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Biography<\/b><\/h4>\nBiography<\/b><\/h4>\nBorn and raised in northern Connecticut, Dr. Thomas (Tom) Paradis obtained his Bachelor\u2019s degree in Geography at the Pennsylvania State University (1992), and his Masters (1994) and Ph.D. (1997) degrees in Geography: Urban & Rural Development from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He continued moving west to Flagstaff, Arizona in 1997 as faculty at Northern Arizona University (NAU), where he was recognized in 2011 and 2014 as a President\u2019s Distinguished Teaching Fellow. He further served as the Chair of the Department of Geography, Planning & Recreation and as the university\u2019s Director of Academic Assessment. As a professor of geography and community planning here at Butler, he is also an affiliate faculty member in Butler\u2019s Science, Technology & Environmental Studies (STES) program<\/i><\/b>. Having originally majored in meteorology at Penn State, he ended up teaching weather and climate at the U. of Illinois and later at NAU. He has thus recently developed a new course at Butler for the Natural Worlds block of the Core Curriculum called\u00a0Weather, Climate & Society<\/i>\u00a0(NW 265). Beyond the fun of academics, Tom enjoys traveling, photography, railroad history and modeling, playing basketball, and was once an avid trumpet player in high school and the Penn State Blue Band (Go State!).<\/p>\nTeaching and Scholarship<\/b><\/h4>\n
Dr. Paradis’ areas of teaching and research encompass the topics of urban and cultural geography, downtown redevelopment, historic preservation, urban design, heritage tourism, Italy, the American Southwest, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Having led several study-abroad programs in Viterbo and Siena, Italy to explore livable cities and walkable design, Dr. Paradis is the author of several books, including Living the Palio: A Story of Community and Public Life in Siena, Italy <\/i><\/b>(3rd edition 2020)<\/a>, and the\u00a0Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Landmarks <\/b><\/i>(2012)<\/a>, among earlier works. His recent follow-up book is\u00a0Unbridled Spirit: The Untold Story of the 2018 Extraordinary Palio\u00a0<\/b>in Siena, Italy <\/b><\/i><\/b>(Feb. 2020)<\/a>. He is now turning his sights to Singapore as he investigates the history of tourism development and tourist spaces there.<\/p>\nHappy Hunger Games!<\/b><\/h4>\n