Contested Grounds:  U.S. Cultures and Environments Throughout the history of the United States, Americans have created a complex set of meanings pertaining to the environments (wild, pastoral, urban, marine) in which they live.  From European-Native contact to the present, Americans’ various identities, cultures, and beliefs about the bio-physical world have shaped the stories they tell about “nature,” stories that sometimes share common ground, but often create conflicting and contested understandings of human-environment relationships.  In this course we will investigate these varied and contested stories from multi-disciplinary perspectives in the humanities—history, literature, and religion--and will include attention to race, class, gender, and environmental justice.

Community-Engaged Environmental Studies Practicum In this course students work in small groups with one of a variety of partners and organizations to complete a semester-long, community-engaged project. Project themes vary by term and typically focus on local and regional environmental issues that have broader application. Projects rely on students’ creativity, interdisciplinary perspectives, skills, and knowledge developed through their previous work. The project is guided by a faculty member and carried out with a high degree of independence by the students. Students will prepare for and direct their project work through readings and discussion, independent research, collaboration with project partners, and consultation with external experts. The course may also include workshops focused on developing key skills (e.g., interviewing, public speaking, video editing). The project culminates in a public presentation of students’ final products, which may various forms such as written reports, policy white papers, podcasts, or outreach materials. (Open to Seniors) (ENVS  0112 OR APES[5]) AND (ENVS  0211 OR PSCI  0211) AND (ENAM 0215 OR ENVS  0215 OR ENGL  0215) AND (GEOG  0120 OR ENVS  0120 OR GEOG  0150 OR ENVS  0150 OR ENVS  0251 OR GEOG  0251 OR ENVS 0261 OR GEOG  0261 OR ENVS  0271 OR GEOG  0271 OR ENVS  0281 OR GEOG  0281 OR GEOG 0252))

Vermont Life’s Vermont: A Collaborative Web Project Students in this course will work collaboratively to build an online history project aimed at a wide audience.  Since 1946, Vermont Life magazine has created particular images of the landscape, culture, and recreational possibilities in the state.  Our goal will be to construct a website that examines the evolution of these images and the meaning of the state over time, paying particular attention to consumerism, the environment, tourism, urban-rural contrasts, local food movements, and the ways that race, class, and gender influence all of these.  The course is open to all students and requires collaborative work but not any pre-existing technological expertise.

United States Environmental History: Nature and Inequality In this course we will study the interactions between diverse groups and their physical environments to understand how humans have shaped and in turn been shaped by the material world.  Topics include:  ecological change with European conquest; industrialization and race and class differences in labor, leisure, and ideas of “nature”; African American environments South and North; the capitalist transformation of the American West, rural and urban;  Progressive conservation and its displacement of Native Americans and other rural groups;  chemical- and petroleum-based technologies and their unexpected consequences; and the rise of environmentalism and its transformation by issues of inequality and justice.

Data Science Across Disciplines In this course, we will gain exposure to the entire data science pipeline—obtaining and cleaning, large and messy data sets, exploring these data and creating engaging visualizations, and communicating insights from the data in a meaningful manner. During morning sessions, we will learn the tools and techniques required to explore new and exciting data sets. During afternoon sessions, students will work in small groups with one of several faculty members on domain-specific research projects in Biology, Geography, History, Mathematics/Statistics and Sociology. This course will use the R programming language. No prior experience with R is necessary.  BIOL 1230: Students enrolled in Professor Casey’s (Biology) afternoon section will use the tools of data science to investigate the drivers of tick abundance and tick-borne disease risk. To do this students will draw from a nation-wide ecological database.  GEOG 1230: In this section, we will investigate human vulnerability to natural hazards in the United States using location-based text data about hurricane and flood disasters from social media. We will analyze data qualitatively, temporally, and spatially to gain insights into the human experience of previous disasters and disaster response. We will present findings using spatial data visualizations with the aim of informing future disaster preparedness and resilience.  HIST 1230: In U.S. history, racial differences and discrimination have powerfully shaped who benefited from land and farm ownership. How can historians use data to understand the history of race and farming? Students will wrangle county- and state-level data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture from 1840-1912 to create visualizations and apps that allow us to find patterns in the history of race and land, to discover new questions we might not know to ask, and to create tools to better reveal connections between race, land, and farming for a general audience.    STAT 1230: In this course students will dive into the world of data science by focusing on invasive species monitoring data. Early detection is crucial to controlling many invasive species; however, there is a knowledge gap regarding the sampling effort needed to detect the invader early. In this course, we will work with decades of invasive species monitoring data collected across the United States to better understand how environmental variables play a role in the sampling effort required to detect invasive species. Students will gain experience in the entire data science pipeline, but the primary focus will be on data scraping, data visualization, and communication of data-based results to scientists and policymakers.  SOCI 1230:  Do sports fans care about climate change? Can sports communication be used to engage audiences on environmental sustainability? In this section of the course, students will use the tools of data science to examine whether interest in sports is associated with climate change knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, as well as other political opinions. Participants will use survey data to produce visualizations and exploratory analyses about the relationship between sports fandom and attitudes about environmental sustainability.

