Interests: After completing my PhD in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford in 1991 with a dissertation titled "John Muir and the Nature of the West," I joined the Foothill College faculty as co-Director of the Foothill College Cultural Diversity Center (1991-19933) and Dean of the Language Arts Division (1994-1997). Currently I'm a full-time tenured Professor of English at Foothill College and Stanford EPIC Visiting Scholar for 2013-14 and 2015-2016. I'm also serving as co-director of Foothill's Center for a Sustainable Future. My book reviews appear regularly in the Los Angeles Review of Books. My story series "How Americans in Paris Changed the World" presents 250 years of American innovators, all the way from Benjamin Franklin to Lady Gaga. My online series "Earth's Largest Lakes" journeys to the largest freshwater lake on each of the seven contintents, with special emphasis on the catastrophic impact of climate change. My Top Ten Tips for Student Writers presents great tips and techniques for college-level writers.