Announcing the new Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies:
Prof. Jay Buckley
After 15 years of serving as the Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Prof. Brian Cannon will be returning to the History Department fulltime. For many, it will be hard to imagine the Redd Center without Cannon at the helm. He has not only served as a steady hand, but has fundementally shaped our direction, overseen countless initiatives and programs, and grown our influence across multiple fields and with the general public. We are grateful for his years of service and his legacy will endure. If you see him on campus, at conferences, or elsewhere, be sure to express similar thanks for his hard work and legacy here at the Redd Center.
Not to worry, a wonderful candidate has accepted the directorship. Dr. Jay Buckley is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and has been active with the Redd Center for a number of years. He has received multiple Redd Center research grants, worked as a key collaborator in working with his students in our Intermountain Histories project, has been a consistent participant in Redd Center events, and has served on the Redd Center advisory board since 2012. He will begin his service as Director on September 1, 2018.
Prof. Buckley's expertise centers in the American West (appropriately) with emphasis on early exploration, the fur trade, and Native peoples. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of numerous articles, chapter, reviews, and books including By His Own Hand? The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis (2006), William Clark: Indian Diplomat (2008), Orem (2010), Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (University of Oklahoma Press, 2012), Historical Dictionary of the American Frontier (2015), Explorers of the American West: Mapping the World Through Primary Documents (2016), and Explorers of the American East: Mapping the World Through Primary Documents (2018).
Buckley has been deeply involved in the local Utah history community, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Western History Association, and other groups. We are excited to continue our work of expanding knowledge and understanding of the Intermountain West with Professor Buckley.