Herewith a description of a course I'm teaching this fall at Eastern Washington University
History 498
History of National Parks: an International Perspective
National parks have been described as America’s “best idea.” In 1872 there was only one national park in the entire world, Yellowstone – see above. Today there are more than 500 parks in the United States and roughly 7,000 world-wide.
Students in History 498 will focus on the American parks while learning also about comparable parks and park systems around the world.
The course structure is as refreshing as the wilderness itself!
1) History 498 is an online class so you can do the weekly assignments anytime you like, day or night. You can even participate in the class while visiting a park yourself.
Sunset Over Walden Pond, The Spiritual Home of the Preservation Ideal
2) The assigned readings and films are enjoyable and instructive.
Monuments like the Statue of Liberty are also part of the park system.
3) The weekly (and often awesome!) discussions encourage you to draw on your own experiences with parks and wilderness and also to bring in perspectives from other fields including literature, biology, geology – you name it!
Youngs with his trusty Spider motorcycle “Swoop” -- used for park explorations.
4) Your professor, Dr. Bill Youngs, has studied parks from Australia to the Arctic and will be teaching segments of the class with his films and articles via the internet while on location in American and foreign parks.
Svalbard in the North Atlantic – 1000 Miles North of Iceland!
How to sign up for the course:
If you are enrolled in classes at Eastern Washington University, simply go to the courses listed in EagleNet for the History Department, click on "History 498: Seminar" and select "National Parks." If you have questions for the instructor, Dr. Youngs, you can email him at jyoungs@ewu.edu. He will do his best to answer you immediately -- even if he is busy exploring a national park!
If you are enrolled in classes at Eastern Washington University, simply go to the courses listed in EagleNet for the History Department, click on "History 498: Seminar" and select "National Parks." If you have questions for the instructor, Dr. Youngs, you can email him at jyoungs@ewu.edu. He will do his best to answer you immediately -- even if he is busy exploring a national park!
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