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Our Mission and History
Our Mission
The Bill Lane Center for the American West is dedicated to advancing scholarly and public understanding of the past, present, and future of western North America. The Center supports research, teaching, and reporting about western land and life in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
History
Stanford historians David M. Kennedy and Richard White founded the Program for the Study of the North American West at Stanford University in September 2002, to advance scholarly knowledge of the region and to address wider public policy issues related to the economic, political, environmental, and cultural development of the North American West. In early 2005, after receiving a major gift from Stanford alumnus W. "Bill" Lane, the program became the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West.
In 2008 as the Center grew into the academic portal for study of all elements of life in the West, we refined our mission and our name to reflect our broad reach. We became the Bill Lane Center for the American West.
Timeline
| 2002 | Professors David M. Kennedy and Richard White found the program and establish a two-year postdoctoral fellowship (expanded in 2005 to two post-doctoral fellowships) |
| 2003 - 2007 | Interdisciplinary colloquium series established to showcase work of Western scholars, journalists, and policymakers, organized by a graduate student advisory committee Sponsorship of new courses on Western urban history and Silicon Valley |
| 2004 | Major conference on U.S. and Canadian urban growth and environmental impacts Established consortium of Western academic centers with USC, Huntington Library, and Autry National Center. Created dissertation workshop for advanced graduate students. |
| 2005 | Received major endowment from Bill Lane, matched by the School of Humanities and Sciences Conference on the image and identity of the West in national media and culture, featuring leading commentators and journalists from major national and regional news outlets Interdisciplinary conference on initiatives and referenda on the political culture of the West Created Western internship program, placing Stanford undergraduates in unique opportunities at Yellowstone National Park and other sites around the West Sponsor new courses on the Western environment, Native Americans, California politics, and Western photography. Sophomore College, taught by Richard White, on the federal government and the national image of the West, held at Stanford-in-Washington |
| 2006 | Research workshop on sustainable forestry in the West Hired internship coordinator and expanded internship program to include Yosemite and Golden Gate National Parks as well as Western legal and media organizations Created annual prize for student documentary films on Western topics Interdisciplinary Sophomore College on California Politics and Constitution Established Western Enterprise Reporting Fellowship program for working journalists to seed innovative reporting on the West in the national and international media Established Visiting Scholars & Writers program to foster original work on the West Public roundtable on immigration, featuring leading commentators from the U.S. and Mexico New sponsored courses on land conservation, politics, and the West in fiction and film |
| 2007 | Conference on the future of salmon fisheries in the West Further expanded internship program to include opportunities at New America Media, the San Francisco Estuary Institute, and the American Prairie Foundation Sponsored "Walking the Farm," a walk around the 23-mile perimeter of Stanford's lands Tammy Frisby joined as Executive Director to manage Center operations New sponsored courses on the literature of the American West, food production and consumption in the West, and direct democracy and term limits |
| 2008 | Moved to new home at Stanford's Jerry Yang and Yoriko Yamazaki Energy & Environment Building Received generous endowment gift from George and Mary Lou Shott Bill Lane Center Open House for the community 2008 Risser Prize Forum Walk the Farm 2008: Stanford Waterways 2008 Dissertation Workshop |
