Liesch, Matthew

Biography

Dr. Matthew Liesch is Professor and Chairperson for the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Central Michigan University. Liesch has expertise in how communities strategize at municipal scales to create more livable places, in the face of environmental and economic changes. Understanding social and biophysical systems helps with asking and answering research questions in creative ways.

His research has focused on three areas: Cultural and natural resource management, how places adapt and plan in response to changing economic and environmental concerns, and with student researchers, a more recent area of research is to examine how campuses plan for sustainability initiatives. Liesch’s research has been funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Corporation for National and Community Service/Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Michigan Sea Grant, and archival travel awards.

Liesch enjoys sharing academic ideas to varied audiences. Beyond the classroom, he has given invited talks at five of Michigan’s fifteen public universities, and has been quoted in The Detroit News, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WWTV/WWUP Cadillac/Sault Sainte Marie television, WCMU Public Radio, various radio stations in the Upper Peninsula, and written for Michigan History magazine.

He enjoys mentoring students. Outcomes from student mentoring include student co-authored research articles, empowering students in Central Sustainability to grow as sustainability leaders, mentoring a student to receive CMU’s first and only nationally-competitive Udall Scholar award, and conversations with students helping them to see paths for their professional and civic lives beyond CMU. Student projects tend to be applied to practical issues facing communities. He enjoys coaching students to help them think integratively and develop problem-solving skills for weighing complex issues without perfect solutions.

Liesch enjoys integrating ideas in a time of change. At CMU he has served on the university’s strategic planning committee, a committee to enhance inclusion and belonging on campus, and co-chaired a committee on strategic enrollment for online programs.

In valuing community engagement through academic insights, Liesch served from 2016-2025 as an appointed Planning Commissioner for the City of Mount Pleasant. He has also served as the Economic Restructuring Chair for one of Michigan’s Main Street placemaking programs, and provided advice to museums, the National Park Service, and land conservancies in the Upper Peninsula. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.