M. S. Natural Resources (Parks Management), 1982, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Thesis: "An Investigation of the Recreational Potential of Water-Filled Gravel Pits in Interior Alaska."

Curriculum Vitae

Steve Cook

Instructor of Geography
Department of Geosciences

104 Wilkinson Hall

Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR 97330

541.737.0962

e-mail: [e-mail]

October, 2006
Born: May 5, 1949, Tonasket, Washington

Citizenship: United States

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Geography 1995, University of Florida

Dissertation: "Wildfire at the Wildland/Urban Interface: A Survey of Meso Level Decision Makers and

Their Support of Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Measures."

Dissertation minor subject: “Caribbean History and Anthropology: A review of the ‘Contact Period (1492-1799).”

M. S. Natural Resources (Parks Management), 1982, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Thesis: "An Investigation of the Recreational Potential of Water-Filled Gravel Pits in Interior Alaska."

Graduate Study, Spring 1978, University of Washington, 15 credits of Public Land Management

B. S. Natural Resources (Parks Management). 1973, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

A. A. Geology 1971, Wenatchee Valley College, Wenatchee, Washington
GRANTS AWARDED:
The move to Oregon State University in 1997 was a deliberate move from tenure stream, research—service--teaching format to a total focus on quality teaching of undergraduate courses—not studying teaching, but teaching.
Fulbright Grant (Council for the Exchange of Scholars) 1996, $28,000. Fulbright grant to teach at the Universiteti i Shkodrës, Albania, spring semester 1996. I also conducted further research into resource utilization and village life among the people of the Northern Albanian Mountains (Malesia i Madhe).
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown College Research Council Grant, 1995, $600 to help defray expenses associated with research related to a social survey of Albanian village women.
International Research and Exchanges Board, May-June 1995, ± $2500 plus travel expenses for "Research and Language Training Programs with Central and Eastern Europe, 1994-1995." This was for study of the Albanian language in Albania during the summer of 1995.
University of Pittsburgh Small Grants Program, Central Research Development Fund, FY 1995, $3790. Grant to specifically offset expenses associated with research titled "Resource Utilization in an Albanian Mountain Village." Research conducted during the summer of 1994.

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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown College Research Council Grant, 1994, $2500. To help defray expenses associated with research titled "Resource Utilization in an Albanian Mountain Village."
International Research and Exchanges Board, 1994, $1400. To cover expenses associated with conducting two teaching seminars, one at the Universiti i Shkodrës, and one at the Universiti i Gjirokastrës, Albania during the summer of 1994. These seminars were associated with 1.5 tons of teaching materials that I coordinated to have shipped to Albania.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Oregon State University--Department of Geosciences:

Environmental Conservation and Sustainability. (website: http://www/geo.oregonstate.edu/classes/geo300/ This is an overview course in which I truly believe that I am causing students to think about man’s impact on the natural systems of the world. Winter 1997 to present, three sections every term, 400 students/term.

Teaching Geosciences. Graduate course which allows me to communicate my passion for teaching to proto- teachers. Every fall; 7-12 students.

War in Kosovo. I helped organize and gave lectures for this special class on the Kosovo war. Spring 1998.
Oregon State University—Honors College. Only a few select faculty are invited to teach in the Honors College. I believe that I am the only faculty with Instructor rank to teach there.

Pan's Travail—Environmental degradation in ancient Greece and Rome A three credit course involving a 4 iteration paper on one aspect of ancient environmental problems and their current corollaries.

Borders—and how they got that way. A colloquium looking at odd border configurations around the world. Student groups identified a border and researched and presented a paper and a presentation. Spring 2005.

Environmental Consequences of War. A colloquium on war's impacts on ecological systems. Student teams took on a war and looked at the impacts. Spring 2004.

Polar Exploration. A colloquium on those tough and odd individuals and groups who longed for the poles. Spring 2003; 12 students.

Geography of the Non-Western World. Honors class looking at the “others” of the world. I greatly enjoy this course as it allows me to utilize my knowledge derived from traveling the world. Spring 02, Spring 04; 20 students.

Surface of the Earth (Physical Geography). Honors class. It is great fun to help students to better understand the physical world around them.. Spring 01; Winter 03; 20 students.

How sweet it is: The ‘Contact Period” 1492-1799 in the Caribbean. A colloquium on the Caribbean during this time of incredible turmoil and change in the Caribbean. Guest speakers and student discussions. Winter 2002; 12 students.

