College

Liberal Arts

Department

History

Category

Environment

Areas of Expertise

Borderlands

Jared Orsi

Orsi, director of CSU’s Public Lands History Center, focuses on environmental history in the borderlands between the United States and Mexico.

Orsi has authored two books, “Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles” and “Citizen Explorer: The Life of Zebulon Pike.” He is working on an environmental history of Quitobaquito Springs at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

In 2017, Orsi won the college’s Ann Gill Excellence in Teaching award and in 2019 was named one of the college’s two Professor Laureates. He was voted one of the CSU Alumni Association’s Best Teachers in 2012.

Orsi received his B.A. in history from the University of California, Davis, in 1992. He received his M.A. in history from Northwestern University in 1994 and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1999.