Presenters & Contributors
Poets, Professors, and Provocateurs
of the Pikes Peak Region
Reserve your seats for this free event!
Poets, Professors, and Provocateurs
of the Pikes Peak Region
Reserve your seats for this free event!
Presenter & Contributor Biographies
(in order of appearance)
Steve Ruskin is a native of Colorado Springs. He received his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of two books and numerous articles on the history of science, including studies of local scientists like the astronomer Frank Loud and the naturalists Charles Aiken and Edward Warren. He is a previous Regional History Symposium presenter and author.
Jane Bardal began her research into mining history with the publication of Southwestern New Mexico Mining Towns. She has also conducted oral history interviews with people who worked in the uranium mines near Grants, New Mexico. As a postcard collector, she had several postcards of Ellen E. Jack, and she wanted to find out why Captain Jack called herself the "Mining Queen of the Rockies." What she found was an eccentric woman prospector who followed her own inner light and who caused trouble wherever she went.
Eric Metzger is the executive director of the McAllister House Museum. Mr. Metzger holds an MA in Museum Studies from Harvard University. He has spent much of his career as an archaeologist working on projects in Belize, SE Alaska, the West and the Southwest with considerable experience involving large cultural resource management and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) projects.
Barry Binder is an MA student in the Department of History at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. His area of concentration is modern U.S. and the American West, with thematic focuses on migration, labor, cultural, and social history. His current research centers on the transmission and evolution of ideas and identity through migration in the Pikes Peak region. He earned his BA in History from Illinois State University ('96), with a focus on regional, immigrant, and cultural history. In addition to academic pursuits, Barry is active in public history and historic preservation, serving as a commissioner on the Historic Preservation Board of Colorado Springs and as a member of the Historic Preservation Alliance of Colorado Springs.
John Nizalowski was born and raised in upstate New York. John moved to Santa Fe in the mid-1980’s and has ever after lived west of the 100th meridian. He is the author of four books: the multi-genre work entitled Hooking the Sun; two collections of poetry, The Last Matinée and East of Kayenta; and Land of Cinnamon Sun, a volume of essays. Nizalowski has also published widely in a variety of literary journals, most notably Under the Sun, Weber Studies, Puerto del Sol, Measure, Digital Americana, and Blue Mesa Review. Currently, he teaches creative writing, composition, and mythology at Colorado Mesa University.
Rick Sturdevant, PhD joined the U.S. Air Force History & Museums Program in 1984 and has been Air Force Space Command deputy director of history since 1999. An internationally recognized authority on U.S. military space history, he appears frequently as a lecturer on aerospace history topics and, in addition to writing classified official histories, has published extensively in open literature. He serves on the editorial board of Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly and is editor of the International Academy of Astronautics history series. Rick’s professional honors include the Air Force Exemplary Civilian Service Award (1995-1999), the American Astronautical Society (AAS) President’s Recognition Award (2005), and election as an AAS Fellow (2007).
Chris Nicholl has a MA in history. She is a Senior Library Associate in the Special Collections Department of the Pikes Peak Library District and has served as a co-organizer of the Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium since its founding in 2003.
Katherine Scott Sturdevant is Professor of History at Pikes Peak Community College, where she has been the lead American history teacher for about three decades. She teaches Colorado, Western, American Indian, and Women’s history, among other topics. Kathy works frequently with PPLD and the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum on many projects. Her second fields are literature and editing. She has authored two books, many articles, and has won local, state, and national awards for teaching excellence. She started with the PPLD Regional History Series symposia and books in our first year and has served most of them since then as a speaker, writer, and/or editor.
Matt Mayberry has served as the director of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum (CSPM) since 2002. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history. He has published scholarly and popular articles on a variety of topics ranging from tuberculosis treatment in the Pikes Peak region to how museums can use eBay to further their missions. In addition to his duties at the CSPM, Mayberry is involved in numerous boards and commissions and volunteers for the American Alliance of Museums to help similar institutions around the country to evaluate their performance relative to established standards of excellence.
Susan Leighnor was born in Hutchinson, KS and lived in Los Angeles, CA and Monte Vista, CO. Colorado Springs has been her home for 30 years, moving to 121 West Monroe Street in 2010. Her background is in bookkeeping, accounting, office management, and executive assistance. For ten years she co-owned a business installing theatrical rigging in performing arts centers throughout the United States and around the world. She loves learning about different cultures and people.
Caleb Hall is a proud native of Colorado Springs, currently studying Visual and Performing Arts with a double concentration in Theatre and Dance Performance at UCCS. He has a special interest in historical significance and creating opportunities for relevancy of historical events in the modern age. This theme is present in many of his art pieces and performances. This research represents a unique opportunity to connect to history in a much more involved form, and he hopes to inspire others to find the significance in their own family history.
J Richards is a retired Air Force intelligence officer, imagery analyst and former Harvard Fellow. He is a past president of the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society and taught genealogy classes for both the society and Pikes Peak Library District for 20 years. As a volunteer, he is presently assisting PPLD’s Special Collections in the review and analysis of the photographs in their digital collection.
