Neil Forkey, Ph.D.

Dr. Neil S. Forkey is Associate Professor and Chair of the Canadian Studies Department.  He received his Ph.D. in Canadian history from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. He offers courses such as Introduction to Canada, Canadian-American Relations, Québec, and survey Canadian history.  He also regularly participates in the First-Year Program. During the academic year 2022-23, Forkey is also the Coordinator of the Native American Studies Program.

A specialist in environmental history, he is the author of Canadians and the Natural Environment to the Twenty-First Century (University of Toronto Press, 2012); and, Shaping the Upper Canadian Frontier:  Environment, Society, and Culture in the Trent Valley (University of Calgary Press, 2003).  Forkey’s articles have appeared in the scholarly journals the Canadian Historical Review, the Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes, the American Review of Canadian Studies, Forest and Conservation History, Ontario History, and New York History.  He is currently working on a book about environmental activism in the St. Lawrence River watershed, c. 1950s-2000s.

Forkey serves on the university’s Academic Planning Committee.  He was elected to the university’s faculty council between 2018 and 2020.  More recently, he was a member of the Advisory Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid, and was the interim faculty advisor to The Underground:  Journal for Undergraduate Research.  Forkey was also a member of the working group on the Center for the Environment plan. 

In 2022, he was elected  President of the Mid-Atlantic and New England Council of Canadian Studies (MANECCS) https://maneccs.org/.