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Dear Friends of the Bill Lane Center,
We welcomed 2024 by diving into our signature American West course, which offers a comprehensive look at Western North America from all vantage points: history, culture, climate, demographics, economics, geography politics, and more. Four distinguished scholars -- including our current and former faculty directors, Bruce Cain and David Kennedy -- led students on an interdisciplinary exploration of the region, bringing many new undergraduates into the Bill Lane Center fold. We look forward to seeing how these students will integrate their knowledge of and passion for the West into future plans. This course often serves as an entry point for some of our most involved undergraduates who go on to pursue internships, research projects and immersive study with us throughout their years at Stanford. It was an exciting way to launch the quarter.
Speaking of internships and research projects, we also spent much of winter quarter interviewing candidates to participate in our spring/summer student programs, and we will continue this process next quarter. Our plan is to place 18 summer interns and support 20-25 student researchers this academic year. The work experiences we provide through our West Internships and Shultz Fellowships, and the paid research opportunities we make possible with support from VPUE, draw exceptional students from across campus. We are proud to feed their interests in everything from energy and sustainability to education and governance to Western art and literature. Stay tuned for updates on our interns and research assistants as we move forward with the application process and launch them into the field in spring and summer quarters.
While we planned, booked and produced four successful winter quarter events, we were simultaneously prepping for our largest event -- the 10th Annual Rural West Conference -- to be held in Tempe, Arizona later this month. Focusing on major changes shaping the rural Southwest, the conference will include expert panels on migration between Arizona, California and Texas; the Colorado River agreement and its impact on Western water issues; economic and policy issues around the U.S.-Mexico border; and current Native American issues in the Southwest.
Several high-quality Lane Center publications made their way into the world during the winter months, including new stories by our online magazine team and a policy brief with recommendations to streamline California's electric vehicle transition. We hope you'll check out & the West for access to some of the finest journalism you'll find on the Western region. We also encourage you to read the policy brief on overcoming obstacles to building out EV charging stations, authored by the Bill Lane Center's research manager, Esther Conrad. Co-authors included our faculty director, Bruce Cain, and former Lane Center associate director, Preeti Hehmeyer.
A final winter quarter highlight was this fun and informative interview with the Center's associate director, Kate Gibson, on Stanford's FM radio station, KZSU. With host Jon Cousins, Kate discussed the Bill Lane Center's myriad opportunities for exploring our region's unique topography, geography, climate, policy challenges, history, arts and culture. We hope you'll give it a listen!
Read on to learn more about all we accomplished this past quarter, and don't miss the last section of this newsletter for a preview of what is to come. We have a great line-up of events, reporting, courses and programs on deck for the spring.
Happy trails,
Bill Lane Center Faculty and Staff
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As mentioned above, the Lane Center offered its famously interdisciplinary American West course during the winter quarter, which was well-received by undergraduates and Distinguished Career Institute students alike. In addition to instructors Bruce Cain and David Kennedy, Shelley Fisher Fishkin (English) and David Freyberg (Civil and Environmental Engineering) also taught the course. Together, this all-star faculty team presented a complex picture of the land, people, resources, art, culture, politics and myths that figure into the region's identity. You can learn more about the course and access the syllabus on our website.
We also welcomed a new program associate to the Lane Center team this quarter -- Stanford alumna Sofia Scekic. With Sofia's help, Corinne Thomas, the Lane Center's education manager, conducted over 70 interviews with applicants for our popular summer internship program. The top candidates will be matched with organizations across the West and will begin work in June. At museums and national parks, conservancies and government agencies, interns will gain on-the-job experience while supporting organizations that otherwise might not have been able to fund a Stanford student intern. We see this "win-win" program as a way to foster mentorships between future Western leaders and those already on the ground working to sustain and preserve the region's rich culture and ecosystems. We can't wait to introduce you to our 2024 interns once the cohort has been finalized.
Planning is also well underway for our next Sophomore College (SoCo) trip, "Coastal Resilience: Problems and Solutions to Extreme Weather Challenges on the West Coast." Traveling up and down the coast with instructors Bruce Cain and Richard Luthy, rising sophomores will have an opportunity in September of 2024 to examine coastal resilience challenges in the age of climate change. Urgent issues like sea level rise, flooding, drought, pollution, wildfires and erosion will all be explored, along with potential solutions to these problems. Learn more about our upcoming SoCo on our website. Students interested in applying must do so by April 16, 2024. |
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New Research and Reporting
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In her role as research manager, Esther Conrad has led our American West Working Group seminar series featuring fascinating presentations by scholars of the West. Those attending the lunch-time seminars have heard talks and engaged in discussions on the art, economics, environment and policy challenges of the region. We're grateful to all our presenters and look forward to another great line-up of scholars next quarter.
Esther has also been overseeing ten student research assistants this winter, and she expects to have eight more in the spring. Summer usually attracts the most student researchers, and we will be supporting a cohort of 12-15 young scholars in June, July and August as they pursue individual and group projects spanning multiple disciplines.
In collaboration with Bruce Cain and former Lane Center associate director, Preeti Hehmeyer, Esther synthesized our vast research on electric vehicle charging station infrastructure into an exceptional policy brief published in February with the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. The brief offers recommendations for overcoming challenges in expanding EV charging infrastructure statewide. We are proud to play a part in California's transition to a zero-emissions future by training our research and expertise on such an urgent, real-world problem.
As one of the only Stanford centers with an in-house journalism team, we produced stellar reporting this quarter in addition to our scholarly work. The Bill Lane Center's writer in residence, Felicity Barringer, partnered with the Idaho Statesman on a regenerative ranching story that explored both the ecological benefits of the practice and the difficulties implementing it. We hope you'll read the article in our & the West magazine and that you'll check out the work of our Western Media Fellow, Julia Simon, as well. Her story, " Demand for minerals sparks fear of mining abuses on Indigenous peoples' lands," aired on NPR's "All Things Considered" in late January. |
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Our winter event season actually began with an ArtsWest talk on the Saturday before classes started. With the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, we produced a fascinating conversation between artist Patrick Martinez and Tony Bravo, San Francisco Chronicle arts and culture reporter. The pair discussed Martinez's solo exhibition "Ghost Land." Another ArtsWest collaboration with MCA Denver and the Cantor Arts Center explored popular mythologies surrounding the image and concept of the cowboy in a sold-out February event. We also sponsored a lecture on federalism with political scientist Thad Kousser and a talk on the future of electric vehicle infrastructure with Elisabeth Gerber. Video of the ArtsWest "cowboy" event and Kousser's federalism talk will be available at the links above in the coming months.
As our attention now turns fully to the 10th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference on March 27, the Lane Center's event manager, Tina Lathia, is wrapping up final details for our travels to Tempe, Arizona. Check out the conference agenda to learn more about this year's theme: "The Changing Rural Southwest." Tina and Lane Center staff have assembled four expert panels delving into interstate migration, Native American issues, the Colorado River agreement and the U.S.-Mexico border. We will be offering live coverage of the event which you can find by following #RuralWest on X, or by tuning in to the livestream. A link to streaming video will be posted to the Rural West web page on March 27, the day of the conference.
Please stay connected to the Bill Lane Center by following us on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads. We love it when you read through our email communications, attend our events, or simply stop by the office to say hello. We hope everyone has had a productive and enjoyable winter quarter, and we wish you all the best for spring.
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Thursday, March 14, 2024, 4 - 5:30 p.m. PT
"A Bird's-eye View of Aerial Views of the West," a Western History Lecture Series event with Jared Farmer
Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 8:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. PT
Tenth Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference: The Changing Southwest
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