Katrina Lacher received her B.A. in History from the University of the South in 1998 and her M.A. in History from Boston College in 2003.  Her M.A. focused on the development of the public parks movement in late-nineteenth century American cities.  As a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma, Ms. Lacher presented two papers at regional conferences.  In March 2007, she presented, “Alarmist, Socialist, Elitist: Twentieth-Century Views of Environmentalists” at the Southwestern Social Sciences Association Conference and in September 2007, she delivered, “The Greening of the Heartland?: Oklahoma’s First Earth Day” at the Mid-America Conference on History.  Ms. Lacher’s dissertation will explore the intersection of environmental, cultural, and political history as she researches the rise of direct-action environmental groups and their role in the history of the late-twentieth century United States.