Dr. Christa Haney is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Mississippi State University (MSU) and the Director of the Geosciences Distance Learning Programs. She grew up in the Great Lakes region of Ontario, Canada. Christa has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Windsor (Canada) where she completed a thesis studying the effects of El Nino on Tropical Cyclone activity in the East Pacific Basin. Dr. Haney graduated with a Master’s degree in Geosciences from Mississippi State in December, 1999 and completed her PhD in Earth and Atmospheric Science at MSU in Spring 2017 studying the cardiac impacts of winter weather events and snow removal. Dr. Haney has nearly 25 years in online education in weather and climate, environmental science, water resources, oceanography, statistics, research methods and forensic geosciences. Dr. Haney's research interests include the impact of humans on the environment, weather and human health, weather hazards and perceptions, as well as best practices and learning strategies in online education. Dr. Haney is Quality Matters certified and is the recipient of the UPCEA Professional, Continuing and Online Educator Award winner for the South region (2022) as well as MSU’s Center for Distance Education online teaching award winner (2022).

Education

• Ph.D., Mississippi State University, Department of Geosciences, 2013-2017
• M.S., Mississippi State University, Department of Geosciences, 1996-1998
• B.S., University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Department of Geography, 1991-1995

Experience

• Director, Geosciences Distance Learning Programs, Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, 2023-present
• Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, 2019-present
• Instructor, Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, 2000-2018

Research Interests

• Human Impacts on the Environment
• Weather/climate and human health
• Weather hazards and perceptions
• Use of authentic datasets and local research in online education
• Best practices and learning strategies in online education

Teaching Areas

• GR 1123 Intro to World Geography
• GR 1114 Physical Geography
• GR 1603 Intro to Meteorology
• GR 4633 Statistical Climatology
• GR 4603 Climatology
• GR 4613 Applied Climatology
• GG 3613 Water Resources
• GG 3603 Intro to Oceanography
• GR 4863/6863 Forensic Geoscience
• GR 8553 Research Methods
• GG 8233 Environmental Geosciences