The Needle in the Haystack (or Keep on Swimming)

I think I may have found the needle in the haystack. I have been searching for an environmental history program. in the southeast I realize I may be going about this backwards. My Philosophy prof said, "Find a prof whose work you admire and go study under him." The only thing is, the prof whose work I admire is at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. That's a bit too far away. So, I wrote to him and asked him if any of his colleagues in this area were "doing" environmental history. He directed me to Dr. Tim Silver at Appalachian State University.

Appalachian State is the little David who defeated the Giant Michigan Wolverines in football three years ago. That's how I remember them! Go, Mountaineers! I emailed the head of their graduate program and received an enthusiastic response. Dr. Linda Holliday told me there are two other faculty in their history dept who are also working in environmental history, though not necessarily on conjunction with US history. At least there is more than one environmental historian on faculty. I was thrilled to find a program that 1) was actually doing environmental history and 2) had some "robustness" to the program in the form of several faculty. I perused Dr. Silver's publications and it looks as if he is doing some things I am interested in.

I am scheduled to visit Appalachian State University on October 7, my fall break. I am excited. Now, I just have to get the GRE out of the way and kick some serious you-know-what in the rest of my classes. This is shaping up to be yet another challenging semester. BTW, I take my baby down to school August 21 (I'll try not to cry much). Then, it's just me, the dogs, GRE math and Geology. Ya, baby! Oh, the point of this post? In the words of Dorie from "Finding Nemo", "Keep on swimming!" Stay tuned . . .