limerick_patricia | CU-Boulder Environmental Studies Program

Patricia Limerick

Environmental history, history of science in the American West, cultural perceptions of nature

Professor - History ; Associate - Environmental Studies Program ; Faculty Director, Chair of the Board - Center of the American West

Ph.D. 1980 Yale University

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Center of the American West

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Center of the American West

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Born and raised in Banning, California, Patricia Nelson Limerick has been observing the West for many years. She received her B.A. in American Studies in 1972 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her Ph.D. in American Studies in 1980 from Yale University.

From 1980 to 1984, Limerick taught at Harvard University as an Assistant Professor, before joining the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder. At CU she teaches a variety of courses, both undergraduate and graduate, on the American West, as well as the introductory American history survey course. She is the Associate Director of CU's Minority Arts and Sciences Program, where she teaches a Summer Bridge class on writing for entering freshmen of color.

She is a recipient of numerous awards and honorary appointment--State Humanist of the Year, 1992, from the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities; a recipient of the University of California, Santa Cruz 1990 Alumni Achievement Award; and Official Fool of the University of Colorado from 1987 to 2008. In 1995, she was named a MacArthur fellow.

Limerick has published a wide variety of books, articles, and reviews. Her best known work, The Legacy of Conquest, has had a major impact on the field of Western American History. In addition to numerous scholarly articles and book reviews, she writes frequent columns and op-ed pieces for "The New York Times", "USA Today", "The Denver Post", "The Daily Camera", and "The Rocky Mountain News". Her recent books include Something in the Soil (a collection of essays) and The Atomic West, (in progress).

As an advocate for bringing academic knowledge into the community, Limerick has spoken to audiences as diverse as the American Association of Law Schools, the Bureau of Land Management Summit Conference, the Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association, the Mormon History Association, the International High Level Radiaoactive Waste Conference, and a National Aeronautics and Space Administration conference on the future of space exploration. She has served on a number of advisory boards and committees; most recently the Board of Advisors for Ken Burn's and Stephen Ives's eight-part PBS series, "The West". In 1996, she served as President of the 5500 member American Studies Association. She currently chairs the Board of the Center of the American West.

October 27 2011

Limerick honored by High Desert Museum

April 01 2010

Wise Fool gives CU dose of levity

February 10 2010

Patty Limerick to Interview Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt

September 15 2009

Patty Limerick’s Invitation to Redemption for Joe Wilson and Van Jones

June 19 2009

Mixed Reviews, Dubious Prognosis for Obama

June 10 2009

Online Oil Shale Report Released by CU’s Center of the American West