Biographic Sketch

Written in the style of a press release for use by local media and introductions to public lectures.

Originally from the lake country of the American heartland, Professor Thorson lived in Alaska, California, Washington, and Wisconsin before moving to New England in 1984. Along the way, he earned a Ph.D (1979) from the University of Washington (Seattle), spent five years with the U.S. Geological Survey (1975-1980) and contracted with 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 the University of Alaska (Fairbanks), where he established an interdisciplinary center for ice-age (Quaternary) science, and at the University of Wisconsin (Oshkosh), where he exerimented with rural living in a farmhouse on a kettle moraine in the village of Omro. 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), where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

During his first twenty years at UConn, his appointment was with the Department of Geology and Geophysics. In 2005, he joined the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Anthropology (Archaeology), with additional commitments to the Honors Program and the Center for Integrated Geosciences.

His scholarly research took an unusual turn in 2003 when his first book on signature landforms Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls (New York, Walker & Company) became a regional bestseller and won the Connecticut Book Award for nonfiction.  This led to: a regular schedule of speaking engagements, correspondence, writing assignments, and preservation consultancies involving the Stone Wall Initiative; a curriculum research project for grades K-8 funded by the National Science Foundation (based on an earlier co-authored book, Stone Wall Secrets, A Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, 1998); and the 2005 publication of Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England's Stone Walls, also byWalker & Company. His life as a part-time journalist began in 2003 when he joined the Hartford Courant's Board of Contributors to Place, an award winning Sunday commentary section. Within a year, he was writing regular Thursday Op-ed columns for the Hartford Courant (usually on education and environmental affairs); many of his 238 (and counting) have generated published responses. Since 2005 he has served on the Advisory Board for the Connecticut Center for the Book (a Library of Congress Program devoted to public literacy), chairing its nonfiction jury for three years. His second book on signature landforms, -- Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes and Ponds, was published in May, 2009 by Walker & Company of New York, now a subsidiary of Bloomsbury U.S.A. It led to a freshwater road trip titled Walden to Wobegon, published on-line as an environmental studies travel journal.

Professor Thorson now lives a largely 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.  He and his wife of 32 years, Kristine raised four children together.

Link to a childhood photo as an early naturalist.