As I teacher, I hope to ignite students’ curiosity so they become more engaged thinkers,
writers and citizens. In my most successful classes students not only take risks and
challenge themselves, but they challenge and inspire me. At some point in the semester,
these classes venture to the river or through Wildwood Park, so we might learn more
about where we are. Creative nonfiction, the environmental humanities, and American
literature are my main course areas. When not teaching or writing, I enjoy hiking,
biking, and paddling in the mountains of the New River Valley and elsewhere.
Please visit my author site.
Books
Borne by the River: Canoeing the Delaware from Headwaters to Home, Cornell/Three Hills UP, 2024
Sudden Spring: Stories of Adaptation in a Climate-Changed South, Georgia UP, 2019
A Natural Sense of Wonder: Connecting Kids with Nature Through the Seasons, Georgia UP, 2008
Surveying the Interior: Literary Cartographers and the Sense of Place, Nevada UP, 2003
Anthologies (my work appears in)
Still: the Journal. “Tilt Toward the Sun”
Teaching the Literature of Climate Change
Mountains Piled upon Mountains: New Appalachian Nature Writing
Thinking Continental: Writing Local in a Global World
Teaching Hemingway in the Natural World
Coming into McPhee Country: John McPhee and the Art of Literary Nonfiction
The Greening of Literary Scholarship
Writers by the River: Reflections on 40+ Years of the Highland Summer Conference
Companions to Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together
Awards
Dalton Eminent Scholar, 2022
Finalist, Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment book award,
2022.
CHBS Distinguished Creative-Scholar Award, 2021
Keepin’ It Green award, Staff Senate, 2019
Phillip D. Reed Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment, Southern
Environmental Law Center, 2009
Nominated for Outstanding Faculty Award, State Council of Higher Education in Virginia,
2009, 2013, 2019
Fulbright Lecturer, Slovenia, 2003
Education
PhD, American Literature, Case Western Reserve, 1998.
MA, English, Western Washington University, 1993
BA, English, The Colorado College, 1989
In addition to my university service, I serve on the boards of the Blue Ridge Discovery Center and the Friends of the New River.
