Zac Robinson, PhD, FRCGS

About

Education

2007 Ph.D. University of Alberta, Edmonton (Physical Education and Recreation)

2001 M.A. Carleton University, Ottawa (Anthropology)

1999 B.A. (Hons) Carleton University, Ottawa (Anthropology)

Employment

2017 - present Associate Professor, Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta

2011 - 2017 Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta

2010 - 2011 Postdoctoral Fellowship (Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation), History & Classics, University of Alberta

2008 - 2010 Postdoctoral Fellow (SSHRC), History & Classics, University of Alberta

Service Roles

2023 - present Governor, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society

2021 - present Chair, Expeditions Committee, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society

2018 - present Co-Editor, State of the Mountains Report, The Alpine Club of Canada

2016 - present Reader, The Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival

2014 - 2024 Vice President (Mountain Culture), The Alpine Club of Canada

Awards and Recognition

2024 King Charles III Coronation Medal

2023 Fellow International, The Explorers Club

2023 Silver Rope for Leadership Award, The Alpine Club of Canada

2022 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Alberta)

2022 The Alex Trebek Medal for Geographic Literacy, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society 

2022 The Don Forest Service Award, The Alpine Club of Canada

2018 Fellow, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society

2018 Provost's Teaching Unit Award, University of Alberta Awards for Teaching Excellence 

2018 Early Undergraduate Teaching Award, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta 

Research

My research focuses on the cultural and social histories of the Rocky and Columbia Mountains of Canada, with a specific interest in mountaineering, travel writing and postcolonial critique. My essays have appeared in numerous collections, journals and magazines, including Sport History Review, International Journal for the History of Sport, Canadian Alpine Journal, Canadian Geographic, and Alpinist. I'm the editor of Conrad Kain: Letters from a Wandering Mountain Guide, 1906-1933 (University of Alberta Press, 2014) and the co-editor of the Alpine Club of Canada's annual State of the Mountains Report. Presently, I am collaborating with Stephen Slemon (English and Film Studies, UAlberta) on a book project about early climbing history in the Rockies funded through the SSHRC Insight Program.

Teaching

Recent Teaching Assignments

"Mountains 101" (uab.ca/mountains), a twelve-lesson Massive Open Online Course, which launched January 2017. A new cohort begins each month. 

INT D 280 The Mountain World: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Mountain Studies - since 2014

INT D 380 Canada's Western Cordillera: Advanced Interdisciplinary Mountain Studies - since 2022

INT D 280 - The Mountain World: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Mountain Studies

An interdisciplinary study of the physical and human dimensions of mountain environments. Content includes the physical (glaciers, climate, geology, etc.), biological (flora, fauna, ecology, etc.), physiological (human bodies at altitude, performance, sport, etc.), and cultural (societies, literature's, histories, etc.) dimensions of these unique regions, as well as a critical analysis of the processes of change and influence shaping local and regional mountain environments around the globe, past and present. (Offered jointly by the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation and the Faculty of Science) [Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation]

KRLS 204 - Canadian History of Leisure, Sport, and Health

An introductory examination of Canadian leisure, sport, physical cultures, recreation, tourism, and health, in a global world, since the 19th century. Topics are integrated to understand the past in order to think broadly and critically through historical study of culture and society. Prerequisite: KRLS 104. Credit will be granted for only one of KRLS 204 or PERLS 204.

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