Graduate Students
My graduate students all integrate historical perspectives into management and conservation questions. I only accept students who wish to train in some aspect of forest or environmental history; students who intend to design projects in restoration ecology or wildlife management should contact other potential advisors.
CURRENT AND RECENT GRADUATE STUDENTS
Renata Solan, PhD student, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Mike Dockry, PhD awarded 2012, Forestry. Mike is researching community forestry on tribal lands within the Americas. He writes: "I was born and raised in Green Bay, WI and am a registered member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. I have a BS in Forestry with a Certificate in Environmental Studies from UW-Madison and an MS in Forest Resources from Penn State. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia and worked in both the Andean mountains and the Amazonian tropics. I was the Assistant Forest Planner for the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests. Currently I am the Forest Service Liaison to College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI. I am a graduate student with Nancy Langston in the Forest Ecology and Management Department. My research interests focus on indigenous people in North, Central, and South America." website
Sarah Mittlefehldt, Joint PhD with Forestry and Environmental Studies. Sarah's dissertation examined the environmental history of the Appalachian Trail, focusing on recreation, community forestry, and relations between social groups. Sarah writes: "My research uses the AT as a conduit to explore some of the challenges associated with trying to balance the power of the central state with the desires of local communities. I am investigating how changes in economic geography, power, and culture influenced local communities’ relationship to the project. This is part of a joint degree in Forestry/Environmental Studies. My background is in science education and I am interested in helping students develop deeper understandings of environmental issues by examining the interaction of human and non-human agents over time." Sarah is currently Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Green Mountain College in Vermont; her website is http://www.greenmtn.edu/mittlefehldts.aspx
Andrew Stuhl, MS in Land Resources, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Andrew earned his Land Resources M.S. degree in August 2007 with a thesis titled "Considering the Oyster: An Environmental History of Oyster Management on the Chesapeake Bay." Combining methodologies from the fields of history, ecology and anthropology, his interdisciplinary study addressed the changing values, meanings, and ideas scientists, decision-makers, conservationists, and oyster industry members have inscribed upon oysters over time. He interned with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the mid-Atlantic's largest non-profit organization dedicated to saving the Chesapeake Bay. Andrew helped develop and implement an innovative recycling program called CBF CARES (Collect and Recycle Each Shell). CBF CARES partners with local restaurants, citizen groups, and other non-profit organizations to collect oyster and clam shells for use in restoration projects. Andrew met with stakeholders, designed educational materials, and created a management plan for other pilot projects in the region as well. He is now working on a dissertation with Prof. Gregg Mitman that will examine the cultural and environmental history of the Inuvialuit people and the Mackenzie River Delta in the Canadian Arctic.
Amalia Tholen, MS, Land Resources. Amalia's thesis explores the environmental history of Isle Royale National Park. earned her M.S. degree in Environment & Resources this past May 2008 with a thesis titled "A Superior Wilderness: Nature, History, and the making of Isle Royale National Park." Amalia worked as an environmental history intern under the supervision of the Chief of Cultural Resources and Interpretation at Isle Royale National Park to increase awareness of environmental history at the national park. As part of this project, Amalia compiled documents from the park and other local archives pertinent to the study of environmental history. She also conducted interviews with longtime residents of the park on their understandings of the changes in the natural and cultural landscapes of the park over time. These documents and interviews were to be cataloged/transcribed and filed in the park library, such that future park interpreters will have access to them. Additionally, Amalia gave programs to park employees on the environmental history of the island and assisted the interpreters in finding appropriate sources such that they might give programs that incorporate the environmental history of the island. She gave programs to the visiting public on the environmental history of the park and worked in the visitor center.
Michelle Steen-Adams, joint PhD in Forest Ecology and Management and Land Resources (co-advised with David Mladenoff): An Environmental History of the Northern Wisconsin Cutover. Michelle completed her PhD in August 2005, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of New England. website
Jim Feldman, PhD in History (co-advised with William Cronon): A Vision for the Apostles: Nature and History in the Apostle Islands. Jim is currently Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. website.
