Dr. Robert J. O’Hara

I am an academic naturalist and evolutionary biologist with professional interests in systematics, biodiversity, and the history and theory of the historical sciences (the palaetiological sciences of philosopher William Whewell). I administer the websites listed below.

I am also an advocate for the creation of small, cross-sectional, faculty-led house systems and residential college systems within schools and universities as a means to improve education for all, and for the application of those ideas to the practice of homeschooling as well. I established and maintain “The Collegiate Way: Residential Colleges and the Renewal of University Life” (collegiateway.org), the leading international resource on collegiate houses and residential college systems. I have sixteen years’ experience in residential college life and administration at Harvard University, the University of North Carolina, and Middlebury College, and have been a speaker and consultant to public and private institutions in the United States and abroad that are exploring the collegiate model.

• The Collegiate Way: Residential Colleges, House Systems, and the Renewal of University Life — Renewing campus life by dividing large universities into small, cross-sectional, faculty-led collegiate houses and residential colleges.

• The Darwin-L Archives on the Historical Sciences — Message logs and supporting materials from Darwin-L (1993–1997), an academic discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

• Academic Publications — A listing of my published works on evolutionary biology, the historical sciences, education, and related subjects.

• Ancient Greek Coins of Miletus — A detailed review of the coinage issued by the ancient Greek city of Miletus, the birthplace of the modern world. An avocational site, but closely related to my professional interests in the historical sciences.

• New England Genealogy — My ancestry through Boston Irish and Massachusetts Bay Puritan branches. Another avocational site, closely related to my professional interests in the historical sciences.

• Peabody Park at UNCG — The history and natural history of an educational park at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.