Individuals acquire skills and exercise them to create a factual and conceptual basis for their intellectual development at different rates and in different ways.
Individuals are unique and the relationships they form are also unique.
Somewhat paradoxically, educational institutions seem to discount the uniqueness of individuals or relationships. In my dealings with students, I try to appreciate and promote the uniqueness of each and their learning process. In my research I focus on the uniqueness of particular spaces and particular time periods. The second decade, and continuing into the third, teaching has become focused on the intimate connections between landscape and society. Research has become even more narrowly focused on the historical context of the contemporary landscape, looking in detail at the origin, evolution, and geographical diffusion of land ownership in the United States, especially in Minnesota.