Presentations

I have developed a variety of PowerPoint presentations and given programs to hundreds of groups, including k-12 and college students, community service organizations, historical audiences, libraries, home owners associations, and professional societies.  

These programs cover a wide range of topics and can be packeged as part of a book signing event.  Please contact me for further details or to schedule an event.

GENERAL HISTORY

• Theodore Roosevelt Slept Here.  A mostly nonfictional account of Roosevelt and his ties to Arizona.

• ​Zane Grey and the Call of the Canyon.  Reviews Grey's life and then focuses on his exploits in Arizona, particularly activities relating to his book and movie, Call of the Canyon, set in Oak Creek Canyon.

• ​Who Was Del Webb?  His name adorns communities across the country, but who was he?  This program reviews his life as a real estate developer and baseball team owner.

• ​Dauntless Courage and Boundless Ambition: The Life of Buckey O'Neill. O'Neill was one of Arizona's legendary pioneers, a man who wore many hats: newspaper publisher, sheriff, prospector, mayor, Roughrider.

• ​The History of Baseball Spring Training in Arizona.  Major League Baseball teams have been training in Arizona for more than a century, starting with sporadic training sessions and barnstorming games and evolving into the modern Cactus League.

• John Weatherford and his Hotel.  A leader of the Flagstaff, Arizona community in the 19th-20th centuries, Weatherford built an iconic hotel that has stood for more than a century.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE

• The Far End of the Journey: Lowell Observatory's Historic 24-inch Clark Telescope.  This program covers one of our country's most storied telescopes, from its early history of groundbreaking research to famous visitors and its recent renovation.

• The 1894 Lowell Expedition to Arizona.  Reviews the daring site-testing expedition throughout  Arizona Territory that resulted in the founding of Lowell Observatory.

• Flagstaff Goes to the Moon.  Much crucial preparation for sending Apollo astronauts to the moon took place in Flagstaff, including mapping of the lunar surface, astronaut training, and instrument testing.

• The Discovery of Pluto.  The search for, and eventual discovery of, Pluto is a colorful tale of dedication, perseverence. and personal triumph.

• Percival Lowell and his Impact on Astronomy.  A brilliant member of a Boston Brahmin clan, Lowell was a controversial figure in the astronomical world of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  He left several legacies that forever changed the course of astronomy.

• The History of Science in Flagstaff.  Northern Arizona boasts an abundance of natural resources and scientists have been coming here since the mid 1800s to explore these riches.  This program covers this research, from early transportation surveys, to focused research expeditions by John Wesley Powell and others, to the establishment of permanent research facilities.

• The History of Lowell Observatory.  For more than 120 years, Lowell scientists have carried out groundbreaking research, including the discovery of Pluto, first detection of the expanding nature of the universe, and moon mapping for the Apollo program.

• The Life of Edwin Hubble.  Hubble was one of the most influencial--and pompous--astronomers of the 20th century, with his most important contributions coming during his time at Mount Wilson Observatory in California.

• V.M. Slipher and the Expanding Universe.  Lowell Observatory's mild-mannered astronomer from Indiana made one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the 20th century when he detected the first evidence of the expanding nature of the universe.