Wildfire and People. A colloquium which includes experts from the field and substantial student group presentations and papers. Winter 2001; 12 students.
Semester at Sea (administered by the University of Pittsburgh) Fall 1997. As a “Visiting Lecturer” I sailed with 600 students and 25 faculty around the world in 100 days, visiting 12 countries along the way. I was the only Geographer/Geologist/Climatologist/Oceanographer aboard ship. If it was a question on the physical world we were passing through, I was expected to know the answer. It was both heady and intimidating.
“Core” class: I gave many presentations in this broad survey course attended by ALL students aboard ship. I lectured on both cultural and physical geography topics including “The Suez Canal,” “The Ring of Fire,” etc.

Environmental Geography. Covered the usual environmental topics, as well as students had a group research project at a port along the way. We also reviewed the Kobe earthquake and the new Hong Kong airport site.

25 students.

Physical Geography. Standard course utilizing lecture, slide shows, and student research projects. 25 students.

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE (continued):
Universiteti i Shkodrës: Shkodër, Albania:
Social Science Research Methods. Spring 1996 as part of a Fulbright Grant I took a group of second year students through the entire process of social science research, from defining a question to ask, through designing an interview instrument, interviewing villagers, coding the responses, and utilizing SPSS to analyze the data. It was a fun experience to take students who had never used a keyboard and helping them understand western-style research methods and to become familiar with computers. 30 students.
University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown:
Physical Geography. This was an introductory course exposing students to the basics of physical geography. I emphasize "hands-on" activities with a significant lab component and student participation.

Every term; 40 students.

Earth and People (World Regional Geography). This introductory course was taught as a world regional course, with much student participation. Every term, two sections,40 students each.

Climatology. This was an upper level course emphasizing individual student research.

Alternate years 20 students.

Natural Hazards. Upper level course emphasizing computer analysis of hazards data.

Alternate years 20 students.

Water Resources. Upper level course--many presentations (three per student) and individual research into a broad range of water related topics. Alternate years 20 students

Environmental Geography. Upper level course--Guest speakers; field trips; individual research.

Alternate years 20 students

Directed Research. Work with individual students on individual projects and on my research projects. Varied.

NON-UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Visiting Lecturer, 1999-2002. I travel to a small rural school to work with 3^rd and 4^th grade students on Geography topics—we travel vicariously, do geography projects, correspond with an Albanian school.
Environmental Education, 1980-1986. As part of my duties as Camp Director for the Alaska Conservation Corps Resident Camp, I organized an environmental education curriculum and team taught environmental education to high school students enrolled in the program for six seasons, approximately 250 total students. In the off-season, at the same facility I taught environmental education to third grade students, approximately 100 students.
Environmental Education, 1983-1985. During these winters I volunteered as an instructor for a sixth grade environmental education program in Wenatchee, Washington, approximately 500 students during each week long session (3 sessions).
Log Home Construction, 1978. While working as a log home construction contractor I taught log home construction at Wenatchee Valley College in Wenatchee, Washington, approximately 30 students.

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CONFERENCES ATTENDED:
Since my arrival at Oregon State University in 1997, I have concentrated upon teaching Environmental Conservation and Sustainability to over 1200 students each year. My position has no research component and I have no time to explore my research interests. However, I have attended many on-campus seminars on teaching techniques, leading some discussion sections.
1996 Annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Fort Worth. I presented a paper titled “Village exogamy and religious endogamy in an Albanian mountain village.”
1995 Annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society in West Chester, PA. My entire climatology class attended this conference, concentrating upon a session concerning severe winter storms in the Northeastern United States. I did not present a paper.
1995 Annual meeting of the Middle States Division of the AAG in Canadaigua, New York. I and two students (one who accompanied me to Albania in May 1995 and surveyed village women, and another one who is an Albanian national staying in my home while attending college in the United States) organized a session on Albania, all presenting papers. My paper was titled "Cultural Persistence in an Albanian Mountain Village".
1995 Annual meeting of the AAG in Chicago. I presented a paper titled "Persistence of Patriarchal Households in Northern Albania." This paper concentrated upon the changes wrought to Albanian patriarchy by socialism. As in 1993, I took a group of students to the conference. Students benefit greatly from the exposure to such a diversity of geographic topics and materials.
1995 "Transformations in Albanian Societies." New York, February 10-11. I did not present a paper as I learned of the conference too late, but I used this invaluable opportunity to interact with others interested in Albania.
1994 Gjirokastër, Albania. I conducted a seminar for geography professionals at the University of Gjirokastër, including geography professors, elementary, and secondary school teachers. This was a very productive and enlightening session, both for them and for me. Our most successful session involving a round-table discussion of environmental problems in the Gjirokastër area (they are legion!), including identification, prioritization and possible solutions.
1994 Shkodër, Albania. I worked with three colleagues, Marash Rakaj, Trifon Ziu, and Lefter Kashta to involve them in my Boga research. I instructed them in grantsmanship, proposal writing, and scientific research techniques. We successfully obtained a research grant to study environmental problems in Lake Shkodër.
1994 Association of American Geographers, Mid-States Regional Meeting; Poughkeepsie, New York, October 1994. I presented a paper, "Persistence of Patriarchal Households in Northern Albania." One of my students presented two workshops on utilizing a physical geography lab manual that we developed based upon Internet resources.
1993 Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Atlanta, April. I took five Geography students to the AAG Meeting, where I presented a paper "Wildfire at the Wildland/Urban Interface: The results of a decision maker survey." The students worked and attended sessions.


