• Ph.D. American History, University of Oregon
• M.A. Northern Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks
• B.A. Biology and Philosophy, Luther College
Where I came from— I have no idea how a boy growing up in semi-rural Iowa came to have the interests, experiences, and path I have had. I found books and music far more interesting than tractors. Although both my parents had only high school degrees, my going to college was assumed. I attended a 2000-student private liberal arts college in Iowa, getting a double major in biology and philosophy purely because they interested me. I wasn’t concerned with post-collegiate employment, since I knew what I wanted to do. From earliest times I had been fascinated by mountaineering, wanting those clear cold heights instead of cornfields. During my college years I became an instructor with the National Outdoor Leadership School, based in Wyoming, and then worked for NOLS fulltime after college, leading groups year-round in various western wilderness areas. This brought me to Alaska in 1982 and every summer thereafter with trips into the Alaska and Chugach Ranges.
How I became a historian— In 1982-83, I spent a year in Stockholm. My epiphany came as I was reading a Swedish high school history textbook. This explained the post-WW II Marshall Plan and formation of NATO as the imperialist, economic, and moral equivalent of the Soviet domination of eastern Europe. “What? That’s not what I learned in school!” I realized that studying history isn’t about facts, but rather about differing interpretations of the past and why ‘truth’ is a very slippery thing. Upon my return to Wyoming, the first book I purchased was a new one by a historian named William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. That one book enthused me and determined my direction. But a slow, difficult path awaited. I left NOLS in 1989, and my family and I ended up in Fairbanks, where I got a master’s degree while working for the university. My latent intellectual tendencies blossomed, and I decided to keep going for the doctorate. After four years at the University of Oregon, this job opened up and in 1998 we delightedly returned to Alaska.
What I do now: on campus— I teach a world history sequence, American history and government, environmental history, a course on the social sciences, and our first-year-student seminar. Although I can’t offer a wide range of classes, I enjoy supervising independent studies with students who have particular historical issues they wish to explore. I’m currently teaching graduate online courses in U.S. history for a wonderful bunch of Alaskan teachers as part of the national Teaching American History program. My research pertains to political conflicts that emerge from our relations with other animals. I revised the master’s thesis I wrote in Fairbanks to become my first book, Changing Tracks: Predators and Politics in Mt. McKinley National Park (University of Alaska Press, 2001). I’ve also written on the opposition by sport anglers to assertions of tribal fishing rights in Oregon and Washington, 1950-80. I had a couple of wonderful mentors when I was in college, and their memory inspires me to try and make our students’ education challenging, memorable, and meaningful.
What I do now: off campus— I’ve stayed active in the outdoors and enjoy our peaks and streams on a regular basis. Cross-country skiing gets me outside in the winter, and lately I’ve been running. I qualified for and ran the 2008 Boston marathon, which for a historian was particularly fun, as it occurs annually on Patriot’s Day, which commemorates the midnight rides of William Dawes and Paul Revere and the start of the American Revolution. Indoors, I’m an expert bread baker and enjoy cooking adventures. Otherwise, I’m probably reading a book.