The Network in Canadian History and Environment is administered by an executive committee. Members of our executive committee also edit and produce content for our website. We are excited to welcome four new NiCHE executive members this fall: M. Blake Butler (New Scholars Representative), Dr. Mica Jorgenson, Dr. Sara Spike, and Dr. Peter Stevens. Read ahead to learn more about our new executive members!

M. Blake Butler (New Scholars Representative)

Blake Butler is a history PhD candidate at Western University. His doctoral research explores different human relationships with snow in twentieth century British Columbia. He first became interested in environmental history during his undergraduate degree at Queen’s University. He continued his studies at the University of Victoria, earning his MA in history in 2017. Blake hopes to build on the work of previous New Scholars representatives by creating spaces where graduate students and recent graduates can come together to discuss their shared interests in environmental history. His twitter handle is @M_BlakeButler.

Mica Jorgenson

Mica Jorgenson specialises in natural resource history, especially gold mining and forest fire. She is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Stavanger, Norway, where she researches transient wildfire smoke in northern Europe and northern Canada. Before moving to Norway, she worked as a Senior Advisor for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development in British Columbia. She completed her PhD at McMaster University and wrote her dissertation on early Canadian gold mining. She learned to love the outdoors growing up in Wells, British Columbia, and when she is not at her desk she is usually in the mountains. You can find her on twitter @mica_amy. 

Sara Spike

Dr. Sara Spike is a cultural historian of rural communities and coastal environments in Atlantic Canada. Her projects often centre visual cultures, sensory histories, and public-facing work. She received her PhD from Carleton University with a dissertation on the history of vision in late nineteenth-century rural Nova Scotia, and followed this with a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of New Brunswick with a project on the cultural history of fog in Atlantic Canada — the focus of her current research and book project. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University, but she lives in Mi’kma’ki/ Nova Scotia, where she works as a university instructor and a consultant to museums and archives in the province. She tweets at @sara_spike and @smallhistory.  

Peter Stevens

Dr. Peter A. Stevens is Professor of Liberal Studies at Humber College, Toronto, where he teaches a variety of history and liberal arts courses. He completed his Ph.D. in Canadian History at York University in 2010.

Peter’s research explores the cultural significance and environmental implications of taken-for-granted institutions and social practices. His projects to date include a study of the origins of Canadian Thanksgiving Day, and an ongoing project on the history of family cottaging in Ontario. His work has appeared in the Canadian Historical Review, The Journal of Canadian Studies, and Ontario History, among other publications. Find him online at peterstevens.ca or on Twitter @peterastevens1.