Christine B. Damrow

339 W. Harrison Street

Columbus, WI  53925

(920) 623-4157

damrowcb@yahoo.com

 

 

Education

 

Ph.D.               University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of History                               2005

Dissertation:  “‘Every Child in a Garden’:  Radishes, Avocado Pits, and the Education of American Children.” 

My dissertation uses the children’s garden, evolving in ideal and design, as a lens to reveal and explain broader changes in the twentieth-century United States:  in educational philosophies, science and technology, understandings of nature, standards of living, and ideas of the good life.  Director:  Dr. William Cronon.

 

M.A.                University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of History                               1994

Thesis:  Romantic Ideals and Scientific Progress:  Nature and Children in American Culture, 1880-1920.  Minor field:  Geography.

 

B.A.                Drake University                                                                                                 1989

Majors:  History and Political Science.  Minor:  German.

Graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.

 

 

Teaching Experience

 

Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin–Madison

 

            History 102:  American History from the Civil War to the Present                                      

 

            History 412:  History of American Education                                                                       

 

            History 460:  American Environmental History                                                                    

 

 

Teaching Interests

 

Environmental History, Social History, History of American Education, the Progressive Era, History of the American West, Women’s History, Urban History, Rural History

 

 

 

 

Professional Activities

 

Presenter, Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education Fall Conference                     2005

 

Plan Commissioner for the City of Columbus                                                                   2000-2004

Designed and circulated a survey to gather local input for the city’s Smart Growth Plan.

         Planned and promoted a community meeting on the city’s dam, with representatives from       the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the River Alliance in attendance.

 

Research Assistant to Professor William Cronon                                                              1993-2000

            I completed extensive archival and field research for a book on the environmental and social history of Portage, Wisconsin.  Building a network of contacts, I conducted over 100 oral history interviews with area residents of diverse occupations and family backgrounds.  Compiling and analyzing these interviews, I identified significant historical changes and issues in the community’s agriculture, infrastructure, economy, schools, and social life.  This position afforded much room for initiative and creativity.

 

Participant, with a stipend from the Mellon Foundation, in a summer seminar led by Professors John Cooper and Thomas Archdeacon of the University of Wisconsin.                                                          1997

 

Memberships:              American Society for Environmental History

                                    Forest History Society

                                    History of Education Society

 

 

Languages                 

 

German and reading knowledge of French

 

 

References

 

Dr. William Cronon                                        History, Geography, and Environmental Studies

wcronon@wisc.edu                            University of Wisconsin–Madison

 

Dr. William Reese                                           History and Educational Policy Studies

wjreese@wisc.edu                              University of Wisconsin–Madison

 

Dr. Stanley Schultz                                         History

            skschult@wisc.edu                             University of Wisconsin–Madison