History of the American West This is a survey of the history of the trans-Mississippi West from colonial contact through the 1980s. It explores how that region became known and understood as the West, and its role and meaning in United States history as a whole. The central themes of this course are conquest and its legacy, especially with regard to the role of the U.S. federal government in the West; human interactions with and perceptions of landscape and environment; social contests among different groups for a right to western resources and over the meanings of western identity; and the role of the West in American popular culture.

Making History: An Introduction to Digital Humanities Methods Digital sources and methods have transformed the practice of history.  In this half-credit course students will explore how new methods shape both scholars' access to and understanding of historical sources and stories about the past.  Students will work in groups to create an original digital history project.  With a focus on United States History, topics will include data, databases, the United States census, digitized and transcribed archival sources, podcasts, digital images, photographs, and maps.  Students will learn the strengths and pitfalls of various methods, think critically about digital sources and versions of the past, and gain skills for future projects across the curriculum.  No previous experience required. 1.5 hr. sem. Does not count as a 100-level course for the HIST major

American Environmentalisms After 1960 In this course we will examine the emergence of multiple threads of environmentalism in the United States since 1960. We will examine popular media portrayals of the environment in crisis through critical analysis of photographs, advertisements, and popular magazines, and environmentalism on college campuses. We will pay particular attention to emerging criticisms of environmentalism for both its failures to address issues of social inequality, particularly those of class and race, and its threat to conventional ideas of economic growth and prosperity. Student work will include essays, independent and group research projects, and collaborative digital projects.

Race and American Literature After Civil Rights In 2025 literature by and about the racially minoritized exists at a paradoxical juncture: institutionalized and censored, feted as an instrument of consciousness-raising and denounced as woke and reverse-racist. In this course we will ask how we got here by exploring how writers of color from the 1960s onwards fought to enter the literary mainstream – a struggle broaching difficult questions about the relation between creative and political aspiration. Would these writers counter stereotype with empowering representation or refuse the burden of racial representativeness? Would they address white readers unfamiliar with racism or non-white readers already acquainted with its realities? And what would it mean for such aspirations to succeed against the backdrop of ratcheting inequality in and across the color line? Authors include Gloria Anzaldúa, Percival Everett, and R.F. Kuang.

Writing History In this course students discuss historical methods and writing strategies to create convincing historical narratives. With the approval and guidance of the professor, students complete a 20-25-page research paper based on primary and secondary sources. Students take this course in the fall of their junior year or with permission in the spring.  If students are away for the entire junior year, they can take the course in the fall of their senior year. 3 hr. sem. Restricted to HIST, ESHI, HSMT majors and HIST minors.

The New West: From Reagan to Burning Man The U.S. West since 1976 has been transformed by economic, social, political, and environmental forces. Immigration, amenity tourism, climate change, globalization, technology, political change, and economic booms and busts have remade a region once defined by isolated rural communities, extractive industries, “natural landscapes,” and filmmakers’ imaginations.   In this course we will draw from history and politics to make sense of conflicts over public lands, water, fire, energy, Native sovereignty, racial inequality, rural gentrification, urbanization, and sprawl. Short papers will culminate in a historical policy brief on current challenges in the West.

Kathryn Morse

Reviews and ratings for Kathryn Morse at Middlebury College.Kathryn Morse teaches Contested Grounds, Community Engaged Practicum, Vermont Life Collab Web and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Kathryn Morse good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

I liked the discussions and readings for the class; Prof. Morse did a good job pulling from a variety of material and ideas, which I really appreciated. Essays weren't too bad; you get a lot of choice on what you write them on, which makes them more enjoyable. 

Although I didn't enjoy the setup of the course (it is very tech-based), it was still interesting to take. I learned a lot about Vermont's history and became very familiar with several pieces of software for class projects and several search engines for research. This was dual-taught, and both professors were extremely understanding of outside issues and very willing to make accommodations. 

Professor Morse is one of the most caring and understanding professors at Middlebury. This course was one of the most enjoyable and engaging class I have taken here at Middlebury. The topics are all very interesting and engaging. She does a really good job at explaining topics and ideas and is very fair in grading