Professor Rayback is interested in the response of trees and shrubs to climate and other environmental changes across varying temporal and spatial scales.  She uses dendrochronological (the study of tree rings) and stable isotope analysis techniques on long time series derived from arctic and alpine dwarf shrubs and from eastern North American tree species to understand the influence of climate on plant growth and reproduction, and to reconstruct climate.  Her research takes place in the Canadian High Arctic, the Cascades of Washington and the Green Mountains of Vermont.  Her current research focuses on reconstructing climate from stable carbon isotope ratio time series constructed from both live trees and logs salvaged from the bottom of lakes and bogs in New England.  This work is being undertaken in partnership with the Environmental Stable Isotope Laboratory at UVM and with College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate students.   

Professor Rayback teaches the introductory courses, Weather, Climate and Landscapes 040 and Geotechniques 081.  At the intermediate level, she offers courses in Biogeography 140 and Arctic Canada 153, and at the advanced level, she teaches field-based seminars in Advanced Topics on Global Change 244 including Dendrochronology and Paleoclimatology.  Recently, Professor Rayback and her Dendrochronology 244 class partnered with The Nature Conservancy of Vermont and the University of Vermont’s Community and University Partnership Office to reconstruct the environmental history of the LaPlatte River Marsh Natural Area.  She received the 2011 CUPS Office Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty Award for this course.  Professor Rayback holds a B.A. in French and English from Wellesley College (1993), an M. A. in Geography from University of Texas at Austin (1997) and a Ph.D. in Geography from University of British Columbia, Canada (2003).

Quote:  Our department’s introductory physical geography class, Weather, Climate and Landscapes 040, is one of my favorite courses to teach.  By introducing students to the fields of climatology, geomorphology and biogeography, I have the opportunity to expose them to the scientific concepts and hypotheses that underlie current and future environmental challenges such as global climate change and landscape degradation. 

Faculty Directory

• Pablo Bose
• Meghan Cope
• Cheryl Morse
• Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux
• Shelly Rayback
• Rashad Shabazz
• Beverley Wemple

Current Lecturers

• Reese Hersey
• Maeve McBride
• Harlan Morehouse
• Pete Young

Adjunct/Joint Faculty/Lecturers

• Padraig Carmody
• Pierre Deslauriers
• Marla Emery
• Matthew Hannah
• Matthew Himley
• Richard Kujawa
• Susannah McCandless
• Reecia Orzeck
• Pete Shear
• Stuart White

Emeriti Faculty

• H. Gardiner Barnum
• Daniel W. Gade
• Aulis Lind
• Jean Richardson
• Canute VanderMeer