Bio:

Birthplace:  Washington, Pennsylvania.
Degrees: B.A. History, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA.; M.A.s, Ohio University, Athens, OH, Linguistics and International Affairs; Ph.D. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, History.
Africa Related Experiences: Peace Corps, Kenya, 1981-1983; Tanzania Research, 1991-92, 1996, 1998.
 

Courses/Syllabi:
 

Cultural and Economic Exchange in the Indian Ocean World (HIST 1020, USU 1320) The course is designed for freshmen and sophomore students interested in the trade and culture in the Indian Ocean world.  Students examine the long history of interactions among Hindus, Jews, Muslims and a host of others living along the Indian Ocean littorals.  Students also consider the changes wrought by European expansion into the region beginning in the 16th century.   Most Recent Syllabus

Modern World History (HIST 1030, USU 1320) This course challenges students to look critically at the world they live in by connecting the past and present.  Course content covers the world largely from the perspective of non European and non American peoples during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a period when the world became increasing linked culturally and economically.  Most Recent Syllabus

Africa and the World (HIST 3510) This course surveys the early history of Africa's social and economic integration and the continent’s subsequent participation in global exchanges. Most of the course focuses on the past thousand years, following chronologically Africa's progression toward political, cultural and economic ties to the West and Asia. In terms of themes, we will focus on the spread of trade and religion, the continental manifestations of slavery and the intercontinental slave trade, the nineteenth and twentieth century imperial and colonial incursions into Africa from Europe, and the post colonial political economy of violence and change. Please note that I do not expect you to build a picture of all the people, places and events included in Africa's history. Rather, I hope you will gain a sense of the trends, paradoxes, and connections evident in what you study. In any event, I will evaluate you on your understanding of those historical elements.  Most Recent Syllabus

African Environmental History (HIST 3520) Under construction

Environmental History (HIST 3950)   Aspens near Franklin Basin, Logan Canyon Environmental History treats humankind's dynamic relationship with the environment.  In this course, students survey the various ways historians have analyzed this interaction then devise their own research project using one, or more, of these approaches.  Most Recent Syllabus.

Teaching World History:  Themes, Approaches, and Materials (HIST 4870) For history teaching majors only.  Introduces students to a number of approaches to the study and teaching of world history.  Students survey theoretical and pedagogical literature, then assemble a course package, which is presented to their peers.  Under Construction.

Graduate Seminar in Environmental History (HIST 6460)  The seminar is divided evenly between reading and research.  We first explore the field's genesis and the themes historians have deemed important.  We also examine a number of case studies of environmental change.  During the second half of the course students undertake their own research projects and present them to the seminar.  Most Recent Syllabus

Graduate Studies in Environmental History at Utah State:

Environmental History is the study of the dynamic relationship between humankind and the natural world.  The field's breadth allows students the opportunity to approach their topic from a number of intellectual directions.  A student might, for example, wish to examine transformations in particular landscapes (such as Colorado's Mesa Verde or East Africa's Ngorongoro Crater pictured below), or a student's research focuses could range from the political history of U.S. policy toward public lands to the history of ecology as a scientific field.
 

Ngorongoro Crater Wildlife Refuge, Tanzania	Anasazi Cliff Dwelling, Mesa Verde, Colorado

The History Department, the College of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences and the University support graduate study through competitive awards, teaching assistantships and out-of-state tuition waivers.  USU's students interested in landscape history have also received financial support from our Space Dynamics Lab and valuable training in Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing.  If you wish to learn more about these opportunities, feel free to contact me by email or phone.

Links to Graduate Studies in Environment and History at USU:

School of Graduate Studies
The Graduate Program in History
Department of History
USU College of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy Program
USU Ecology Center

Research/Publications and Works in Progress:

Articles In Print:

"Nature Reorganized:  Ecological History in the Plateau Forests of the West Usambara Mountains, c. 1850-1935." in Custodians of the Land:  Environment and Famine in Tanzania.  Edited by James Giblin, Gregory Maddox and Isaria Kimambo, published by James Currey, London, 1995.
 

West Usambara Massif, Tanzania, 1996	Transforming the Forest Landscape, Magamba, Tanzania, 1996

“Colonial Science and Ecological Change: Tanzania’s Mlalo Basin, 1888 - 1946.”Environmental History4.2 (1999), pp. 220 - 244.
 
 

Terraces near Mtai, Tanzania 1996

"The Forest has becomes Desert: Forest Use and Environmental Change in Tanzania’s West Usambara Mountains.” Land Degradation and Development 10.4 (1999), pp. 289-307.
 

Tea Plantation with Rain Forest Remnant, East Usambara, Tanzania

Articles In Progress:

"Imperial Science, Tropical Ecology and Indigenous History: Tropical Research Stations in Northeastern German East Africa, 1896-Present."

"Searching for CommonGround: Reconstructing Landscape History in East Africa’s Eastern Arc Mountains."
 

Book Manuscript In Progress:

Transforming Landscapes: Environmental History in Tanzania's Usambara Mountains.

Links:

Some Africa Links

Tanzania Studies Association
African Studies at Michigan State University
University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center
African Studies Association
H-Africa, A Scholarly Discussion List
The East African, Weekly Regional Journal
The African Studies Centre, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Africa Maps
Kenya News

Environmental History Links

Environmental History, The Journal
H-ASEH, Discussion List for American Association for Environmental History
American Society for Environmental History

World History Links

World History Association
H-World Discussion List

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