River (Heidi) LaMoreaux

Education

Ph.D. Geography, University of Georgia, 1999
M.S. Geography, University of Utah, 1991
B.S. Geography, University of Utah, 1990

Academic Interests

River (known as Heidi when she taught in Hutchins) is interested in just about everything – so teaching in Hutchins was perfect for her! Though her academic training is largely in the earth sciences – she studied peat bogs and caves in the Southeastern United States, complete with pollen counting, charcoal analysis and sediment diagramming – she has always also been interested in, and taken coursework in, creative arts and writing. River is particularly interested in the intersections of art, science, creative writing, and mapping.

For example, her course "Inner Geographies" encourages students to examine their relationships to place, to their personal history formation factors, and to each other through creation of maps and use of science methods as metaphors for personal history development. Since retiring from Hutchins, River has continued to teach Inner Geographies as an academic course and series of workshops. For more information and to see art galleries see www.innergeographies.com.

A fan of comics for years, River tries to incorporate graphic novels and sequential art into all of her courses. Additionally, all her LIBS 320B courses, which were largely science-based, also included an artistic project as part of the course content. River is also interested in how to encourage and nourish creativity as she believes that everyone is, in their own unique ways, inherently creative.

River also taught courses that encouraged future teachers to be enthusiastic about teaching science in their classrooms, building on her long history of scientific inquiry. River played an active role in promoting environmental education and science awareness in California and has continued this passion in Idaho. During her time in Hutchins, River worked closely with the State Directors of Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design), Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), and Project Learning Tree, to improve environmental literacy in California. She was on the State Board of Directors for Project Learning Tree for over ten years. She has also given several formal presentations about her successes in teaching Projects WET, WILD and Learning Tree to university educators in California and Nevada.

Selected Publications & Presentations

LaMoreaux, R. 2018. “My Two Legal Weddings as Recipes.” (creative nonfiction) Calyx, 30(2):28-30.

LaMoreaux, H. K. 2017. “Kiss” (creative nonfiction) Dispatches from Lesbian America. Capone, G., Berber, X., and Smith, R. (Eds.) Bedazzled Ink.

LaMoreaux, H. K. 2013. “Natural History Meets Personal History” in Creativity and Entrepreneurship: Changing Currents in Education and Public Life. Book, L., and Phillips, D. (Eds.) Edward Elgar Publishing, Northhampton.

Art Show, 2012. Personal Geographies. “Map of My Hands” and “Map of My Head” exhibited in the Denver Public Library beginning January 2012, as part of an exhibition tied to the 2011 book Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking, by Jill K Berry.

LaMoreaux, H. K. 2011. “Map of My Hands” and “Map of My Head” (photographs of artwork) featured in Personal Geographies, North Light Books.

Art Show 2011. Inner Geographies. October 24 to December 2, 2011, Mahoney Library, Petaluma Campus of Santa Rosa Junior College, 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma, CA 94954. This exhibition showcased the efforts of faculty, students and community artists as they used maps, natural history metaphors, and found object assemblages to explore the forces that shaped them. This exhibition included LifeCore diagrams, personal reference slide collections, maps of personal places, maps of the body, maps of family as body, maps of the heart, personal compass rose diagrams, and assemblage art.

Art Show, 2011. Assemblage. “Venus Traps,” “Don’t Box Me In,” “Free,” and “Macon Building” and “Adams Spring Entropy” are featured in a community art show. August 15 to September 23, Finely Community Center, 2060 West College Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA.

LaMoreaux, H. K., Brook, G. A., Knox, J. A. 2009. Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments of the Southeastern United States from the stratigraphy and pollen content of a peat deposit on the Georgia Coastal Plain, Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 280(2009):300-312.