• Undergraduate
    • Ecology
    • Environmental Humanities
    • Outdoor Education
    • Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
    • Wilderness Field Program
    • Wendell Berry Farming Program
  • Continuing Education
  • EcoGather
  • Admissions and Aid
David Gilligan

David Scott Gilligan

Faculty in Ecology; Director of Field Studies

802-586-7711 ext 133 [email protected]

“There is a reason it feels good to be out in the natural world, paying attention to plants and animals, getting to know their life histories and the greater ecological systems they (and we) are enmeshed in. The practice of the naturalist: observation, description and interpretation of the natural world, is, essentially, the practice of being human. Our ancestors engaged in this same practice a million years ago and over the course of millennia it shaped and defined who we are. Every time we go out into the field and run our fingers over the surface of a leaf, catch the movement of an animal in our peripheral vision, note a change of light coming through the forest canopy or a shift in the feel of the air as the weather changes, we are living to our fullest potential.” – David Gilligan and Arctic Char

Scroll Down

Apply Now for Spring 2023 & Fall 2023 | Read More

  • Institutional COVID Updates
  • About Sterling
    • At a Glance
    • Accreditation
    • Mission and Vision
    • Our Leadership
    • Strategic Initiative
    • Creative Style Guide & Policies
    • Sustainable Sterling
    • Sterling Timeline
    • Employment
  • Admissions & Aid
    • Transfer Applicants
    • Veterans
    • International Applicants
    • Visit Sterling!
      • Visit Campus
      • Accommodations
    • Financial Aid & Scholarships
      • Scholarships
      • Net Price Calculator
      • Work College
    • Tuition, Room & Board
  • Academics
    • Find your program
      • Ecology
      • Environmental Humanities
      • Outdoor Education
      • Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
      • Self-Designed Major
      • Climate Justice Minor
      • Draft Animal Power Systems Minor
      • Education Studies
      • Natural History Minor
      • Natural Resources Conservation Minor
    • Faculty
    • Rian Fried Center
    • The Foundation of Sterling’s Curriculum
    • Course Catalog
    • Academic Calendar
    • Graduation Requirements
      • Senior Year Research Projects
    • Advising
    • Brown Library
  • Wilderness Field Program
  • Wendell Berry Farming Program
  • EcoGather
  • Continuing Education
  • Life at Sterling
    • Work College
    • Community
    • Safety and Security
    • The Sterling Kitchen
    • The Farm
    • Student Activities
    • Athletics
    • Health & Wellness
    • Residence Halls
  • For Alumnx & Supporters
    • Outcomes
    • Sterling Timeline
    • Job Board
    • Alumnx Resources & Stories
  • Parents & Families
  • Make A Gift
  • Online Store
  • More
    • Contact Sterling
      • Office Directory
    • Directions
    • News & Events
    • The Blog
    • Corporate Foundation and Government Relations
    • Intranet

David grew up on the Eastern Seaboard but came of age in the American West.

After beginning his studies in Philosophy and Religion at Flagler College in Northeastern Florida, he left the academy for a few years to travel the continent and see what life and landscapes were all about. He resumed his studies at Prescott College in Arizona, where he studied Natural History and Ecology as both an undergraduate and a graduate student.

After a few years of working seasonally in the outdoors, David returned to Prescott College as a faculty member in the Environmental Studies and Adventure Education programs from 1999-2005. During this time he extensively explored the backcountry of the Sierra Nevada of California and later other high mountains of the world, including the Icefield Ranges of the Alaska-Yukon border country, the Highlands of Scotland, the Norwegian mountains, the Swiss Alps, the Nepal Himalaya and the Southern Alps of New Zealand, which became the subjects of three books: The Secret Sierra, In the Years of the Mountains and Rise of the Ranges of Light.

Drawn back to the East by the promise of a well-balanced life, the allure of canoe country, proximity to the North Atlantic, and most importantly the opportunity to develop a natural history program at Sterling College, David moved to Vermont and took a position as a faculty member in Natural History and Ecology in 2006.

Since then he has developed an array of on-campus natural history courses, as well as off-campus field programs in the Sierra Nevada of California, Alaska, Newfoundland and Labrador and the coast of Maine and the Maritimes.