CURRENT AND RECENT GRADUATE STUDENTS
Renata Solan, PhD student, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Mike Dockry, PhD awarded 2012, Forestry. Mike is researching community forestry on tribal lands within the Americas. He writes: "I was born and raised in Green Bay, WI and am a registered member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. I have a BS in Forestry with a Certificate in Environmental Studies from UW-Madison and an MS in Forest Resources from Penn State. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia and worked in both the Andean mountains and the Amazonian tropics. I was the Assistant Forest Planner for the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests. Currently I am the Forest Service Liaison to College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI. I am a graduate student with Nancy Langston in the Forest Ecology and Management Department. My research interests focus on indigenous people in North, Central, and South America." website
Sarah Mittlefehldt, Joint PhD with Forestry and Environmental Studies. Sarah's dissertation examined the environmental history of the Appalachian Trail, focusing on recreation, community forestry, and relations between social groups. Sarah writes: "My research uses the AT as a conduit to explore some of the challenges associated with trying to balance the power of the central state with the desires of local communities. I am investigating how changes in economic geography, power, and culture influenced local communities’ relationship to the project. This is part of a joint degree in Forestry/Environmental Studies. My background is in science education and I am interested in helping students develop deeper understandings of environmental issues by examining the interaction of human and non-human agents over time." Sarah is currently Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Green Mountain College in Vermont; her website is http://www.greenmtn.edu/mittlefehldts.aspx
Andrew Stuhl, MS in Land Resources, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Andrew earned his Land Resources M.S. degree in August 2007 with a thesis titled "Considering the Oyster: An Environmental History of Oyster Management on the Chesapeake Bay." Combining methodologies from the fields of history, ecology and anthropology, his interdisciplinary study addressed the changing values, meanings, and ideas scientists, decision-makers, conservationists, and oyster industry members have inscribed upon oysters over time. He interned with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the mid-Atlantic's largest non-profit organization dedicated to saving the Chesapeake Bay. Andrew helped develop and implement an innovative recycling program called CBF CARES (Collect and Recycle Each Shell). CBF CARES partners with local restaurants, citizen groups, and other non-profit organizations to collect oyster and clam shells for use in restoration projects. Andrew met with stakeholders, designed educational materials, and created a management plan for other pilot projects in the region as well. He is now working on a dissertation with Prof. Gregg Mitman that will examine the cultural and environmental history of the Inuvialuit people and the Mackenzie River Delta in the Canadian Arctic.
Amalia Tholen, MS, Land Resources. Amalia's thesis explores the environmental history of Isle Royale National Park. earned her M.S. degree in Environment & Resources this past May 2008 with a thesis titled "A Superior Wilderness: Nature, History, and the making of Isle Royale National Park." Amalia worked as an environmental history intern under the supervision of the Chief of Cultural Resources and Interpretation at Isle Royale National Park to increase awareness of environmental history at the national park. As part of this project, Amalia compiled documents from the park and other local archives pertinent to the study of environmental history. She also conducted interviews with longtime residents of the park on their understandings of the changes in the natural and cultural landscapes of the park over time. These documents and interviews were to be cataloged/transcribed and filed in the park library, such that future park interpreters will have access to them. Additionally, Amalia gave programs to park employees on the environmental history of the island and assisted the interpreters in finding appropriate sources such that they might give programs that incorporate the environmental history of the island. She gave programs to the visiting public on the environmental history of the park and worked in the visitor center.
Michelle Steen-Adams, joint PhD in Forest Ecology and Management and Land Resources (co-advised with David Mladenoff): An Environmental History of the Northern Wisconsin Cutover. Michelle completed her PhD in August 2005, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of New England. website
Jim Feldman, PhD in History (co-advised with William Cronon): A Vision for the Apostles: Nature and History in the Apostle Islands. Jim is currently Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. website.
