Sampling of Slatta Professional and Retirement Activities
Last Updated November 16, 2020[Photo: Prof. Slatta with Sir Walter Raleigh statue in Greenwich, England, July 2013]
Since retiring as of 30 June 2019
During the Covid 19 era, Slatta has conducted more than a dozen phone and email interviews, answering questions on a wide range of topics for journalists and other researchers on Butch Cassidy and Sundance, fake meat, Black Cowboys, and more. I also answered queries from CBS and ABC News, HowStuffWorks, Kendall Hunt Publishing, High Country News, Oxford Bibliographies in Atlantic History, as well as inquiries from students in Argentina and the US concerning research on gauchos. Oct. 2019: Road Scholar tour of Sedona, Grand Canyon, and visits with old friends in the Southwest. Sep 2019: Slatta family reunion at Sun River, Oregon. Driving trip south to Crater Lake, southern Oregon waterfalls and scenery, California Redwoods, Oregon Coast, and western Washington State. 1 July 2019: new status as Professor Emeritus of History June-July 2019: Traveled to Slovenia and Croatia, wonderful scenery, historic sites, and amazingly good and huge meals! Recent past, 2016-2019
1 July 2016 I began phased retirement, meaning I taught half-time for 3 more years but had few other duties. Thanks to NC State for the lovely captain's chair with NCSU insignia and personalized Jefferson cup. I taught HI 216-601 (online) through May 2019 and fully retired on 30 June 2019. That wraps it up! Hardest part is cleaning my office out-- nearly 40 years worth of books, research, and teaching materials. In August 2016, I assisted Prof. Maxine P. Atkinson in teaching NC State's first study abroad course specifically for first-year students. We explored Prague and Český Krumlov, Czech Republic, with a dozen great students. Here is a brief writeup from the International Programs newsletter. On 2 April 2016, Slatta joined other scholars in Ft. Worth, TX, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "Lonesome Dove" with a Lonesome Dove Reunion and Trail, sponsored by the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. I presented an illustrated look at Trailing Cattle through Swamps, Plains, & Lava Flows: Cattle Drives in South America & Hawaii as part of the panel on Vaqueros, Cowboys, and Cowgirls: Texas Cattle Trails to the World, at the Fort Worth Library. Prominent historians Frank de la Teja, B. Byron Price, the late Joyce Gibson Roach also presented. Also got to shake hands with Robert Duvall, aka Gus. In January 2016, Slatta published Latin America: An Interactive History Lab, an electronic textbook and online learning environment for HI 216. It provides students with a rich environment in which they can "do history." Spring and Fall 2015 and 2016: Taught the history department's new course HI 885, teaching graduate students how to teach. Workshop format. The students developed excellent course syllabi and then taught their first courses. See the "Teaching History" link to the left for details. Materials viewable from the teaching history link. 2012-15
Summer 2014 and 2015: For the second and third time, taught HI 222 British Cultures & History as a study abroad course in London (see below). We changed from equestrian themes to the social and political history of modern England, highlighted by locations and artifacts in London. Feb 2014: Attended a workshop and made a presentation at the WISE study abroad conference in Winston-Salem, NC. VERY instructive and helpful in revising my London study abroad course. Spring-summer 2013 Created and taught a new 5-week study abroad course in London: HI 222: British Cultures & Societies since 1688 aka Horstory: Human-Horse Interactions in England. Jan. 2013-2016 Created and edited a new blog on Human-Horse Interactions, co-moderated with Jeannine Moga of the NC State Vet School. In Jan 2013 Slatta presented a PowerPoint lecture on "Human-Horse Interactions in the Americas," at the American Historical Association meeting in New Orleans. Presenters believe it was the first panel on the topic in AHA history. Slatta presented an interactive PowerPoint lecture called "A Fast Ride with Cowboys of the Americas" at the Schiele Museum of Natural History, Gastonia, NC, 24 June 2012. He previously served as historical consultant for the museum's exhibition on "Cowboys: Dust of the Trail" which runs much of 2012. In June 2012 Slatta spent 10 days in Cuba, exploring this fascinating society with a delegation sponsored by Witness of Peace Southeast. 2009-11
