American Environmental History (Teacher Seminar Online)

This seminar is an introduction to the history of human interactions with the environment in the United States focusing on the history of political, social, cultural, and economic forces that have shaped human relationships with nature. Organized chronologically, the seminar covers topics that range from water and waste, to food and fuel. We will address large questions about the underpinnings of Americans’ relationships with their environment by looking at case studies. By the end of the seminar, participants will have a stronger understanding of not only how humans have dealt with environmental issues in the past but also the historical background for modern environmental issues.

Catherine McNeur, Lead Scholar

Catherine McNeur is an associate professor of history at Portland State University. She is the author of Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City (Harvard University Press, 2014) and Mischievous Creatures (Basic Books, 2023). McNeur teaches courses on global, urban, and American environmental history and the history of food as well as public history courses focused on historic preservation, podcasting, urban parks, and heritage trees. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including the American Society of Environmental Historians’ George Perkins Marsh Prize, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic’s James H. Broussard Prize, Yale University’s John Addison Porter Prize, and the American Society of Environmental Historians’ Rachel Carson Prize. 

Dale Hoggatt, Master Teacher

Dale Hoggatt has been a member of the professional education community for thirty-four years (not counting his own kindergarten–master’s experiences). He taught in Oklahoma City during the terrorist bombing of 1995 and in Joplin, Missouri, during the EF5 tornado and recovery of 2011. He is a recognized, award-winning educator, most recently named the 2021 Missouri History Teacher of the Year. He is currently a master teacher with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and a humble member of the faculty at Pittsburg State University in Kansas.