(in order of appearance)
Steve Ruskin is a native of Colorado Springs. He received his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of two books and numerous articles on the history of science, including studies of local scientists like the astronomer Frank Loud and the naturalists Charles Aiken and Edward Warren. He is a previous Regional History Symposium presenter and author.
Jane Bardal began her research into mining history with the publication of Southwestern New Mexico Mining Towns. She has also conducted oral history interviews with people who worked in the uranium mines near Grants, New Mexico. As a postcard collector, she had several postcards of Ellen E. Jack, and she wanted to find out why Captain Jack called herself the "Mining Queen of the Rockies." What she found was an eccentric woman prospector who followed her own inner light and who caused trouble wherever she went.
Eric Metzger is the executive director of the McAllister House Museum. Mr. Metzger holds an MA in Museum Studies from Harvard University. He has spent much of his career as an archaeologist working on projects in Belize, SE Alaska, the West and the Southwest with considerable experience involving large cultural resource management and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) projects.
Barry Binder is an MA student in the Department of History at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. His area of concentration is modern U.S. and the American West, with thematic focuses on migration, labor, cultural, and social history. His current research centers on the transmission and evolution of ideas and identity through migration in the Pikes Peak region. He earned his BA in History from Illinois State University ('96), with a focus on regional, immigrant, and cultural history. In addition to academic pursuits, Barry is active in public history and historic preservation, serving as a commissioner on the Historic Preservation Board of Colorado Springs and as a member of the Historic Preservation Alliance of Colorado Springs.
John Nizalowski was born and raised in upstate New York. John moved to Santa Fe in the mid-1980’s and has ever after lived west of the 100th meridian. He is the author of four books: the multi-genre work entitled Hooking the Sun; two collections of poetry, The Last Matinée and East of Kayenta; and Land of Cinnamon Sun, a volume of essays. Nizalowski has also published widely in a variety of literary journals, most notably Under the Sun, Weber Studies, Puerto del Sol, Measure, Digital Americana, and Blue Mesa Review. Currently, he teaches creative writing, composition, and mythology at Colorado Mesa University.
Rick Sturdevant, PhD joined the U.S. Air Force History & Museums Program in 1984 and has been Air Force Space Command deputy director of history since 1999. An internationally recognized authority on U.S. military space history, he appears frequently as a lecturer on aerospace history topics and, in addition to writing classified official histories, has published extensively in open literature. He serves on the editorial board of Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly and is editor of the International Academy of Astronautics history series. Rick’s professional honors include the Air Force Exemplary Civilian Service Award (1995-1999), the American Astronautical Society (AAS) President’s Recognition Award (2005), and election as an AAS Fellow (2007).
Chris Nicholl has a MA in history. She is a Senior Library Associate in the Special Collections Department of the Pikes Peak Library District and has served as a co-organizer of the Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium since its founding in 2003.
Katherine Scott Sturdevant is Professor of History at Pikes Peak Community College, where she has been the lead American history teacher for about three decades. She teaches Colorado, Western, American Indian, and Women’s history, among other topics. Kathy works frequently with PPLD and the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum on many projects. Her second fields are literature and editing. She has authored two books, many articles, and has won local, state, and national awards for teaching excellence. She started with the PPLD Regional History Series symposia and books in our first year and has served most of them since then as a speaker, writer, and/or editor.
Matt Mayberry has served as the director of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum (CSPM) since 2002. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history. He has published scholarly and popular articles on a variety of topics ranging from tuberculosis treatment in the Pikes Peak region to how museums can use eBay to further their missions. In addition to his duties at the CSPM, Mayberry is involved in numerous boards and commissions and volunteers for the American Alliance of Museums to help similar institutions around the country to evaluate their performance relative to established standards of excellence.
Susan Leighnor was born in Hutchinson, KS and lived in Los Angeles, CA and Monte Vista, CO. Colorado Springs has been her home for 30 years, moving to 121 West Monroe Street in 2010. Her background is in bookkeeping, accounting, office management, and executive assistance. For ten years she co-owned a business installing theatrical rigging in performing arts centers throughout the United States and around the world. She loves learning about different cultures and people.
Caleb Hall is a proud native of Colorado Springs, currently studying Visual and Performing Arts with a double concentration in Theatre and Dance Performance at UCCS. He has a special interest in historical significance and creating opportunities for relevancy of historical events in the modern age. This theme is present in many of his art pieces and performances. This research represents a unique opportunity to connect to history in a much more involved form, and he hopes to inspire others to find the significance in their own family history.
J Richards is a retired Air Force intelligence officer, imagery analyst and former Harvard Fellow. He is a past president of the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society and taught genealogy classes for both the society and Pikes Peak Library District for 20 years. As a volunteer, he is presently assisting PPLD’s Special Collections in the review and analysis of the photographs in their digital collection.
