DR. MICHAEL LEWIS

Chair, Department of Environmental Studies

Professor of Environmental Studies and History

Salisbury University

E-mail: mllewis@salisbury.edu

 

EDUCATION

Ph.D.               American Studies, concentration in Environmental History and 20th Century U.S. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.  May 2000.

                        Certificate in Interdisciplinary Rhetoric of Inquiry

 

M. A.               American Studies, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

                        December 1993.

 

B. A.                Biology, with a minor in American Studies, Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee.

                        May 1992.

 

FACULTY AWARDS

            Wilson H. Elkins Professorship of the University System of Maryland, 2012-13

Outstanding Faculty Member, Student Government Association, Salisbury University, 2011.

Outstanding Teaching Award, Fulton School of Liberal Arts, Salisbury University, 2010.
Distinguished Faculty Award, Salisbury University, 2005.

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

American Wilderness. Editor, and author of chapters, “American Wilderness,” and “Leopold’s Legacies: The Science of Conservation.”  New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

 

Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the U.S. Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004. (North American edition).  Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the U.S. Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1945-1997. New Delhi:  Orient Longman Press, 2003. (Asian and European edition).

 

Articles and Essays:

Travelling Expertise: the USFWS in India, 1973-1997,” in preparation for a special issue of Environment and History.

 

“And all was Light: Science and Environmental History,” in Andrew Isenberg, editor, The Oxford

Handbook to Environmental History, New York: Oxford University Press, expected fall 2013.

 

“Globalizing Nature: National Parks, Tiger Reserves, and Biosphere Reserves in Independent India,” in

Patrick Kupper, Sabine Hohler, and Bernhard Gissibl, editors, Civilising Nature: A Global History of National Parks forthcoming: Oxford: Berghahn Books, fall 2012.

 

“Environmental Implications of Social Determinants of Health,” in Sanjoy Bhattacharya, editor, Social

Determinants of Health: Assessing Policy, Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Press, 2010, 169-180.

 

“In and Out of the Field: Teaching Field History,” Journal of Urban History (special issue on pedagogy) 36, No. 1(January 2010), 68-80.

 

“Cattle and Conservation at Bharatpur: A Case Study in Science and Advocacy,” Current Conservation 1, no. 1 (2008), 6.

 

A Collaboration for all seasons: Sálim Ali and S. Dillon Ripley,” in Salim Ali: A Treasure, V.S. Vijayan, ed. Salim Ali Foundation: Coimbatore, India, 2007.

 

“A Call for Social Ecology: A Review Essay,” Economic and Political Weekly 41, no. 19 (December 9, 2006), 5052-53.

 

“Project Tiger and Conservation Biology: A case study in transnational science,” Journal of the History of Biology, 38, no. 2 (Summer, 2005): 185-207.

 

“Transformative Environmental History – The Future of the Field,” Environmental History 10, no. 1 (January 2005): 53-55.

 

“Reflections on Teaching Environmental History: This Class will write a Book – an experiment in pedagogy,” Environmental History 9, no. 4 (October 2004): 604-619.

 

“Cattle and Conservation at Bharatpur: A Case Study in Science and Advocacy,” Conservation and Society 1, no. 1 (2003): 1-21.

 

“Scientists or Spies? Ecology in a Climate of Cold War Suspicion,” Economic and Political Weekly 37, no. 24 (June 15, 2002): 2323-2332.

 

 “Stitching Together Meaning: Sarah Jane Kimball, Fancywork, Class and Consumption,” Annals of

            Iowa 59 no. 2 (Spring, 2000): 141-164.

 

“Seeing the World Whole: An Interview with William Cronon,” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 18

(1999): 1-10.

 

“Tiger Tourism,” with Paul Greenough.  Student Travels Magazine, (Spring 1999): 27.

 

“From Science to Science Fiction:  Leo Szilard and Fictional Persuasion,” in The Writing on the Cloud,

Allison Smith, ed., University Press of America, 1997.

