Dr. Robert J. O’Hara

E-mail and web addresses: rjohara@post.harvard.edu · rjohara.net
Postal address: P.O. Box 7535, Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420 U.S.A.

Professional Interests

Systematics and evolutionary biology; residential colleges, house systems, and the renewal of university life; natural history and science education; history and philosophy of science.

In addition to my teaching and research, I also serve as a speaker and consultant on the subject of residential colleges within larger universities. To see what residential colleges can do for your institution read “Words of Praise for Strong College.”

Education

Ph.D., Harvard University (Biology), 1989.
A.M., Harvard University (Biology), 1984.
B.A., University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Zoology, summa cum laude), 1981.

Residential College Positions

Author and administrator, The Collegiate Way: Residential Colleges and the Renewal of University Life, 2000 to date.
The Collegiate Way is the leading international resource on the establishment, administration, and educational life of residential colleges, with more than 700 people on its mailing list.

Fellow of Ezra Brainerd Commons, Middlebury College, 2002–2005.
Brainerd Commons is one of Middlebury’s five residential colleges.

Senior Tutor and principal founder, Cornelia Strong College, UNCG, 1994–2000.
Established and oversaw for six years as dean of students the daily life of this residential college of 280 students and faculty.

Resident Tutor in Biology, Dudley House, Harvard University, 1983–1989.
Served as personal and academic advisor to students in this residential college of about 400 members.

Residential College Consulting and Speaking

Consultant and speaker on residential colleges, University of Virginia, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008.

Consultant and speaker on residential colleges, University of California at Berkeley, Gilbane Higher Education Facilities Forum / University of California at San Diego, and Southern Methodist University, 2007.

Speaker on residential colleges, Society of College and University Planning annual meeting, Boston Society of Architects monthly roundtable, and the University of Vermont, 2006.

Consultant and speaker on residential colleges, Eckerd College, University of Limerick, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2005.

Consultant and speaker on residential colleges, University of Durham, Trent University, University of Mississippi, and Wheaton College, 2004.

Consultant and speaker on residential colleges, University of Vermont, St. Paul’s College (Waterloo), and Hanbury-Evans-Wright-Vlattas architects, 2003.

Speaker at Residential College Deans’ Conference, Middlebury College, 2002.

Consultant and speaker on residential colleges, Universidad de las Américas (Puebla, Mexico) and Santa Clara University, 2001.

Quoted in articles about residential colleges and higher education in The Boston Globe, The Burlington Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The East Valley Tribune (Phoenix), The Nashville Business Journal, The New York Times, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Times Higher Education Supplement (London), The Washington Post, The Wheaton Alumni Quarterly, and The Yale Alumni Magazine, 2002 to date.

Academic Teaching, Research, and Other Professional Positions

Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Middlebury College, 2002–2005.

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1997–2002.

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1993–1997.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Critical Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1992–1997.

Visiting Professor of Science, Transylvania University, 1992.

National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1991–1992.

Adjunct Curator, University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum, 1991–1992.

Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, 1990–1991.

Naturalist and Lecturer, Lindblad Travel, Inc., Antarctica and Tierra del Fuego, 1986.

Reference and Special Collections Assistant, Museum of Comparative Zoology Library, Harvard University, 1983, 1985–1988.

Paleontology Field Assistant, Painted Desert Expedition, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 1982.

Teaching Fellow, Department of Biology, Harvard University, 1981–1986.

Courses Taught

Undergraduate level: (1) Biogeography, (2) Biological Evolution, (3) The Biosphere, (4) Campus Natural History, (5) Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species, (6) The Collegiate Way, (7) Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, (8) Darwin and His Critics, (9) Genetics and Evolution (lecture and laboratory), (10) History and Theory of the Historical Sciences, (11) Major Concepts of Biology (non-majors lecture and laboratory), (12) Natural History of the Vertebrates (lecture and laboratory), (13) Principles of Biology II (majors lecture and laboratory), (14) Scientific Lives, (15) Vertebrate Life.

Graduate level: (1) Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, (2) Darwin and His Critics, (3) Trees of History.

A separate teaching page provides details on these offerings and a course reviews page includes some student comments on my teaching.

Selected Professional Awards and Service

Member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. Served on the Phi Beta Kappa Executive Committee at UNCG.

Recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Excellence Award at UNCG. (This award is given to only one junior and one senior faculty member each year.)

Twice nominated for the Bullard Award for University Service at UNCG. (This is the University’s highest award for institutional service.)

Invited speaker at universities and academic conferences in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden.

Reviewer for the National Science Foundation and for professional journals and publishers including Biology and Philosophy, Evolution, Systematic Biology, the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, and the University of Chicago Press.

Served on the UNCG Environmental Studies Committee. The UNCG Environmental Studies Program grew out of a proposal first made by me and my colleague Ann Somers.

Faculty Advisor to two undergraduate environmental organizations at UNCG, the Environmental Awareness Foundation and the Peabody Park Rangers. The Park Rangers was formed by students who had taken my Campus Natural History course.

Supervisor of three undergraduate research assistants who studied the natural history of Peabody Park at UNCG.

Twice recipient of the Master’s Award at Dudley House, Harvard University, for service to the House.

Print Publications

A separate publications page lists my essays and research papers in evolutionary biology, higher education, the history of science, and other fields, and provides access to the full text of most of those works.

Major Internet Publications

Author and administrator of The Collegiate Way: Residential Colleges and the Renewal of University Life, the leading international resource devoted to residential colleges within large universities, 2000 to date.

Founder and administrator of the Peabody Park web server including an illustrated history and seasonal natural history of UNCG’s educational park, along with a technical Biological Survey of more than 300 species of animals and plants found in the Park, 1997–2002.

Founder and administrator of Darwin-L, an international academic discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences, 1993–1997. The extensive Darwin-L Archives are carefully maintained and continue to serve as a major international resource on the historical sciences.

References

Professional employment references are available on request.