David J. Walbert

Please contact me at info@newagrarian.com.

Education

Ph.D., United States History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000. Dissertation: “Garden Spot: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the Old Order Amish, and the Selling of Rural America,” under the advisement of Dr. Peter G. Filene.

M.A., United States History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994. Thesis: “An Old and New Dominion: Mobilization and Morale in Revolutionary Virginia, 1775-1781.”

B.S. (Magna Cum Laude, with Departmental Honors), Physics, University of Delaware, 1992.

Publications

Books

Garden Spot: Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish, and the Selling of Rural America (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Books (in progress)

Tomorrow’s Harvest: Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Community in North Carolina (working title). A study of the development of alternative and sustainable agriculture in North Carolina from roughly 1970 to the present, with an emphasis on the links between sustainable agriculture and sustainable community and on the cultural conditions necessary for the development of sustainable agriculture.

Websites

The New Agrarian (http://www.newagrarian.com), my personal/professional website on sustainable agriculture and sustainable community. Includes information about my book and current research, essays, annotated links to related websites, and writing and information about small-scale agriculture and homesteading.

Articles and chapters

“The LEARN NC Model: Overcoming Obstacles to Technology Integration.” TechTrends 44:2 (March 2000), 15-19.

“LEARN North Carolina: A Teacher-Directed Model of Technology Integration.” Chapter in Professional Development Leadership and the Diverse Learner (National Science Education Leadership Association/National Science Teachers Association, 2000), 77-86.

“LEARN North Carolina: Using the Internet to Promote Collegiality and Teacher Retention.” In Challenge of the Future: Teacher Preparation and Retention (North Carolina Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, Spring 1999), 77-83.

“LEARN North Carolina: Connecting Educators with Cables and Curriculum.” With Bobby Hobgood. Technology Source (April 1999). Available online at http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=33.

For K-12 teachers

"Writing a Lesson Plan for Publication." Available on LEARN North Carolina at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/lpwriting1.

"Writing for the Web," a series of six articles. Available on LEARN North Carolina at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/webwriting00.

"Alternatives to the President Report." With Melissa Thibault. Available on LEARN North Carolina at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/reports0502.

“The American Crisis, Past and Present: Putting current events in context with primary sources.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 4:3 (October 2001). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/crisis0403-1.

“Not Your Mother’s Math Teacher: North Carolina's Teacher of the Year talks about real-world math and teachers' roles as professionals.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 4:2 (September 2001). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/TOY0402-1.

“Documents to Digitization: How primary sources make it to the Web—and how to find them once they get there.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 4:1 (August 2001). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/docdigits1.

“Making the Best of Testing: Advice from two middle school teachers about preparing for the big day—without teaching to the test.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 3:3 (Spring 2001). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/testing33-1.

“Off the Page…and Into Your Classroom.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 3:2 (Winter 2001). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/hunter1.

“Into the ARTmosphere.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 3:1 (Fall 2001). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/artmosphere1.

LEARN North Carolina User Manual. LEARN North Carolina, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998, 1999, and 2000.

“Real-World Learning in a Virtual Environment: Darlene Ryan, North Carolina's Technology & Learning Teacher of the Year, works with the North Carolina Zoo to get students excited about learning.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 2:4 (Spring 2000). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/dryan_1.

“Understanding File Formats: Universal Formats and the World Wide Web.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 2:4 (Spring 2000). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/formats24_1.

“Not Just a Virtual Teacher: A high school science teacher talks about the challenges and rewards of teaching online.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 2:3 (Winter 2000). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/virteach-1.

“Finding What You’re Looking For.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 2:3 (Winter 2000). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/search-comp1.

“The ABCs of ISPs.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 2:2 (Fall 1999). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/abcisp1.

“The Challenge of Evaluating Web Sites.” In The LEARN North Carolina Beacon 2:1 (Summer 1999). Available online at http://www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/evalweb0201-1.

Professional presentations

"Rethinking Reports: Breathing new life into tired assignments." North Carolina School Library Media Association, September 2002.

“Documents to Digitization: Finding and using primary sources in the secondary classroom.” North Carolina School Library Media Association, September 2001.

“The Craze for Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking.” Lancaster County Historical Association colloquium, March 2000.

“Family Style: Pennsylvania Dutch Food and Domestic Idealism, 1945-1970.” Pennsylvania History Association, October 1998.

Professional experience

Editorial Director (formerly Research and Communications Coordinator) for LEARN North Carolina, a K-12 outreach program of the School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1997-2002. Responsibilities included writing for a wide variety of audiences and formats (including grant writing), design of print and Web publications, and professional development of K-12 teachers.

Developed and served as Editor of The LEARN North Carolina Beacon, a quarterly newspaper distributed to 90,000 North Carolina K-12 educators (1999-2001) and a monthly online journal for K-12 teachers (2001-2002). Responsibilities included writing, design, layout, solicitation and editing of articles, and overseeing of printing and distribution.
Designed and maintained user interface of a World Wide Web site used by approximately 40,000 K-12 educators (http://www.learnnc.org).
Wrote applications for grants from public and private sources, including successful U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant for $1.2 million (1999).
Wrote, designed, and oversaw publication of instructional materials for professional development of K-12 teachers, including creation of and annual updates to a 100-page User Manual.
Wrote and designed promotional materials for a variety of audiences, including teachers, administrators, state legislators, and the public.
Led professional development workshops for teachers in use of the Web and Web-based applications.
Developed “LEARNing Illuminations,” Web-based multimedia exploration of educational practices for K-12 teachers. These included “Problem Centered Math” (available on CD-ROM) and “Curriculum, Music, and Community” (available online at http://www.unc.edu/learnnc/cmc/).

Free-lance writing and design for print and the Web, 2001-2002. Includes websites, advertisements, signs, informational brochures, and business forms for local businesses and individuals.

Teaching

Conducted training sessions for K-12 teachers on classroom use of information technology for LEARN North Carolina, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1997-2001.

Teaching Assistant, Department of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993-1997. Courses taught include United States History to 1865, United States History since 1865, Western Civilization to 1648, North Carolina History to 1865, and U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction.