Nature-based essays published in journals and magazines such as Orion, Ecotone, Wild Earth, High Country News, Conservation Magazine, and Quest. Author of three books of nature/spiritual essays through Skinner House and two popular science/history books: Locust: The devastating rise and mysterious disappearance of the insect that shaped the American frontier (Basic) and Six-Legged Soldiers: A history of insects as weapons of war and terror (Oxford University Press). Current book projects are: The Infested Mind: From Entomophobia to Biophilia (Oxford) and Dose Unto Others (a crime noir novel that has yet to find representation despite being awfully damn clever).
Nonfiction workshops in nature writing, religious/spiritual writing, short forms, and interstellar message composition (really!); courses in environmental justice, natural resource ethics, philosophy of wilderness, deep ecology, ecofeminism, environmental aesthetics, history and philosophy of ecology; children's writing workshops with UW Art Museum; guest lecturer for 45 courses in 19 departments; graduate committee member for 166 students in 25 departments (PhD, JD-MA, MFA, MPA, MSW, MA and MS).
Senior advisor to the Board of the Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources; Associate Editor, Journal of Orthoptera Research; Host for Wyoming Signatures (Wyoming Public Television program); Editorial Board, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics; Master of Ceremonies for the Wyoming State Science Fair; reviewer for 51 presses and scholarly journals. Formerly the executive director of the International Orthopterists' Society and the founder/director of the Association for Applied Acridology International.
Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities with a split appointment between the MFA program in creative writing and the department of philosophy (University of Wyoming); Faculty Member, Graduate Program in Ecology (University of Wyoming); Adjunct Professor of Natural Sciences (Science & Mathematics Teaching Center's Master of Science in Natural Science program), College of Education, University of Wyoming; artist-in-residence at Mesa Verde, Isle Royale, and Crater Lake National Parks; writer in residence at Witwatersrand University, South Africa. Formerly a fellow with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a visiting fellow with the Division of Botany & Zoology, Australian National University, and a visiting scientist with the CSIRO Division of Entomology, Canberra, Australia.
College of Arts & Sciences Extraordinary Merit in Research Award, University of Wyoming; Notable Science and Nature Writing in the Best American anthology, for the essay, “(Un)Natural Selection”; Honorable Mention by the American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence, for the book Six-Legged Soldiers; Best American Science and Nature Writing for the essay, “The Nature of Violence”; George Duke Humphrey Award, University of Wyoming; John Burroughs Award for the essay, “Voices from the past: learning from the Rocky Mountain locust” (published in Orion magazine and re-published in WildEarth); Wall of Tolerance Award (inscription), Southern Poverty Law Center, National Campaign for Tolerance (in recognition of the work done to promote tolerance during and after the murder of Matthew Shepard); Pushcart Prize for the essay, “To be Honest” (published in Orion magazine and Grasshopper Dreaming, a collection of essays from Skinner House Publishing); Award for Excellence in Internationalization, University of Wyoming; Albert Schweitzer Sermon Award, Unitarian Universalist Association; Erdős Number 6 (you’ll have to look this up on your own)
Hiking, cross-country skiing, gardening