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EMPLOYMENT:
Instructor of Geography, Oregon State University, January 1997 to present.
Visiting Lecturer, Semester at Sea program. August 1997-December 1997. We sailed around the world, me teaching geography.

Fulbright Scholar Grant to teach and conduct research at Universiteti i Shkodrës, "Luigj Gurakuqi", Shkodër Albania. January 1996-June 1996.

Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, August 1992-May 1997.

VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES:
For a more appropriate coverage of my volunteer activities for a pay raise, see "Promotion Dossier, Volunteer Activities at the end of this document.
Each yeganization, the Albanian Alps Institute, http://www.albanianalps.org of which I am president. In that year, I set up a computer lab, hired an English techer and established libraries in six schools using my own resources. Since that time, the Albanian Alps Institute has expanded and has put approximately 2,000 books into the libraries of the Shkrel School District. We now fund two English teachers; provide a line of credit at a book/school supply store for school directors; fund environmental study special projects; and continue providing books to the libraries that we established.
I keep a friend and colleague in Costa Rica supplied with a functioning laptop computer (three so far) and every two years I send him "M" bags of books, transparencies, and slides (120 pounds in 2005).
In 1998 I worked through the Rotary Club of Southern Oregon to bring a promising Albanian high school student to the United States. She has done well and is now a college graduate preparing for law school.
From 1999 to 2001 I volunteered one afternoon a week for several months each spring at a rural elementary school working with 3^rd and 4^th grade students on Geography topics. We draw maps, watch slides and videos and travel vicariously around the world. In addition, we typically study of plate tectonics. These kids are cool.
In 1996, I shipped to Albanian colleagues two tons of Goodes World Atlases in my continuing effort to send books that non-English speakers could utilize. I also shipped two cartons of used wall maps donated by my department; five bags of textbooks; an overhead projector with several sets of transparencies; three computers, printers, and monitors; a slide projector and screen; and five cartons of personal things to the children of impoverished village children of Boga. This entire effort was paid for from my own funds (the Fulbright grant was so generous, I felt compelled to buy supplies).
In 1995, I arranged and coordinated the donation of 1,000 Goodes World Atlases, by Rand McNally to primary and secondary schools in Albania (see next paragraph). This work was in conjunction with Rand McNally and the New England Albanian Relief Organization.
During 1993 and 1994 I coordinated and facilitated the shipping of packages of geographic teaching materials to the University of Shkodër, the University of Gjirokastër, and the Albanian Academy of Sciences Information Center. This project

required over a hundred hours of my time to bring to fruition but the reward of seeing atlases in schools which had previously had none made it worthwhile. The shipment included approximately 2500 MacKinnon, World Place

Location Learning System, fifth edition; 1000 Goodes World Atlas, by Rand McNally; 20,000 blank outline maps (for student study use), offered by Rand McNally at below wholesale price, and paid for by SOROS foundation; with shipping costs paid by the Institution to Institution Book Program, within the United States Information Agency.
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VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES (continued):

Associated with my Albanian interests, I have been sending supplies and money to several Albanian families, especially a family in the village of Boga that I stay with when I am in the village.

