Press-style Biography
An example of "The Child is Father to the Man." Photo of stone wall coordinator Robert Thorson walking a glacial moraine in the northern Brooks Range, Alaska . Photo taken in 1974-75 by Thorson's supervisor at the U.S. Geological Survey (Thomas D. Hamilton), yet published almost thirty years later by an ex-student of Thorson (Rod Combellick) at the State of Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (Professional Report 121, 2003).
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Originally from the upper Midwest, Professor Thorson lived in Alaska, California, Washington, and Wisconsin before arriving in New England in 1984. Along the way, he earned a Ph.D (1979) from the University of Washington, spent five years with the U.S. Geological Survey (1975-1980) and worked for various federal, state, and private agencies ranging from the National Geographic Society to the Japanese Ministry of Culture. Prior to joining the University of Connecticut, he taught at theUniversity of Alaska (1980-1984), where he established an interdisciplinary center for Ice-Age (Quaternary) science.
During his first twenty years at UConn, he was with the Department of Geology and Geophysics, which morphed into the Integrated Geosciences Program. His visiting faculty appointments have been with the History Department at Yale University (1990), the Geography Department at Dartmouth College (1992), and in the Department of Civil Engineering (Obras Civiles) at the Universidad Tecnica de Federico Santa Maria in Valapariso, Chile (1999) as a Fulbright Scholar. During his last leave (2007) he opted for a "writing-while-hiding" sabbatical, living on Conanicut Island, Narragansett Bay, while researching and writing a book on kettle lakes and ponds.
In 2002 his book Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls (New York, Walker & Company) won the 2003 Connecticut Book Award in the nonfiction category, which led to a nearly continuous schedule of speaking engagements, correspondence, and public preservation consultancies involving the Stone Wall Initiative. It also precipitated a project funded by the the National Science Foundation for curriculum development (grades K-8) based on an earlier co-authored book, Stone Wall Secrets (A Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, 1998), and the publishing of a second book (Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England's Stone Walls (Walker & Company in February, 2005). In March, 2004, he began writing a regular Op-ed column for The Hartford Courant (usually on education and environmental affairs), where he continues as a founding member of the Courant's Board of Contributors to Place, its award winning commentary section. Since 2005, he has beenchair of the nonfiction jury for the Connecticut Book Award, a Library of Congress program.
Professor Thorson's body lives a settled (middle-age, middle-career, middle-income) life southern New England, where his hobbies are reading, writing, cooking, walking beaches, and learning the rules of journalism through trial and error. At various times, his mind can be found in the Alaskan wilderness, the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, here and there in the Earth's crust, and in early 19th century New England.
OFFICIAL POSITIONS
Robert M. Thorson is Professor of Geology at the University of Connecticut, where he holds a joint appointment between the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Anthropology. He teaches for the Honors Program, where he is an Honors Fellow, and the Center for Integrated Geosciences, where he is an affiliated faculty. At the university his role is to teach courses, advise graduate and undergraduate students, perform sponsored research, serve on committees, and provide outreach to beyond campus. His regular professional duties also include writing a weekly column for the The Hartford Courant and coordinating the Stone Wall Initiative.
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Scholarly Research (and vitae)