 

Book Reviews:

“Book Review: Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict between Global Conservation and Native Peoples,” Global Environmental Politics 10, no. 2 (2010), 122-4.

 

“Book Review: Smallholders and Stockbreeders: Histories of Foodcrop and Livestock Farming in Southeast Asia,  Environmental History 11, no. 3 (July 2006), 632-33..

 

“Book Review: Health, Medicine, and Empire,” Modern Asian Studies 37, no. 2 (2003), 509-511.

 

“Book Review: Situating Social History,” Modern Asian Studies 37, no. 1 (2003), 255-256.

 

“Book Review: A Carnival for Science: Essays on Science, Technology, and Development,” Iowa

Journal of Cultural Studies 18 (1999): 119-121.

 

CONFERENCE PAPER PRESENTATIONS

“Tigers,  Pandas and Snow Leopards: Transnational Conservation and the State,” Intersections: New

Approaches to the History of Science in India and China, King’s College, London, April 12-14, 2012.

 

“Towards Transnational Environmental History: Considering India,” Intersections: New Approaches to

the History of Science in India and China, York University, Canada, April 24-25, 2011.

 

“Travelling Expertise: the USFWS in India, 1973-1997,” the first World Conference on

            Environmental History, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 4-8, 2009.

 

Three Times A Protected Area: Biosphere Reserves, Project Tiger, and National Parks in India,”

German Historical Institute peer-reviewed workshop, Civilised Nature, Washington D.C., June 13-15, 2008.

 

“Roundtable: Tradeoffs and Compromises (II): Environmental Historians in Environmental Studies Programs – Institutional Setting,” American Society for Environmental history Annual Conference, Boise, March 12-15, 2008.

 

“Roundtable: Teaching Urban History,” session chair, American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., January 3, 2008.

 

“For the Birds: The Cold War and an Indo-US Ornithological Collaboration,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Alexandria, November 3, 2007.

 

“Roundtable: Collaborations between Environmental History and Conservation Biology: Tales of Two Societies?,” American Society for Environmental history Annual Conference, St. Paul, March 29-April 1, 2006.

 

“Roundtable: Using Rivers to Teach Integrated Environmental History,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, St. Paul, March 29-April 1, 2006.

 

“ ‘This Class will write a book’: An Experiment in Local Environmental History and Pedagogy,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, Victoria, March 31-April 4, 2004.

 

“Roundtable: Knowledge, Nature, Power and States: From Landscapes to Genomes in South Asia,” Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference, San Diego, March 4-7. 2004.

 

 “Marking Their Territory: Neo-Imperialist Scientists, Nationalist Foresters, and Project Tiger,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, Providence, Rhode Island, March 26-30, 2003.

 

“Ducks of Death? The Strange Tale of Bharatpur Bird-Banding and Biological Warfare,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, March 20-24, 2002.

 

“The Development of Indian Ecology and Conservation Policies: A Case Study for Transnational

Environmental History,” European Society for Environmental History Biannual Conference, St. Andrews University, Scotland, September 6-10, 2001.

 

“All Nature Great and Small: The SLOSS Debate in Indian Environmental Policy,” American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference, Durham, N.C., March 28-31, 2001.

 

“Commentary: Towards a National Vision of the Chesapeake Bay,” The Chesapeake Bay in the 21st Century Conference, Salisbury, MD, October 16-21, 2000.

 

“American Studies and the Future Abroad,” Mid-America American Studies Association, Kansas City, MO, April 7-8, 2000.

 

“Who Will Care For Baby Bertel?: Gender and Imperialism in the Philippines, 1917-1918,” Project on Rhetoric of Inquiry Conference on Justice and Caring, Iowa City, IA, January 30, 1999.

 

“Ecology as an American Export,” United States Educational Foundation, India, Mid-Year Conference, Fort Aguada, Goa, India, February 1-4, 1998.

 

“The Person behind the Passive Voice: reflections on the use of ethnography in the history of science,”

Mid-America American Studies Association, Minneapolis, MN, April 25-27, 1997.

