Rural and Regional Studies

ST 203, 537 7373

The Center for Rural and Regional Studies (CRRS) was established in the fall of 1999. The CRRS is a natural outgrowth of Southwest Minnesota State University‘s founding mission to serve the region.

The Center maintains a direct affiliation with the Southwest Minnesota Regional Research Center (History Center) housed at the university, the newly established Geographic information Systems (GIS) Center, the independent non-profit Society for the Study of Local and Regional History, and Crossings Press. It also fosters relationships with a variety of disciplines throughout the university.

Advocating the importance of rural and regional knowledge, the Center focuses on applied research that crosses the fields ranging from environmental and ecological studies to demographic, social, and cultural studies. The CRRS distributes its research through the publication of books and essays and through organized conferences co-sponsored with other agencies and institutions.

Topics have included regional demography, ethnicity, floods, and alternative crops in southwestern Minnesota. The Center welcomes collaboration with scholars and institutions whose work will supply fundamental knowledge of, and unique insights into, southwestern Minnesota, the upper Midwest, and the northern prairie.

For more information, please contact Anthony Amato, Chairperson of the Department of Rural and Regional Studies, 537-6117.