Center Postdocs and Researchers Head for New Horizons

As the 2016-17 academic year begins, we are sad to say goodbye to our cohort of postdoctoral scholars and affiliated researchers. We are also very happy to report on their new postings and undertakings. 

Kathryne Young has joined the sociology faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She writes, "As a lifelong West coaster, I admit to some trepidation about the frigid East! Although I know I will miss the West terribly, I am looking forward to the new adventure." Katie, who finished her dissertation at the Center as a Dee Fellow, also ably ran our 2015 Rural West Conference in Troutdale, Oregon. Katie can also be reached through her personal website.

Nicola Ulibarri is now with the Department of Planning, Policy and Design at U.C. Irvine. She will be doing research and teaching on environmental and sustainability issues in a department that, being part of the School of Social Ecology, is "focused on interdisciplinary applied, problem-oriented, and community-engaged research." Nicola will also be continuing her collaborative work with the Center on streamlining the environmental permitting process. "Being in Irvine," she writes, "will let us develop a southern California complement to the ongoing Bay Area work." She says she's excited the highly interdisciplinary nature of her program, and of U.C. Irvine, she says, "it's a very diverse school and faculty, and seems genuinely committed to supporting minority, first-generation, and other non-traditional students and faculty."

Dan Reineman is continuing to teach at Stanford, building on the interdisciplinary California Coast class he co-taught in the spring quarter. Based in the School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences, Dan is leading the Wrigley Field Program in Hawaii, and working as a lecturer and instructional designer. "I will be developing and implementing courses and programs designed to increase undergraduate student participation within the school," Dan writes. "I will also be working at 20% time on a NSF grant I co-authored with Ali Boehm in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering: we are studying coastal water quality and citizen science and trying to understand what makes some volunteers more reliable than others.

John Dougherty has taken a position at Reed College teaching History and Environmental Studies. "I'm tremendously excited to be joining the faculty at one the West's most prestigious liberal arts colleges," writes John, who is returning to his home town, Portland. "In particular, I'm thrilled at the opportunity to bring the interdisciplinary and collaborative discussions taking place at The Bill Lane Center for the American West to the inquisitive student minds of Reed College. I look forward to future collaborations with The Bill Lane Center and am forever indebted to my Stanford colleagues."

Todd Holmes has joined the Bancroft Library’s Oral History Center at U.C. Berkeley. As a Historian and Associate Academic Specialist, Todd will continue his research and interviews around the development of California's political history. Todd will also continue to contribute to the Center's California Coastal Commission project as an affiliated scholar.

Vanessa Casado-Perez has moved to the faculty of the School of Law at Texas A&M University in Fort Worth. We are looking forward to further collaborations with Vanessa on cross-border water issues and our Water in the West workshops.

Nicholas Bauch, fresh off the publication of his digital monograph "Enchanting the Desert," has joined the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma. Nick is now assistant professor of Geohumanities and Director of the Experimental Geography Studio. "I could not have drawn up a job description for myself more perfectly than what I found at the University of Oklahoma," writes Nick. "I'll be working in all kinds of creative media with artists and scholars across campus, heading up the Experimental Geography Studio (my title :­) ), and building the undergraduate Geohumanities major as well as a Ph.D. program in Geohumanities."

Please join us in thanking them for their many contributions to the Center and the study of the West – and in wishing them the best for their new adventures.