Terri L Woodburn
- Associate Teaching Professor
- Program Director for the Environmental Assessment Professional Science Masters program and manager for the Environmental Studies completion track at Edwards Campus
- Program Director/Assistant Teaching Professor, Professional Science Masters
Contact Info
Office Phone:
Regents Center, Edwards Campus, room #2B
Biography —
Terri Woodburn has taught at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus since 2015 and has over 20 years of higher education teaching experience. Terri became Director of the Environmental Assessment Professional Science Master’s program and manager for the Environmental Studies undergraduate completion track at KU Edwards Campus in 2019. She obtained BS, MA, and PhD degrees in Physical Geography from Northwest Missouri State University and the University of Kansas that cover a range of physical process focuses. Courses taught range from physical geography, meteorology, geomorphology, and remote sensing to current courses in soil science, soil ecology, wetland delineation, fluvial geomorphology, and water resource sustainability, among others. Her professional experience, with positions at the Kansas Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and field research experience focused in fluvial (river system) and soil geomorphology, provides the foundation for her current course offerings that include experiential learning. In addition, Terri leads a variety of master’s capstone projects, some of which are within her current research focus on soil health and soil carbon sequestration in urban environments.
Research —
Research interests include soil amendments, soil carbon sequestration, soil and fluvial geomorphology, Quaternary landscapes and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, phytolith analysis, and soil bioturbation focusing on biogenic impact on pedogenisis.
Teaching —
My primary goal in teaching is to create a positive learning environment for students by facilitating and encouraging participation, whether in an online, face-to-face, or a hybrid setting. I believe that learning should be stimulating and relevant to the students whether they are professionals in the field already or just being introduced to a topic in a required course. I develop course structures that drive holistic systems thinking – providing a student with foundational information from a multidisciplinary approach and having them apply these concepts and considerations to everyday experiences and industry-focused case studies. Clearly connecting topics and coursework directly to professional skills needed for a students' current and/or future career help them build and display these skillsets. Additionally, providing ample opportunities for students to share their knowledge from their differing perspectives and personal experiences is one of the greatest teaching tools at my disposal. Peer interaction allows us to cover much more information and varying viewpoints than a lecture-only class.