1985

BS Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Missouri Columbia, 1981