He continues to write books and articles, including his most recent book Nature, Culture, Consciousness. He practices meditation regularly, as well as a variety of other spiritual practices and study topics.

He lives with his wife Laura just outside the village of Craftsbury, a walk through the woods from the college, a quarter mile portage from the Black River, from which one can travel by canoe to anywhere in the world.


Profile

Award Institution
MA in Natural History and Ecology Prescott College
BA in Double Major: Natural History; Philosophy
Presentations
Nature, Culture, Consciousness. 2013-2015.
Book talks at bookstores and related venues in New England and the American West.
Wildness and Wilderness: History of American Nature Philosophers. 2013.
Camp Denali Speaker Series Mountain Glaciers. 2012,2013.
Camp Deanli Speaker Series Rise of the Ranges of Light. 2011,2012.
Book talks at several bookstores and related venues in California Friluftsliv in America: Norwegian Nature Philosophy and Outdoor Education 2008.
Association for Experiential Education Northeast Regional Conference, Craftsbury Seminar Series.
Mountains of the World: The Nepal Himalaya. 2004-5.
The Appalachian Mountain Club.
The Mono Lake Committee.
The Sierra Club.
Prescott Geographic Society.
Sterling College.
Mountains of the World: The Swiss Alps. 2002-5.
High Mountain Environments. 2002-5.
University of Maine at Farmington.
Prescott College Master of Arts Colloquium.
The Nature of Nature: Human Perspectives on the Natural World from the Paleolithic to the Present. 1999/2000/2001.
Prescott Ecopsychology Conference.
Rise of the Range of Light: Geologic Evolution of the Sierra Nevada. 1998/1999/2000. Prescott College Master of Arts Program Colloquium.
Publications
Nature, Culture, Consciousness 2013. Craftsbury (300pp). Nature, Culture, Consciousness explores the evolution of the human species, human culture and human consciousness in relation to nature from our Pleistocene origins as foraging peoples, through the development of agriculture and the world’s wisdom traditions, to modern human outlooks toward nature.
Rise of the Ranges of Light: Landscapes and Change in the Mountains of California 2011.
Heyday: Berkeley (250pp.)
Rise of the Ranges of Light interbraids personal narrative and interpretive science writing to explore the geologic and ecological evolution of the mountains of California
In the Years of the Mountains: Exploring the World’s Ranges in search of their Ecology, Geology and Culture 2006.
Thunders Mouth Press, New York. (315 pp.)
In the Years of the Mountains uses engaging travel writing style, integrating mountain ecology and geomorphology with personal exploration of the Swiss Alps, the Nepal Himalaya, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and the North American Cordillera.
The Secret Sierra: the Alpine World Above the Trees 2000.
Spotted Dog Press, Bishop, CA (288 pp.)
The Secret Sierra interbraids personal narrative and interpretive science writing to explore the physical geography and alpine ecology of the Sierra Nevada, California.
The High Country of the Mind 2014.
The Mountain Gazette: Montezuma, CO. This article explores the relationship between mountains and the human spirit. Life on the Rise 2012.
In New California Writing 2012. Gayle Wattawa (Ed.) This essay explores the diversity of biotic communities in California and the development of the unifying theory of evolution.
Seeing the Light 2010. In The Illuminated Landscape: A Sierra Nevada Anthology.
Gary Noy and Rick Heide (Eds.) This is a short personal narrative about mountain light in the high Sierra Nevada.
Natural History from the Ground Up. 2009. Journal of Natural History Education. This article explains the history and development of the natural history program at Sterling College.
Friluftsliv in America. 2007. In Nature First: Outdoor Life the Friluftsliv Way. Bob Henderson (Ed.). This essay investigates the relationships between Norwegian nature philosophy and America.
Life on the Rise. 2005. In Teachable Moments: Essays in Experiential Education. Robert Johnson. Life on the Rise is an essay about backcountry experiential education.
A Flash in the Pan. 2001. Mountain Gazette: Montezuma, CO. A Flash in the Pan is a mountaineering narrative exploring the relationship between big bang theory and the.

Three Books You Recommend?

