Adjunct Instructor Substitute Teacher

CURRICULUM VITAE

Name: Antony J. D. Harper.

Date of Birth: 12/27/1944.

Place of Birth: Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Naturalized citizen of the United States of America, 1961.

Social Status: Married with two grown sons. Wife, Joan, and sons, Colin and Brett.

Education:

Graduate of Glenbrook H.S.* 1962. Graduate of Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, in 1966 earning a B.S. degree with a major in biology, a minor in chemistry and teacher training. Graduate of the University of Iowa, Department of Zoology, 1968 earning an M.S. with emphasis in ecology and evolution. Post-masters work in vertebrate paleontology and functional morphology at UIC, and also adult night courses supported by New Trier H.S. through the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in the areas of ancient warfare, ancient Egyptian architecture, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Silk Road, and the origins of the Indo-European language family; these taken during the last decade of my tenure at New Trier.

[Note: My formative education began in Northern Ireland as a pupil enrolled in the Irish Society School, Coleraine, N. Ireland. I was also educated at two American elementary schools, and two junior high schools, all due to changes in residence as a function of living the American Dream; all before entering Glenbrook H. S. The reason why I mention this is that I believe that my culturally hybrid education played a significant role in whom I have come to be.]

MOOC Courses: Since my retirement in 2012 I have taken a number of MOOC’s, Massive Open Online Courses. These courses, the providers of which originally did not levy fees for certificated verification, have been an absolute boost to my personal learning. Sadly, however, all MOOC providers charge now for a graded and certified matriculation. I continue to take MOOC’s certificate free.

MOOC’s TAKEN SINCE 2012

PROVIDER

COURSE

GRADE: WHERE APPLICABLE

COURSERA

“

Most recently completed- European Empires: An Introduction. 1400 – 1522.

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Stalin and Stalinism in Russian History

95.72%

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The Global Financial Crisis

92.50%

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Epidemics

100%

“

The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem

100%

“

Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution

100%

“

The French Revolution

100%

“

Epidemiology: The Basic Science of Public Health

86.78%

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Deciphering Secrets: Deciphering the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain *With Distinction.

38.9%*

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Model Thinking

90.70%

“

Ecology: From Cells to Gaia

97.60%

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Configuring the World: A Critical Political Economy Approach

75.50%

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New Models of Business in Society

100%

“

Big History: From the Big Bang Until Today

85.29%

“

The Modern World: Part I from 1760 until 1910

91.39%

“

The Modern World: Part II Global History Since 1910

93.49%

“

Emergent Phenomena from Science to Everyday Life

100%

“

Understanding China: 1700 – 2000 A Data Analytic Approach

100%

“

Forests and Humans: From the Midwest to Madagascar

90.13%

“

Fundamentals of Global Energy Business

70.71%

“

Cities Are Back in Town: Urban Sociology for an Urban World

93.75%

EdX

Not Applicable

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Sheep in the Land of Fire and Ice

“

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Disease, Climate Shocks, and Wellbeing: A Long History of Social Response to Crisis

“

FutureLearn

“

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Decision Making in a Complex World

“

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Tipping Points: Climate Change and Society

“

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Plagues, Pestilence, and Pandemics

“

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

2016-. Adjunct Instructor in the Writing and Publishing Department, Benedictine University. Courses taught: WRIT1102, Science Writing. Honors Seminar for Freshman.

2016-. Substitute teacher at Wauconda High School.

2014 – 2019. Substituting for a colleague in the New Trier Freshman campus Academic Assistance Center during the third quarter only.

2014. Adjunct instructor, Anatomy and Physiology, College of Lake County, fall semester.

2013. Adjunct instructor in anatomy and physiology for McHenry County College.

2005- Employed as an assistant coach for the New Trier Science Olympiad Team and have been so since 2005 ongoing.

1979 – 2012 Teacher at New Trier High School. Courses taught: General Biology levels 2, 3, and 4, where 2 represents national average, 3 represents college prep, and 4 represents honors level biology. Advanced Placement Biology. Chemistry levels 2 and 3. Earth Science [Currently named Environmental Geoscience] levels 2, 3, and 4. Integrated Principles of History and Science levels 3 and 4. I was on numerous committees during my tenure at New Trier, and I retired as a Scale V teacher, the highest scale in a very successful merit evaluation system.

Coaching Experience: Swimming coach for 19 years at New Trier H.S. Head coach of boys’ swimming for five years and head coach for girls’ swimming for nine years, four of which I earned Illinois Coach of the Year honors. [Note: This award is given to the coach of each of the top three state place finishers each year.]

Other Teaching Experience:

I have also taught two years at Glenbrook North H.S., general biology and Advanced Placement Biology, one year at St. Benedict’s H.S., biology and chemistry, a night class at Grays Lake Community College in general biology, a night course for GED students at Glenbrook South H.S., coached swimming at Niles North H.S. and have done relatively long term subbing at that institution as well. [Please note that during graduate school I have also been a T.A. in a number of undergraduate courses; list on request.]

