Provost Fellow for Public Affairs 2018-19

Dr. Kevin R. Evans

Dr Kevin EvansProfessor, geography, geology and planning

Dr. Kevin Ray Evans is a professor of geology at Missouri State University and an avid field geologist. A native Missourian, Evans graduated from Missouri State University (’86) before continuing master's and doctoral degree programs at the University of Kansas. His research and publications primarily focus on ancient sea-level fluctuations, regional tectonism, and meteorite impact structures. Evans worked seven years with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park and Santa Cruz, California before returning to Missouri in 2001.

Exploration and adventure travel have been an integral part of his life. During graduate studies, in Federal service, and in internships with petroleum companies, he realized his passion for being an airborne geologist with helicopter and fixed-wing support. Project field areas have included Alaska, Arkansas, Calif., Gulf of Mexico, Hawai’i, Missouri, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming and three field seasons in Antarctica.

In "The Innocents Abroad," Mark Twain wrote, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime." Over the last decade, Evans passion has been directed at helping others follow their passions.

Dr. Evans served as Public Affairs Fellow for Global Perspectives: Why it Matters during the 2013-2014 academic year.