Who Am I

Welcome! You've reached the home page for Jim Proctor. I'm Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I chose Vitruvian Man for a website theme because Leonardo captures the richness of life in a way that spans many academic disciplines. My life, too, has been rich, including far more than my job as a professor (which is detailed on the other pages). I grew up in the small town of Canyonville, nestled in the forests and farm valleys of rural southern Oregon—here's a 360° panoramic view taken from the top of Canyon Mountain near where I lived. Oregon is still an extremely important part of my life: I helped found an educational nonprofit there called Alder Creek Children's Forest on land I own as a way to give something back to this special place.

After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1980 (go Ducks!) with a degree in religious studies, I lived and worked as a Peace Corps volunteer for nearly four years in Swaziland, located in southern Africa. Then I returned with my family to New Mexico, where I studied engineering, eventually transferring to UC Berkeley (go Bears!) for graduate school in geography and environmental science/engineering. After 13 long years of college I ended up at UC Santa Barbara as a faculty member in the Department of Geography, where I remained for another 13 years. But that wasn't the end of the story: in 2005 I moved to Portland, Oregon, to serve as Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program. That's where I am now—sort of a full circle.

I'm the proud daddy of two beautiful daughters Joy (b. 1982) and Elise (b. 1987); we are animal lovers, with three cats and a dog named Beagle Bailey. I've been an active member for years in the Unitarian Universalist Association, and have also practiced a kempo-style martial art called Kojosho for a long time. The other big thing in my life is music; see myspace.com/jimproctor.