George Vrtis

Education & Professional History

Marquette University, BS; Northwestern University, MA; Georgetown University, PhD

Highlights & Recent Activity

Professor George Vrtis’ research and teaching interests focus on the fields of American environmental history, the American West, and contemporary environmental issues. As a joint appointment in the History Department and the Environmental Studies Program, he teaches courses on a wide range of subjects, including American Environmental History, American Farms and Food, American Cities and Nature, American Wilderness, and Wilderness Field Studies at the Grand Canyon. His recent publications include Nature’s Crossroads: The Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022), co-edited with Christopher Wells, Macalester College; and Mining North America: An Environmental History since 1522 (University of California Press, 2017), co-edited with John McNeill, Georgetown University. He is currently working on studies of gold mining in North America, the entangled histories of mercury-gold amalgamation processes and environmental and social change, and the preservation of wilderness at Grand Canyon National Park.