Shannon Stunden Bower, PhD - Directory@UAlberta.ca

Contact

Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts - History, Classics, & Religion Dept

Email: stundenb@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Environmental History Agricultural History Water Management Prairie West Northern Great Plains Canadian History

About

I am an environmental historian of northern North America, with particular attention to what is now commonly known as Canada. My research focuses on the Prairies/northern Great Plains, and addresses questions related to water management (with particular concern for the extremes of flood or drought) and government institutions (whether at national, provincial, or local scales).

I am a member of the executive and the editorial collective for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE). I'm also an associate editor with the scholarly journal Prairie History.

Research

Currently, I'm researching post-1945 irrigation in Saskatchewan and Alberta. I'm interested in social, political, and ecological consequences of changes to waterflow patterns in prairie agricultural landscapes, in the context of mid-20th century agricultural industrialization and chemicalization. My focus is on large-scale, publicly-funded irrigation projects. For more on this project, please visit the project webpage.

Teaching

I'm pleased to work with students interested in Canadian and environmental history, especially on topics pertaining to the prairie west.

Courses

HIST 260 - Pre-Confederation Canada

Winter Term 2026

HIST 500A - Methodology and Historiography for Honors Students

Prerequisite: Permission required from the instructor.

Fall Term 2025

HIST 500B - Methodology and Historiography for Honors Students

Prerequisite: Permission required from the instructor.

Winter Term 2026

HIST 501A - Special Subject, Fourth Year Honors History

Preparation of the Honors essay, required in the fourth year of the Honors program.

Fall Term 2025

HIST 501B - Special Subject, Fourth Year Honors History

Preparation of the Honors essay, required in the fourth year of the Honors program.

Winter Term 2026

Browse more courses taught by Shannon Stunden Bower

Scholarly Activities

Research - Climate and Change website

Climate and Change is a website I curated with historians George Colpitts (University of Calgary) and Bill Waiser (University of Saskatchewan). The goal was to connect textbook-like interpretation of 1930s drought (a key topic in Canadian environmental history) with the affordances of the world wide web, creating a more engaging experience for students and other interested parties. Check out the primary sources -- both oral and film -- that working digitally allowed us to include!

Climate and Change