Faculty Leader & Educational Resources

Lecture Titles

Exact times for talks by professor Bill Durham will be announced by the tour staff during the program:

Our Amazing Itinerary: What to Look For
Europe Discovers Patagonia: What Were the Takeaways
Parks and Peoples in Historical Perspective
Parks, Peoples, and Organisms of Patagonia I
Parks, Peoples, and Organisms of Patagonia II
Parks, Peoples, and Organisms of Patagonia III

William (Bill) Durham, '71

Bill Durham, ’71, is an innovative researcher and teacher who has focused on two themes for most of his career:
(1) on putting principles of evolution to work in understanding and sustaining biological and cultural diversity in the world today; and (2) on identifying the social dimensions of contemporary environmental problems and working with local people to help solve them. This work has taken him to fieldwork throughout Central and South America, and to selected sites in East Africa. Bill has received five awards for research and teaching at Stanford, including one by vote of the students, and was one of the first recipients of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship (1983). He is author or editor of a good list of books including his latest, Exuberant Life: An Evolutionary Approach to Conservation in Galápagos, published in 2021, which earned a silver medallion in the 2022 Prose Awards.

In 1992, Bill worked with Stanford Travel/Study to create a series of programs providing experiential learning for students in Sophomore College together with Stanford alumni. He travels to the Galápagos Islands almost every year with students and alumni and believes that educational travel is one of the most enriching experiences one can have. Bill led our last field seminar in Patagonia ten years ago and is excited to return. He has long held a special interest in Patagonia, in part because the region so influenced the young Charles Darwin through its flora, fauna, and fossils, and in part because of its spectacular parks and conservation areas (all topics of lectures during this program).

Governing Member, elected in 2023, the Charles Darwin Foundation of Galápagos
Senior Fellow and Co-director, Emeritus, of the Osa & Golfito Sustainability Initiative in Costa Rica, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford
Former Director, Program in Human Biology, and former Chair, Department of Anthropological Sciences
Editor for sixteen years of the Annual Review of Anthropology
Fellowships: Yang and Yamazaki University Fellow, MacArthur Prize, Harry Frank Guggenheim, California Academy of Sciences, Danforth Foundation and National Science Foundation
Teaching awards: Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel, Walter J. Gores, ASSU, Rhodes, Bing Fellow, and Richard W. Lyman
BS, Biological Sciences, 1971, Stanford University
MS, Zoology, 1973, and PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1977, University of Michigan

Faculty Welcome Letter

You can hold your mouse over the letter below and scroll, or click in the upper right corner to open it in a new window.

Faculty Welcome Letter 2026 Patagonia.pdf

Educational Resource List

Much of the enjoyment of travel is in the planning and preparation. Arriving at your destination with some background on the country, its history, and people can make your visit much more rewarding. This list contains recommendations from Stanford Faculty Leader William (Bill) Durham. Starred (*) items have been recommended by previous Stanford travelers. Please feel free to shop around on-line or go to your local bookstore or library for your trip reading materials.

Complimentary

Stanford Travel/Study will send you a copy of the following book, selected by Professor Durham, as part of your pre-departure materials.

Tompkins Conservation / Rewilding Chile. Patagonia National Park: Chile. Patagonia Works. 2024. From the jacket: “…photographer Linde Waidhofer captures the region’s singular beauty… [while witnessing] this national park’s founders… as they shepherded the land’s transition from a former sheep ranch to a world-class national park.” With tidy contributions from former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Kristine Tompkins, Yvon Chouinard and others.

In September, we’ll join with the undergraduates in a group discussion of this book, focused specifically on the relatively brief sections of text. So, please read those sections before class! You can find a scanned copy of the text pages on the Program Updates page.

Highly Recommended

Chatwin, Bruce. In Patagonia. Penguin, 1989. A masterpiece of travel, history and adventure, this award-winning book captures the spirit of the land, history, wildlife and people of Patagonia. There's no travel writer as engaging, insightful and just plain enjoyable as Bruce Chatwin.
*Conway, William. ACT III in Patagonia: People and Wildlife. Island Press. 2005. A natural history lover’s delight, this book covers Patagonia prehistory (“Act I”), the colonial period (“Act II”) and efforts underway in the early 2000s for wildlife conservation (“Act III”). Sadly, Conway, the former president of Wildlife Conservation Society, passed away in 2021 before the book could be updated.
Moss, Chris. Patagonia, A Cultural History. Oxford University Press, 2008. A journalist with the Buenos Aires Herald, Moss follows a colorful cast of characters – from Magellan and Darwin to mad kings, gauchos, and Nazi fugitives – in this vivid overview of the culture and history of Patagonia.
Durrell, Gerald. The Whispering Land. Penguin Putnam, 2006. A sparkling account of an eight-month jaunt on the trail of fur seals, guanaco, parrots and other Patagonian marvels. Excellent family reading.

You can find further educational resources in the document below.
Simply scroll in this window, or click in the upper right corner to open it in a new window.

2026 Patagonia Field Seminar Educational Resource List.pdf

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