I have taught interdisciplinary programs for 26 years at the Evergreen State College at the undergraduate and graduate levels. I have cotaught with 22 different colleagues, including an American historian, art historian, European historian, feminist economist, folklorist, and multiple artists, historians of science, geographers, as well as other scientists. I also serve as Director of the Biodiversity Center at Evergreen. My books include The Tanoak Tree: An Environmental History of a Pacific Coast Hardwood, published by University of Washington Press. I am a contributor to A Cultural History of Plants from Bloomsbury and The Cultural Value of Trees: Folk Value and Biocultural Conservation from Routledge. My current research is focused on an intersectional ecofeminist cultural history of cotton in the American South.
Education
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California-Davis, 1996; M.S., Botany, University of California-Davis, 1989; B.A., Botany, University of California-Berkeley, 1981.
Teaching Style
I create supportive and motivating learning communities where students refine their academic skills in critical thinking, reading, and writing as well as their skills in plant science. In the interdisciplinary programs I teach, students examine the historical context of botany as a discipline and human/plant relations in an inclusive, equity-minded manner. I have published multiple pedagogy articles that elaborate on my teaching philosophy and approach, which you can access at bowcutt.net.