Sean Keenan, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor
Sean
Keenan is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Sociology
and Social Work and an environmental analyst for BIO-WEST, Inc.
While he spent most of his "growing up" years in Colorado,
Sean is actually a native of Dodge City, Kansas! Sean and his
wife, Jen Levy, live in Logan, Utah. They enjoy skiing, hiking,
and other outdoor recreation.
Sean completed
a Ph.D. in sociology at Utah State University in 2000. His research
interests concerned rural development and innovation, particularly
issues concerning economic dependence of communities on natural
resources and agriculture. These interests led to a fellowship
at Oklahoma State University from 2002 to 2006 where Sean worked
with the USDA Agricultural Research Service on a program to promote
innovative pest management practices for farmers.
Upon returning
to Utah in 2006, Sean found employment with BIO-WEST, Inc. Most
projects with BIO-WEST are concerned with implementation of the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As the company name
suggests, most of the work is concerned with biological and natural
sciences. That means that Sean has the opportunity to work with
biologists, physical scientists, engineers, geographers, and environmental
planning specialists on a daily basis! Typical projects involve
planning for avoidance and mitigation of impacts from development
due to various types of infrastructure-like roads, highways, power
lines, and water treatment facilities.
However, NEPA
is a "procedural" law, the spirit of which is to maintain
and enhance the "quality of the human environment."
Thus, "environmental quality" includes the social and
economic environments in addition to cultural, historical, and
natural surroundings. An important area of this work at the present
time is "environmental justice," which is concerned
with impacts of development on minority and low income populations.