Randall K. Wilson
Professor
Environmental Studies
Contact
Address
Room 154 D
300 North Washington St.
Gettysburg, PA 17325-1400
Education
BA Humboldt State Univ.
MA Univ. of Colorado-Boulder
PhD University of Iowa
Academic Focus
Environmental History, Environmental Policy, US Federal Lands, Sustainable Communities
My teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of nature and society through the lens of environmental history and political ecology. How are decisions about environmental resources made? Which work best to achieve sustainable and just nature/society relations? Who benefits and who doesn't from different forms of environmental management? And how have ideas of nature evolved over time?
My courses include Environmental Science and Society, Environmental Policy, a First Year Seminar on National Parks and Protected Areas, a Senior Seminar on Sustainable Communities, Key Ideas in American Environmentalism, and a summer field course entitled, The Rocky Mountain West: Physical & Cultural Geography, which takes place in Colorado in late May. I have also taught courses on Environmental History, Environmental Literature and on the Culture and Nature of the American West.
Research examines the history and policy of national parks and protected areas, as well as investigations of the relationship between local communities and natural resource management. I have also published numerous articles on community-based natural resource management as practiced on public lands and protected areas. Other research has centered on the theme of rural transformation, including studies of farmers' markets, environmental planning, and the impacts of sprawl in rural Pennsylvania. On campus, I have served as faculty advisor for Painted Turtle Farm (the student-run organic campus garden), a founding member of the Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee, and a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Eisenhower Institute. Off campus, I have served on the US Forest Service National Science Panel, the Board of Directors for the Rural Geography Research Group within the Association of American Geographers, and earned a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Vienna. My book, America's Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond, with Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, was named an Outstanding Academic Title of the Year from Choice Reviews and the winner of the J.B. Jackson Prize from the Association of American Geographers. My most recent book is A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World's First National Park.
Courses Taught
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Book A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World's First National Park Counterpoint Press
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Book America's Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
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Book America's Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond, Second Edition Rowman and Littlefield Publishers