Tom Koontz, Ph.D.

I grew up in Kitsap county and completed my bachelor's degree at the University of Puget Sound, before heading east to pursue graduate work at Indiana University in Public Policy. My interdisciplinary graduate studies focused on environmental policy as it relates to human systems including institutions, stakeholder participation and community-based natural resource management, as well as natural systems such as forests, watersheds and the global climate. As a research assistant with the International Forestry Resources and Institutions program, I collaborated with international scholars examining the ecological and sociopolitical aspects of community-based natural resource management and coupled human and natural systems.

In 1998 I joined the faculty at Ohio State University in the interdisciplinary School of Environment and Natural Resources. Working with colleagues and students, I conducted research on collaborative environmental management, forest policy, watershed management and related environmental and natural resources policy topics. As one of the few social scientists in an environmental science program, I enjoyed helping students to integrate across disciplines and see the critical role of social science in solving environmental challenges.

In 2011 I spent a half-year sabbatical at Leuphana University in Germany, where I taught and researched in the sustainability program. This provided an opportunity to compare collaboration and water policy between the European Union and the U.S. In 2014 I returned to my home state of Washington to join UW Tacoma in its environmental science, environmental studies, and sustainability efforts.     

Teaching was my motivation for choosing a career in academia, and I have enjoyed opportunities to develop and teach many different courses to facilitate student learning. Moreover, I have contributed guest lectures and discussion facilitation in a wide range of courses to integrate environmental politics and policy concepts across the natural and social sciences. In 2007, while at Ohio State University, I was honored to receive the Plimpton Outstanding Teaching award, my College’s top teaching recognition, as well as the Price Advising Award, my College’s top advising recognition.

I have experimented with a variety of teaching strategies to facilitate active student learning. In addition, an important teaching role for me entails mentoring students outside the classroom. I enjoy collaborating with students conducting research for their honors and thesis projects. These student-faculty partnerships frequently lead to jointly authored papers and conference presentations.

Through extensive feedback from students, colleagues, and pedagogical experts, I have come to see that there is no single “best” teaching approach for all contexts, and that student learning modes vary across individuals as well as within individuals at different stages of their learning. Over time, I have developed a repertoire of teaching tools to facilitate student learning, including questioning techniques, classroom discussion, reflective writing, application of material to student-relevant experiences, service learning, and playing games in the classroom.

At UW Tacoma I regularly teach TESC 201 The Science of Sustainability, TESC 345 Pollution and Public Policy, TEST 337 Natural Resources Policy: America's Public Forests and Parks, TEST 200 Fundamentals of Environmental Studies and Sustainability, and TGH303 Global Challenges: Tragedy of the Commons. In these courses, we explore policy making, human behavior, institutions and the relationship between science and decision making.

Coordinating Committee Co-chair, Elinor Ostrom Award on Collective Governance of the Commons, 2020-2021, International Association for the Study of the Commons.
Committee member, Emerging Young Scholar Award, APSA Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics Section, 2023.
Editorial Board member, Policy Studies Journal, 2010-present.
Editorial Board member, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2009-present
Member, Social Sciences Advisory Committee, Puget Sound Partnership Science Committee, 2014-present
Member, External Advisory Board, National Science Foundation National Research Traineeship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2017-2022.
Co-chair, SIAS Faculty Advancement Task Force, 2019-2020.
Associate Editor, Society & Natural Resources, 2015-2019.
Member, Faculty Council Task Force on Graduate Faculty Status, 2017-2018.
Campus Fellow, Teaching Evaluation Working Group, University of Washington Tacoma, 2014-2016.
Coordinator, Environmental Sustainability major, University of Washington Tacoma, 2014-present.
Member, Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Advisory Committee, 2014-2020.
Editor, STEP Ahead, Newsletter of the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Section of the American Political Science Association (bi-monthly), 2011-2015.