CLASS: Natural History of the North Woods

BOOK: Nature Guide to the Northern Forest (formerly North Woods) by Peter Marchand This deceptively simple book is mind blowing because is so simply and elegantly tells the narrative of the North Woods in a way that is intelligible to anyone.

CLASS: Natural History of the Sierra Nevada

BOOK: Law’s Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada by John Muir Laws This book won’t actually blow your mind, but it will help you get to know plants and animals that will.

CLASS: Wildness and Wilderness: Philosophy and Practice

BOOK: Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash From Thoreau to Muir to Leopold to Snyder, this classic history of wilderness exposes students to the grandfathers of American nature philosophy

CLASS: Nature, Culture, Consciousness

BOOK: Gnani Yoga by Yogi Ramacharaka Now this book actually will blow your mind. From the evolution of the cosmos and consciousness to metempsychosis to meditation the yogis of India had it all figured out six thousand years ago and here it is.

David Scott's Recent Blog Posts

THE WORLD STILL SHINES: Report from the Southwest Field Semester

Posted June 30, 2021 by David Scott Gilligan read more
Global Field Studies

Into the High Country

Posted October 9, 2017 by David Scott Gilligan read more
Sierra Nevada

Why Wilderness? 5 Reasons to Enroll in Global Field Studies

Posted April 23, 2017 by David Scott Gilligan read more
Natural History of the Southwest (Field Semester)

Natural History of the Southwest: Ecology, Botany, Geology (Field Semester)


For more information about this course and program please visit the WILD site

Field Botany of Flowering Plants

Field Botany of Flowering Plants


This course is a field-based botanical study of flowering plants with a focus on spring and summer wildflowers.  Students learn plant systematics and advanced field identification skills through intensive field…

Ancestral Lifeways of the Southwest (Field Semester)

Ancestral Lifeways of the Southwest (Field Semester)


For more information about this course and program please visit the WILD site

Natural History of the Sierra Nevada (Global Field Study)

Mountain Ecology and Geomorphology (Wilderness Field Program)


This course is a field-based exploration of high mountain environments with an emphasis on alpine ecology and geomorphology. Students build on foundational principles of ecology, botany and physical sciences through…

Mountain Expedition Skills Practicum (Wilderness Field Program)


This field course builds on foundational outdoor skills and trains students in all aspects of wilderness trip design and implementation, as well as both front country and back country field…

Desert Expedition and Field Camp Skills (Field Semester)

Desert Expedition Skills Practicum (Field Semester)


For more information about this course and program please visit the WILD site

$500

Visit Sterling College and we will reimburse you up to $500 for travel expenses if you decide to enroll full time. So save your receipts!

Trustees Emeriti

David Behrend ’60
Susan C. Bryant
Marvin Brown, Alumni Parent ’85
Lewis Cohen
George J. Hill, M.D., D.Litt., Alumni Parent ’85
Jackson Kytle, Ph.D.
Peter Albert McKay, J.D. ’63
Virginia de Ganahl Russell
Mark Schroeder, Ph.D.

  • Apply
  • Give
  • Inquire

Additional
Resources For:

Info For

  • Students
  • Admitted Students
  • Parents & Families
  • Alumnx
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Board of Trustees
  • Veterans
  • Contact Sterling
  • Employment
  • Directions
  • Site Map
  • Policies
  • Calendar
  • The Blog

Sterling College
PO Box 72
Craftsbury Common, VT 05827
(802) 586-7711

Sterling College uses education as a force to address critical ecological problems caused by unlimited growth and consumption that is destroying the planet as we have known it. Our mission is to advance ecological thinking and action through affordable experiential learning that prepares people to be knowledgeable, skilled, and responsible leaders in the communities in which they live.

Sterling acknowledges that the land on which we gather—places now known as Vermont and Kentucky—are the traditional and unceded territories of several indigenous peoples: the Abenaki in the North and the Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Osage people to the South. We also learn in-and-from a range of landscapes that belong to other indigenous peoples.

As we seek deep reciprocal relationships with nature, we respect and honor the place-based and cultural wisdom of indigenous ancestors and contemporaries. Words of acknowledgement and intention are just a first step. We must match them with acts of respect and repair.

Copyright 2023 Sterling College

Memberships & Affiliations