 

National(ist) Science in a Globalizing World,” Great Lakes American Studies Association, Bloomington, IN, February 10-11, 1997.

 

“The Rhetoric of Persuasion: Leo Szilard and Science Fiction,” America Confronts the Atomic Age Conference, Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, OH, June 27-30, 1995.

 

INVITED LECTURES

“Apocalypse Now: 2012 in History and Culture,” Adventures in Ideas: Salisbury Humanities Series,

Salisbury University, March 3, 2012.

 

“Saving the Tiger?: Conservation Lessons from India,” Salisbury University Distinguished Faculty

Series, Salisbury University, February 23, 2011.

 

“Inventing Global Ecology, reprised,” Gallatin School of Interdisciplinary Studies, New York University,

            April 5, 2010.

 

“Commentary: Imperial Ecology,” Terrestrial Environments and their Histories in Modern India, Yale

            University, May 1-2, 2009.

 

An Environmental History Response to ‘Closing the Gap,’” The World Health Organization and the

Social Determinants of Health: Assessing Theory, Policy, and Practice, the University College of London, November 25-28, 2008.

 

“Natural Resources and the Development of the Eastern Shore of Maryland,” Delmarva Lecture Series,

            Delmarva Discovery Center, Pocomoke City, November 18, 2008.

 

“Is there such a thing as Indian Science?” Gallatin School of Interdisciplinary Studies, New York

University, October 27, 2008.

 

 “Commentary: Reading the Landscape,” American Studies Department Community Seminar, University of Alabama, January 26, 2008.

 

“Grasping a Tiger by the Tail: the Establishment of Project Tiger and the Politics of Conservation,” Environmental Policy Roundtable, University of Maryland-College Park, October 26, 2007.

 

“Globalization and Indian Conservation Science,” Gallatin School of Interdisciplinary Studies, New York University, October 22, 2007.

 

"Conservation and Global Ecology," Undergraduate Seminar, University of Iowa, May 30-31, 2006.

 

“The Development of ‘Indian’ Ecology: Questioning the relevance of the Nation-State as Cultural Unit for 20th-Century Science,” Department of History and Sociology of Science Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, February 9, 2004.

 

“Our Man In Delhi: The Smithsonian Institution, Indira Gandhi, and Scientists as Policy

Advocates," South Asia Studies Seminar, Cornell University, May 5, 2003.

 

“Salim Ali, Dillon Ripley, and the Transnational Origins of Indian Ecology,” Industrial Environments Seminar Series, Rutgers University, March 11, 2003.

 

 “Scientific Internationalism or Indian Nationalism? The Struggle for Control of Project

            Tiger,” Southwest Colloquium, Arizona State University, February 21, 2003.

 

 “Salim Ali, S. Dillon Ripley, and Indian Nationalism: The Political Limits of US-Indian Ecological Collaboration,” Smithsonian Institution Archives Research-in-Progress Seminar, Smithsonian Institution, January 16, 2003.

 

“The Environmental History of the Eastern Shore,” Eastern Shore Leadership Institute, Horn Point Research Center, May 23, 2002.

 

“Designing Indian Nature Reserves,” Public Goods and Public Bads in Nature: From Landscapes to Genomes in South Asia, Cornell University, February 22-23, 2002.

 

“Preserving India's Biological Heritage:  Debates over Biosphere Reserves, Sacred Groves, and

Scientific Theory,” South Asian Studies Seminar, University of Iowa, March 4, 1999.

 

DISTINCTIONS

            ·Outstanding Facult Award, Student Government Association, Salisbury University, 2011

            ·Fulton School of Liberal Arts Excellence in Teaching Award, Salisbury University, 2010.

·Distinguished Faculty Award, Salisbury University, 2005.

·PACE Civic Engagement Seminar Professor Spring 2004, Spring 2009.

·Faculty Development Mentor Grant, Salisbury University, 2001-2.

·Fulbright (India) Dissertation Research Fellowship, 1997-98.

