About

childhood photo
Author (left) and his twin brother James in 1957, the year we watched Sputnik cross the night sky. Quoting my book Beyond Walden, “Lake life was the best part of boyhood life.” Gotta love the suspenders. (Note the suspenders below as well.)

Two Bookends

The bookends of my life are my birth in Edgerton, Wisconsin as a Scandinavian-American, baby-boomer twin and my most recent septuagenarian moment as a graying professor in Storrs-Mansfield, CT.  I’m a Midwestern native turned Northwestern  geologist turned Northeastern academic who commutes to work on a woodland trail when it’s not icy.

Currently I’m  a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Connecticut juggling graduate and undergraduate teaching, scientific research, humanities scholarship, journalism, committee work, honors advising, and public engagement.  My main interest is the meaning of nature, which I explore through interweave of landscape geology, historical archaeology, environmental history, American literature, and forest ecology.

Summer of 2025 in the Fenton Tract. Photo by the ecologist Shelby Rinehart with my camera.

Three Narratives 

Bio Sketch –  This is an abstracted scholarly memoir that begins with a masters thesis on Alaskan archaeological geology and continues with participation in an invited workshops for Harvard Divinity School on re-thinking American transcendentalism.  This overview is mainly for cut-and-paste clips by those in charge of publicity and introductions at appearances.

Curriculum Vitae –  Quoting Oxford Languages, a CV is supposed to be “a brief account of a person’s education, qualifications, and previous experience.” This is unrealistic for someone in their sixth decade of joyful work.  This non-vitae scrolls down to the full monty.

Condensed Vitae –  This is a 95% reduction from the full vitae with the essential details generalized into categories.

 

Rascal book cover
The 1963 memoir “Rascal” by Sterling North, had great impact on me when I was a pre-adolescent living same town and learning about animal ethics and outdoor nature. A Newberry Honor Book. (Note the suspenders, as above.)

CV Highlights

Positions & Appointments –  This is a reformatted part of my CV.

Honors & Awards – This is a reformatted part of my CV.