The Environmental Semester

Wes Jackson

Environmental Historian

Wes Jackson, President of the Land Institute (founded in 1976) was born in 1936. After attending Kansas Wesleyan (B.A. Biology, 1958), he studied botany (M.A. University of Kansas, 1960) and genetics (Ph.D. North Carolina State University, 1967). He was a professor of biology at Kansas Wesleyan and established the Environmental Studies program at California State University, Sacramento, where he became a tenured full professor.

Dr Jackson's writings include both papers and books. His most recent works are Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place (1996), co-editd with William Vitek, Becoming Native to this Place (1994), and Altars of Unhewn Stone (1987). Meeting the Expectations of the Land (1984) was edited with Wendell Berry and Bruce Colman. New Roots for Agriculture (1980) outlines the basis for agricultural research at the Land Institute.

The work of the Land Institute has been featured extensively in the popular media, including The Atlantic Monthly, Audubon, "The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour." and NPR's "All Things considered." Life magazine named Wes Jackson as one of 18 individuals they predict will be among the 100 "most important Americans of the 20th century." He is a recipient of the Pew Conservation Scholars award (1990) and a MacArthur Fellowship (1992).

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