Robert Thorson

Professor

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My byline for Orion Magazine is: “Midwestern native, turned northwestern geologist, turned northeastern academic.” My main scholarly interest is the interweave between humans and their landscapes where the threads of Anthropocene geology, historical archaeology, woodland ecology, environmental history, and American literature come together.   My teaching concentrates on the Honors Core Curriculum and upper division ERTH courses. My public engagement involves, freelance journalism, book reviewing, committee service, public talks, forensic consulting, books, podcasts, and videos, most notably for the Stone Wall Initiative, the Stone Pavilion Project, and Climate Underground.

Education

• Ph.D. Geology. 1979. University of Washington, Seattle.
• M.S. Geology.  1975. University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
• B.S.  Earth Science Teaching.  1973. Bemidji State College, Minnesota

Courses 

• Honors Core: ERTH 1000E  – The Human Epoch: Living in the Anthropocene
• Honors Core: ERTH 1055 – Earth Science and the American Landscape
• ERTH 3020 – Earth Surface Processes
• ERTH 4210 / 5210 – Glacial Processes & Materials
• ERTH 2050W – Communicating Earth and Environmental Science

Sample Publications

Journalism

• 2022 – Smithsonian, “How stone walls became a signature landform of New England.” Awarded Best History Writing of 2023 by History News Network.
• 2022 – Connecticut Magazine (Cover Feature). “The Land: Forces of Nature.”

Books

• 2022 – Tantor Media (2022) and Bloomsbury (2002). Audio: Stone By Stone: The Magnificent History in New England Stone Walls, Read by Robert Thorson.
• 2017 – Harvard University Press. The Boatman: Henry David Thoreau’s River Years.

Articles

• Google Scholar
• Thorson, Robert M., 2025, Conserving the Historic Stone Walls of New England.  The Public Historian 47 (in press for Feb 2025).
• Thorson, Robert M., 2023, Taxonomy and Nomenclature for the Stone Domain in New England.  Historical Archaeology 57, 1353-1384.