Selected biographical information on Peter Mortensen
After a bit more than the usual number of changes in my major field of study, I
graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1992 with a Bachelor of
Science in Anthropology and an Undergraduate Certificate in
Environmental Studies. I worked for several years in various
outdoor and environmental education programs around the country, before
finally starting graduate work at the University of Minnesota. I
received my Master of Arts in Anthropology with a minor in
Quaternary Paleoecology in 2005, and taught as an adjunct faculty
member at Minneapolis Community and Technical College and at the
University of Minnesota-Duluth before accepting my current position at
Richland. At present, I am a member of the International Paleolimnological Association and of the Geological Society of America.
In
2002, I helped excavate a Paleolithic site in the city of Brno in
the Czech Republic. More information on the excavation can be
found here.
It was a great experience, and I still miss the fantastic variety
of yogurt that was available at every supermarket in Brno. I also seem to have had a bit more hair back then...
I have also spent eight summers teaching at the Acadia Institute of Oceanography
on the coast of Maine. It is a great program that offers students
a chance to study both biological and physical marine sciences during
the summer. It was there that I first began sporting a mohawk as
my summer haircut.
I worked as a naturalist at several nature centers, such as the Deep-Portage Conservation Reserve in Minnesota and the Dahlem Center
in Michigan. If I had to, I could probably still identify (and
even imitate) the calls of frogs and toads native to the
Great Lakes area.