"A Fast Ride with the Cowboys of the Americas," NCSU Encore program, 9 Dec 2011. "Mexico Inside and Out," NCSU Global Issues Seminar Series, 21 Feb 2012. "Building Bridges across Cary and the World," Divan (Turkish-American) Center, Cary, NC, 14 Apr 2012. Invited PowerPoint presentation, one-time "A Fast Ride with America's Cowboys." Cornell Estates, Hillsboro, OR, 23 July 2010 Invited PowerPoint presentation, one-time, "The US and Latin America: A Look Back and Suggestions for the Future" Presbyterian Campus Ministry students, Raleigh, NC, 8 Sept 2010. Invited PowerPoint presentation, national meeting "National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration." 10 Sept 2010, Lubbock, Texas. Invited participant in western writers' panel, presentation, national meeting, National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration, 10 Sept 2010, Lubbock, Texas. Invited PowerPoint presentation, "First Year Inquiry and Inquiry-Guided Learning." to representatives from the five Cooperating Raleigh Colleges, October 2010. Invited PowerPoint presentation, one-time, "A Fast Ride with America's Cowboys." for NCSU Librarians Association, NCSU Campus, November 17, 2010. Invited lecture and panel discussion, one-time, "Themes of the Mexican Revolution." Panel sponsored by Consul General of Mexico, Raleigh, NC, November 17, 2010. Invited PowerPoint presentation, one-time, "US-Latin American Relations: Looking Backward and Forward." Peace Lunch Forum, NCSU, 27 January 2011. Invited PowerPoint presentation, one-time, "First Year Inquiry program" for Associate Deans, NCSU, 2 Feb 2011. invited PowerPoint presentations, national meeting, "Cowboys of the Americas: History and Culture," at Songs of the American West: A Living Documentary, Conway, Arkansas, Mar 9-12, 2011 Moderator, Spanish Voices Documentary Video Premiere and panel discussion , 3/8/2010, NC State University Peace Lunch Forum presentation, NC State U. "The Future of US-Latin American Relations," fall 2009 Historical Consultant, public history, Anson County, NC, Cooperative Extension, fall 2009. 2009 National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration, Lubbock, TX: Conducted dozens of interviews for my history of this event [see below]. At the WWA writer's panel, I read the late Elmer Kelton's welcome message to that book, one of his last published writings. 2003-08
Received the 2008 American Cowboy Culture Award for Writing and Publishing at the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration, Lubbock, Texas. In September 2007 and 2008 joined other western writers, including Elmer Kelton, for a panel at the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration, Lubbock, Texas. 
My book, Cowboys of the Americas, forms the basis for a documentary film by the same title that aired on the Disney Channel. Note: During the early part of 2007, I conducted research on and in the Caribbean for a project titled "Preserve the Caribbean Past." In 2006, Walter Nugent, president of the Western History Association, reinforced the call for comparative study. "This significance of the frontier in American history may well be that it instilled in us the bad habit of building empires. It would be worthwhile if we historians would explore why other frontier-settler societies behaved differently--why, for example, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, or Australian have not been as aggressive, verbally and militarily, as we have. Is it simply that they lacked our great size and economic clout, our demographic fecundity, or our imperial ideology? Were those the crucial differences? Let us compare." [Nugent, 2006 WWA presidential address, expanded as "The American Habit of Empire, or the Cases of Polk and Bush," Western Historical Quarterly, 38:1 (Spring 2007): 24. Photo right: Slatta at a famous monument in London, 2015. Anyone know what the monument commenorates? In January 2006, I served as commentator for a panel analyzing frontiers and national identify at the American Historical Association conference in Philadelphia, PA. In October 2005, chaired a panel on Hawaiian ranch life at the Western History Association conference in Scottsdale, AZ. In September 2005, participated in South Dakota's Festival of Books, held this year in Deadwood. In June 2005, presented a week-long seminar on "Cowboy Life and Legend" at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. Lectured on a 10-day Caribbean cruise, aboard ms Volendam, in March-April 2005. Can't wait to go again. Use the Caribbean cruise lecture link on the home page for details. Thanks to funding from the DELTA program, developed an online version of HI 453, taught Spring 2003 and again in the fall. In October 2003, enjoyed a 10-day lecture tour in Austria, sponsored by the US State Dept. US and Austrian scholars also participated in a conference on frontiers. 2000-02
In October 2002 lectured in Moorehead, MN on -- what else? -- "Cowboys of the Americas" and at North Dakota State University in Fargo on the advantages of comparative frontier research. Bueno! Consultation with the Kona Historical Society on the Big Island continues! We're creating a living history ranch, circa 1891. During our February 2003,finalized my portion of the historical narrative of ranch life.
