NiCHE: Network in Canadian History & Environment / Nouvelle initiative canadienne en histoire de l’environnement is a Canadian-based confederation of researchers and educators who work at the intersection of nature and history. We explore the historical context of environmental matters and communicate our findings to researchers, policymakers, and the public.
Meet Our Executive
Running the network is a team effort. NiCHE is administered by an executive committee who also edit our online content, including blogs, podcasts, videos, and other resources. They are:
Heather Green
Saint Mary’s University
Editor-in-Chief, The Otter Blog
Sean Kheraj
York University
Peter Stevens
Humber College
Book Reviews Editor
Andrew Watson
University of Saskatchewan
Interim Chair, Executive
Claire Campbell
Bucknell University
Daniel Macfarlane
Western Michigan University
Sara Spike
Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University
Heather Rogers
McGill University
New Scholars Representative
Jessica DeWitt
Social Media Editor
Editor-in-Chief, The Otter Blog
Mica Jorgenson
University of Stavanger
Book Reviews Editor
James Murton
Nipissing University
Blair Stein
Clarkson University
Ramya Swayamprakash
Grand Valley State University
Meet Our Editorial Team
Our Executive is supported by an Editorial Team who edit content for our blog, edit and maintain our resource pages, and help develop new NiCHE initiatives.
Caroline C.E. Abbott
Independent Scholar
Paul Hackett
University of Saskatchewan
Philip Gooding
McGill University
Addie Hopes
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Estraven Lupino-Smith
University of British Columbia
Isabelle Gapp
University of Toronto
Lori Lee Oates
Memorial University
Blake Butler
Western University
Gabrielle McLaren
Concordia University
Nicole Miller
Independent Scholar
Alex Souchen
Guelph University
Getting involved
NiCHE is first and foremost a community of people who share an interest in nature and the past. Most of our more than 400 members are Canadian, but we have many members from around the world. Most are students or scholars in some fashion, but others are government employees, environmental activists, and members of the general public. Membership is free. If you are interested in joining, please contact us via our user account request page.
Contributing to the website
The NiCHE website is a popular forum for activity and information about nature and the past in Canada. If you want to get a message out about an upcoming event, call for papers, or news item, we welcome submissions. And if you have an opinion about any issue related to nature and the past, The Otter ~ La Loutre also welcomes submissions. A complete guide for contributing to the website can be found in our Submission Guidelines page.
How we got here
NiCHE was founded in fall 2004 by a small team of scholars. Membership jumped quickly in the network’s first years, from 5 to 50 to 200, and activity accelerated apace. In 2007, NiCHE was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Knowledge Clusters grant which provided the network with stable funding through 2015.
The executive during the Clusters years consisted of Laura Cameron, Queen’s U; Stéphane Castonguay, UQTR; Colin Coates, York U; Matthew Evenden, UBC; director Alan MacEachern, UWO; Liza Piper, U Alberta; Bill Turkel, UWO; and Graeme Wynn, UBC. The executive was supported by an Advisory Board of Stephen Bocking, Trent U; Michèle Dagenais, U Montréal; Philip Enros, Environment Canada; Tina Loo, UBC; Joy Parr, UWO; and Donald Worster, U Kansas.
NiCHE also greatly benefited by the assistance of Maude Flamand-Hubert, French-language editor of The Otter ~ La loutre, 2013-15; Josh MacFadyen, project manager, 2012-14; Jess van Horssen, Qu’est-ce qui se passe editor, 2010-12; Jim Clifford, project manager, 2010-12; Adam Crymble, webmaster, 2008-13; Shawn Day, webmaster, 2007-08; Michael Commito, McMaster U, new scholars rep, 2011-13; Lauren Wheeler, U Alberta, new scholars rep, 2011-12; Will Knight, Carleton U, new scholars rep, 2009-11; Sean Kheraj, new scholars rep, 2008-09; Jennifer Bonnell, new scholars rep, 2007-08; and Daniel Rueck, McGill U, longstanding regional networks rep.
NiCHE thrives today thanks to the commitment and creativity of all these people and the members of the network at large.