CANYON — A renowned historian will discuss the intimate connection between the human inhabitants of a region and the mercurial nature of their environment in an upcoming lecture at West Texas A&M University.

Dr. Char Miller, the W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College and the director of the Claremont Colleges' environmental analysis program, will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center on WT’s Canyon campus.

Miller’s speech, “Flood and Fire, Deluge and Drought: Environmental History and Watershed Lessons from the Edwards Plateau,” is part of the Garry L. Nall Lecture Series through WT’s Center for the Study of the American West.

Admission is free. For information, call 806.651.2459.

The Edwards Plateau is a dominant landform in Texas, encompassing 24 million acres. It was intensely studied by William Bray, an early 20th-century botanist at the University of Texas, who explored the plateau and the Llano Estacado, the 30,000 square mile mesa that encompasses the majority of the Texas Panhandle.

Environmental history in Texas goes back to Walter Prescott Webb’s book “The Great Plains,” said Dr. Alex Hunt, CSAW director and WT’s Vincent/Haley Professor of Western American Studies.

“This specialization in the discipline of history teaches us that as humans we have always been involved in relationships with the natural world—land, weather, resources—and that these relationships are serious determinants of our human experience in any given region,” Hunt said.

“Here in West Texas, given its rather extreme conditions, we are more aware than most of our relationships with the natural world, but I think we still imagine ourselves more as the conquerors than the stewards of the environment,” Hunt said. “Dr. Miller’s lecture will be a very timely and relevant reminder of our relationships to our place and to the nature of our place.”

An active and award-winning scholar, Miller is also a senior fellow of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, and a fellow of the Texas State Historical Association and of the Forest History Society.

Miller, the author of several books, has served as a consulting historian for more than a dozen documentaries and worked closely with museums in Los Angeles and San Antonio to develop exhibits and educational materials, outreach that has influenced his teaching and scholarship.

The Nall series, CSAW’s biannual signature event, was created to honor the exceptional service to WT and the scholastic accomplishments of WT Professor Emeritus of History Dr. Garry L. Nall.

The lecture series supports CSAW’s mission to promote the study of the American West. Each semester, CSAW invites a noted scholar to participate in a community lecture, classroom lecture, a question & answer discussion session, and small group outings with WT students.

Addressing regional challenges and making an impact throughout the region and beyond are key components of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised more than $170 million.