In 1994, I personally sponsored a young Albanian woman to come to the United States to study. She stayed in my home for 1 1/2 years beginning with her senior year in high school. Due to my tenacity and perseverance, she received a “President’s scholar” award at my University (UPJ). She is now attending a medical school on Long Island. I personally invested approximately $5,000 in this gifted young woman. She is now a medical doctor in Pennsylvania.
Since first traveling to Albania in 1992 I have been corresponding with several professors in that country and have been sending and having sent to them current journals as well as Geography textbooks.
I was elected Conservation Chair of the North Central Washington Audubon Society, 1988. My specialty on the board of directors was land management issues. After 1988 I remained active but not with an official position.
As a contributor to the Fairbanks Environmental Center (now the Northern Alaska Environmental Center) newsletter, 1979-83, I wrote on land management and placer mining issues. In this capacity, I met with the Governor of Alaska and appeared several times on radio and television.

TRAVEL:
Albania 1 times since 1992 usually for a month each time.

Cuba 2003. Bicycle toured eastern Cuba. Interesting country, nice people, retro-agriculture (oxen plowing, etc.)

Colorado, New Mexico 2002. Bicycle toured from Albuquerque 700 miles through the San Juan Mtns. in Colorado.

Corsica, 2001. I spent two weeks touring Corsica by bicycle, 1200 km along the coast and through the hills.

Oregon, 2001. I rode my mountain bicycle across Oregon investigating conditions in our National Forests, approximately 800 miles in two weeks.

France, 2000. I spent five weeks in France, two weeks investigating especially the Roman relics in southern France. I then rode my bicycle for 550 miles through the Alps from north to south investigating the mountain regime, both physically and culturally.

Oregon and Washington, 2000. I rode my bicycle across these two states, 800 miles. There is no better way to absorb a country than by bicycle.

Costa Rica, 1999. My wife and I traveled to visit a colleague in Alajuela. We traveled around the country with him, allowing me to take copious notes, slides, and video of this diverse and complex country.

Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. I biked 900 miles through the British Isles.

Canada, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, 1997. As a faculty member on the Semester at Sea program, I traveled around the world in 100 days, stopping in ten ports.

Turkey, 1996. Before returning to the United States from my sojourn in Albania (see below) my son and I spent three weeks touring Turkey.

Albania, 2001-2005. As president of the Albanian Alps Institute, a 501-C-3 Nonprofit Corporation ( http://www.albanianalps.org ) I travel to Albania every year for about a month to conduct the organization's business. Our mission is to improve the education for about 1000 students in the eleven schools in the Shkreli Komuna of northern Albania.

Albania, 1996. I received a Fulbright grant to teach at the Universiteti i Shkodrës spring 1996 semester.

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TRAVEL (continued)
Albania, 1995. I received a grant to study the Albanian language during the summer of 1995. I also visited other remote villages to administer social survey questionnaire to women.

Albania, 1994. Visited Boga, Albania to administer a questionnaire to the entire village (see Albania, 1993 below). Also toured the country, and organized and chaired a seminar for Geographers in Gjirokastër on environmental issues.

Austria, 1994. On our way home from Albania, my son Erik, Rezearta Llaguri (the Albanian student mentioned above), and I toured Austria for a week.

Greece, 1994. As a break during our two months in Albania, we slipped into Greece to visit the extraordinary monasteries in Meteora and the headquarters of the legendary Ali Pasha, in Ionnina.

United States, 1993. My wife, son, and I toured the United States in a big loop (8800 miles) during May and June.

Albania, 1993. I spent six weeks in the country, including guiding a group of tourists on a trek in the Albanian Alps. I then spent ten days in the village of Boga, where I designed a social survey questionnaire concerning resource utilization. Finally, I toured the country for a week, visiting new places.

Albania, 1992. My son and I traveled to Albania and stayed with a colleague and friends and relatives of his for about a month. We got a view of Albanian life that few foreigners have gotten.

Europe, 1992. Not exactly a fact finding tour, my son and I nevertheless traveled through six or seven countries on our way to and from Albania.

Haiti, 1985-1986. My family and I traveled to and lived in Haiti for six weeks just before Duvalier was expelled. We stayed in a house in the country and learned much about this troubled country.