5-7 April 2002: "Cowboy Songs and Range Ballads" conference, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody WY: I delivered two slide-illustrated lectures for this year's program, the 20th anniversary of these gatherings: "Cowboys in Pulp Novels" and "Cowboys in Film and Television." Nice to be mentioned: Patricia Limerick, outgoing president of the Western History Association, titled her 2000 presidential address, "Going West and Ending Up Global." She argues strongly for doing comparative history. She singles me out as one of the few WHA members who have pioneered such efforts. Of comparative history, she says "I am pleased that this is a line of enquiry that has attracted or is attracting a number of members of the WHA (like Walter Nugent, Richard White, Bill Robins, Richard Slatta, Willard Rollings, John Wunder, and Tom Dunlap." (Western Historical Quarterly, Spring 2001, p. 21). The big drawbacks to this endeavor are lack of knowledge of other parts of the world and lack of knowledge of the methods required. My book, Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers (paperback version 2001) nicely meets both needs.
On May 9, 2000 the College of Humanities and Social Sciences awarded Rich Slatta the Lonnie and Carol Poole Award for Excellence in Teaching for 1999-2000. 1990s
1998: Created NC State's first online history course, HI 216, taught continuously until my retirement in June 2019. Publilshed Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1997, 2001 and The Cowboy Encyclopedia ABC-CLIO, 1994; Norton, 1996. 1980-1990
1990: Thanks to generous grant support from the the Tinker Foundation, researched in Venezuela, the US, and Alberta, Canada, to publish Cowboys of the Americas. Thanks to this book, promoted to full professor. 1983-87 Researched and published 2 books, Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier, and Bandidos. August 1980: Began my career at NC State and published my first major article in the Hispanic American Historical Review.
Family and Other Activities
June 2016. View Prof. Slatta's one-minute Youtube video of the Corolla horses. We saw about 50 of the 81 horses in the herd on a tour with the Corolla Wild Horse Fund. Highly recommended! Also enjoyed Manteo's Elizabethan Gardens and a delightful presentation of "The Lost Colony" pageant. July 2015. Wife Maxine and I traveled to London, Amsterdam, Prague, and Scotland--wonderful 5 weeks! Spent a delightful Christmas week in London, England, 2012. July 2012: Enjoyed a week exploring Alaska. June 2012: Fantastic 10 days in Cuba. Astounded we will not reestablish relations with these incredible, creative people. Dec 2009: Snorkeling trip to Cozumel, Mexico. We'll see you at the reef! July 2009: Had a family reunion at Harstene Point, Washington, to celebrate my mother's 100th birthday. Apr-May 2007: Enjoyed two weeks in Italy, visiting Florence, Venice, Dorf Tirol (site of our son's study abroad program), Sienna, Assisi, and Rome. Wow! Lectured aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator, Feb. 2007, during a research trip on "Preserve the Caribbean Past." March 2002, the family spent a week of snorkeling and exploring the island of Bonaire. In September 2001, kitty Miko joined our family. She helps me write, take breaks, and grade papers. If you find the corner of your paper chewed off, it means that Miko helped! Now Miko has a new adopted sister, Shanti, equally helpful. She specializes in walking across computer keyboards--very creative. She is also my sleep-aid, purring on my chest and relaxing me each night. Top of this Page