·Seashore Dissertation Writing Fellowship, 1999-2000.  1 of 6 fellowships offered by the

 University of Iowa Graduate College in the Liberal Arts for the final year of dissertation writing.

·Alexander Kern Dissertation Travel Award, 1999.  One award granted each year by the American Studies Program, University of Iowa.

·T. Anne Cleary Dissertation Research Fellowship, 1997.  A University-wide competitive fellowship to support international research.

·University of Iowa Graduate College Foreign Language Fellowship (Spanish), 1996.

·Graduate Council Fellowship, University of Alabama, 1992-93.

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

· Professor of Environmental Studies and History, Salisbury University, Fall 2000-present.

                        Member of Graduate Faculty in History

·Visiting Assistant Professor of History, University of Iowa, Spring 2000.

·Instructor, American Studies Department, University of Iowa, 1996-97, 1998-99.

·Instructor, English Department, University of Iowa, Fall, 1995.

·Full-time substitute teacher for 8th grade science teacher on maternity leave, Spring, 1994.

·Instructor, American Studies, University of Alabama, Spring, 1993.

 

SERVICE

National:

·Member, Board of Editors, Journal of Environmental Sciences and Studies

· Chair of the Program Committee for the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Environmental History.

·Member of the Program Committee for the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Environmental History.

·Peer reviewer for manuscripts from Oxford University Press, Ohio University Press, Orient Longman Press, and Houghton and Mifflin.

· Peer reviewer for articles submitted to the journals: Environmental History, Conservation and Society, Journal of Historical Geography, BioScience, and International Social Science Review.

·Scholarship Review Committee Member, Rachel Carson Scholars Program, Newton Marasco Foundation, 2007-2010

University:

·Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies, 2012-present

·Director of the SU Environmental Studies Program, 2004-2012

·Co-chair of Faculty search committee for an Environmental Economist, 2011-12.

·Member of Faculty search committee for an Environmental Political Scientist, 2011.

·Member of Faculty search committee for a US Historian, 2010-11.

· Member of Faculty Senate Long Range Academic Planning Committee, 2006-11.

· Member of the University Strategic Enrollment Planning Committee, 2007-11.

· Member of the Fulton School Sustainability Committee, 2008-present.

·Member of the University Search Committee for the Dean of the Fulton School, 2007-8.

· Member of the Environmental Studies Steering Committee, S.U., Fall 2000-2003.

            ·Advisor for the SU Environmental Student Association, Fall 2000-2002.

·Chair of Faculty Senate Membership and Elections Committee, January-December 2003, member Fall 2001-spring 2004.

·Faculty Representative to the University search committee for the SU Housing Director, spring 2005.

·Faculty Leader for the Algonquin Orientation Experience, Fall 2000, 2001, 2003.

            ·Co-Advisor for Phi Gamma Mu Honorary Society in the Social Sciences, 2000-2005.

            ·Co-coordinator for the New Faculty Initiatives program, 2001-2003.

            ·Member of ad-hoc committee planning faculty development day for January, 2005.

·Participant in the Wicomico County/SU Teaching American History grant workshops, giving lectures and developing teaching modules for secondary school field trips, 2003-2006.

·Faculty Leader for Living-Learning Residence Hall programs for Honors students and for Environmentalists, 2005-present.

Community:

            ·Appointed member of the Salisbury Mayor’s Environmental Policy Task Force 2008-9.

· Appointed Member of the Salisbury Mayor’s Sewage and Wastewater Action Team (SWAT) 2008-9.

            · Salisbury University representative, Nanticoke Watershed Alliance, 2009-present.

            ·Member of the Wicomico Creekwatchers, Spring 2002-present.

            ·Member of the Wicomico Environmental Trust 2002-present.

            ·Lectures for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 2003-present.

·Vice-chairman of the Pemberton Park Advisory Board, January 2003-2008; member 2001-2008.

            ·Financial officer of the Pemberton Colonial and Historic Fair, 2003-2006.

·Guest Lecturer for the SU IRP, spring 2005.