Utahns embrace a rural identity despite most of our state's population being urban and most of its land being public. Join Greg on an exploration of the tensions between the ideals and realities of life in rural Utah as change – past and present – affects our communities. This talk will encourage thinking and conversations about the changing nature of rural Utah and our own Washington County communities.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER: Greg Smoak -Utah state scholar for the Crossroads exhibition

As Director of the American West Center and Associate Professor of History at the University of Utah, Dr. Gregory E. Smoak     specializes in American Indian, American Western, Environmental, and Public History. As a publicly engaged historian, he has worked on projects for the National Park Service and the United States Forest Service, as well as numerous Native peoples      Including the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Big Sandy Rancheria of Western Mono Indians, and the Navajo Nation. Greg is the Utah Humanities State Scholar for Think Water Utah and recently gave the keynote talk, The Confluence of Water, History, and the Public in Utah, at the Utah State Historical Society Conference. Greg has been director of the American West Center since 2012 but has been involved with the Center since 1988. He received his PhD in history from the University in Utah and taught history at Colorado State University before returning to the U of U. Our students are often found in Greg's annual environmental history course, and Greg frequently serves on committees for students whose research focuses on environmental, public, or Native history.