Dominican Republic, 1986. After six weeks in Haiti we lived in the Dominican Republic for a month, again getting a good feel for this country.
All of the above travels are useful in teaching, as I utilize my extensive slide file to illustrate topics that I cover in class. These slide shows are very popular amongst students. I also can speak of comparisons between the physical and cultural scenes in foreign places to supplement our rather restricted existence in the United States. Since Population is at the root of all our environmental problems, a slide show of the poverty and environmental degradation in Haiti is sobering.
OTHER SKILLS:
Most vitae probably don't contain a heading of this type, but I believe that my professional and practical background compliment my academic skills, which improves my teaching.
For six seasons 1981-86, I was Resident Camp Director for the Alaska State Parks Alaska Conservation Corps camp forty miles from Fairbanks. Initially, I operated the equipment to establish the camp, even moving buildings from 60 miles away to the site. I was responsible for a $125,000-$200,000 budget each year and all aspects of the camp, including keeping the utility systems functioning (we had our own electrical generator and water system); hiring the staff of 8-15 each summer; selecting the 25-50 high school kids to participate in the program. Being a resident camp, it was a very intense program, and I was responsible for any problem that arose, seven days a week, from the time that I started the generator at 6:00 AM and cooked breakfast, until I shut the generator off again at 10:00 PM. I greatly enjoyed this job and also found myself with the labor to implement the things that I had written into the master plan (see next paragraph) for the park that we were located in. Under my supervision over a hundred miles of trails were constructed in the park as well as other recreational facility construction and maintenance.
While Working for Alaska State Parks as a Park Planner, in 1985, I researched and wrote the master plan for the 250,000 acre Chena River State Recreation Area (copy upon request). In this undertaking, I was responsible for everything from the field

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OTHER SKILLS (continued):
research through the management scheme, to the plan design, and finally, review of the document. I returned to the Alaska Conservation Corps camp director position before the document was finalized and thus it "officially" came from the statewide office and I did not receive principle authorship.
Also for Alaska State Parks, as a Park Planner, I worked closely with dog mushers to reestablish state ownership of an historic trail. I reviewed land status plats, historical documents, land ownership documents, ground-truthed the route (about 30 miles) and conducted both in-house and public meetings on the project.
And finally, perhaps a "professional" vitae doesn't include practical, blue collar work, but it defines who I am.
During construction of the Trans Alaska Pipeline project, I was an equipment operator, running drill rigs, dozers and front end loaders. I also do most of the work on my own vehicles.
As a housing contractor in the late 1970's, I designed and built 12 log homes in Alaska and Washington. I am capable of doing it all, from drawing the plans through excavation and concrete work to erecting the shell and designing and installing the wiring and plumbing.
I am a pretty good woodworker, and especially enjoy taking wood from the standing tree all the way to the finished product. I have machines to make my own lumber. For three years, I was a full time house husband and to pass the time, I made high quality small wooden objects (stamp dispensers, cutting boards, lazy susans, clocks, etc. and sold them at craft shows in the Pacific Northwest. I love messing around with wood, and regret that I have not had much time lately to pursue this activity.
Photography is a part of all of my travels, and I obtain high-quality slides and video which I utilize in my many slides shows to bring textbook material to life.

Publication Record

The first three articles were from my Ph.D. research on the problem of homes built in wildfire-prone ecosystems.

Cook, Steve, 1997. “Wildfire adapted ecosystems meet man’s development. ”Australian Journal of Emergency

Management. V12: No. 2, pages 24-31.
Cook, Steve, 1997. “Incendios en zonas silvestres.” Fire International. Jan/Feb 1997, No. 155, pages 6-8.
Cook, Steve. 1996. "Wildfire at the Wildland/Urban Interface." Wildfire News and Notes. 10:1, Pp 6-8.

The following publication was derived from research done in 1994 under an IREX Short Term Travel Grant.

Cook, Steve and Marash Rakaj. 1995. "Social Changes in the Albanian Alps During Communism. "Middle States Geographer. 28:84-90).

Publication Record (continued)

The following are unpublished manuscripts

Cook, Steve and Marash Rakaj. “How Albania came to be.” An investigation of the odd border configuration of Albania.

Cook, Steve, Marash Rakaj, and Trifon Ziu. “An Investigation of Bogë, a village in the Malësia e Madhe (Great Highlands) region of northern Albania ” A long piece looking at this Albanian mountain village from every angle; historical, geographical, cultural, and economically.

Cook, Steve and Marash Rakaj. “What is it Really Like to be a Fshatarja (village woman)? Albanian Village Women Speak Out.” Based upon our 1995 survey of 100 Bogan women.

Cook, Steve and Marash Rakaj. “Clan Exogamy and Religious Endogamy in Bogë, a Village in the Malësia i Madhë Rreth (Great Highlands Administrative Region) of northern Albania. The title explains it all—this is a look at where girls from Bogë go be married and where women in Bogë came from.