More recently, post-retirement from New Trier H.S. I have taught at two community colleges, McHenry Community College and the College of Lake County, and also, as mentioned previously, at Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois.

Courses that I feel competent to teach at the college and community college level:

Introductory Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Ecology, Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology. I would also be interested in any opportunity to teach cross-curricular courses addressing current world problems, e.g. sustainability and the opposite side of the coin, societal collapse, as they impact the future of our species and also cross-curricular courses that address the issues of the application of simple math models to the study of human history.

Courses that I feel competent to teach at the high school level: General Biology, Honors Biology, Advanced Placement Biology, Ecology, Human Physiology, Zoology, and Botany. I would also be interested in the opportunity to teach cross-curricular courses addressing current world problems. See above.

21ST CENTURY PERSPECTIVE:

I am currently a member of the SetPol Discussion Group organized by Christopher Chase-Dunn and associated with U. Cal. Riverside. This is a weekly discussion group considering a variety of topics connected to our pathway through the 21st Century, particularly the next few decades. I am also a member of the International Big History Association Research Group, recently formed by David LePoire and, further, am a member of the Editorial Council for the Russian almanac, History & Mathematics and a de facto member of the Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting, a Russian academic center. I will also be presenting at the Big History Complexity Workshop to be held during the 7th, 8th, and 9th of July.

For the record, my position on the ongoing nature of the 21st Century is this: The world-system is currently in a state of flux, a state of reorganization. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, a single hegemon, the U.S., was left at the top of the collection of core polities. This, combined with the burden of increasing world-system complexity, is an inherently unstable systemic condition in that semi-peripheral polities as well as other polities now in the core will attempt to fill the power vacuum. Include with this political instability climate change, the spread of epidemic disease, famine as a result of climate change induced drought, resource reduction, and the unpredictable emergence of new factors as a consequence of the aforementioned complexity, and there exists the enormous potential for a rough reshuffle of world-system organization; for my money well beyond the two world wars and global depression of the 20th Century in destructiveness. Human resilience will be severely tested during this century.

INTERESTS, CONFERENCES, EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES, and PUBLICATIONS:

Since 2003 I have become interested in the application of math models to the study of human history, have attended the conference, Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations, held at the Russian State University for the Humanities in both 2006 and 2010, where I presented original research and have multiple publications {See listed below with a fifth in press. I also have an on-going interest in societal collapse, societal sustainability, and the role of poverty eradication in sustainability. My most recent presentation was as a participant in the virtual Big History Conference held in Moscow this last December. I presented at the International Sociology Conference held in Toronto held in the summer of 2017. With regard to my editorial responsibilities, I am on the editorial board for the Russian almanac, History and Mathematics. I am an avid reader and also like to fly fish.

Research Publications:

Harper A. 2021. The Integration of Two disparate Processes: Punctuated Equilibrium Characterizes Urbanization over Time, while Kondratieff Waves Characterize Long Term Economic Change. In Press. Cliodynamics.

Harper A. 2020. A Quantitative Analysis of Reign Lengths of Pre- and Post-Taifa Periods and Taifa Kingdom Durations During th Existence of Al Andalus. History & Mathematics: Investigating Past and Future. Eds: Grinin L and Korotaiev A. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

Harper A. 2019a. The Punctuateed Equilibrium Macropattern of World System Urbanization and the Factors that Give Rise to that Macropettern. History & Mathematics: Big History Aspects. Eds: Grinin L and Korotaiev A. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

Harper A. 2019b. A Toy Model Mechanism for Greater-than-Exponential Human Population Growth. History & Mathematics: Big History Aspects. Eds: Grinin L and Korotaiev A. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

Harper A. 2017a. An Equation-Based Systems Approach to Modeling Punctuated Equilibria Apparent in the Macropattern over Time. Globalistics and Globalization Studies: Global Evolution, Historical Globalization and Globalization Studies. Eds: Grinin L, Ilyin I, Herrmann P, and Korotayev A. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

The above also appears in the following three publications:

2017b. History & Mathematics: Economy, Demography, Culture and Cosmic Civilizations. Eds. Grinin, Leonid and Andrey Korotayev. Uchitel Publishing House. Moscow.

2017c. Social Evolution: 16(2):155-163.

2017d. Social Evolution and History: 16(2):86-127.

Harper T. 2014a. The World-System Trajectory: The Reality of Constraints and the Potential for Prediction. History & Mathematics: Trends and Cycles. Eds: Grinin L and Korotaiev A. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

Harper T. 2014. The World System Trajectory: The Reality of Constraints and the Potential for Prediction. History and Mathematics: Trends and Cycles. Eds. Grinin, Leonid and Andrey Korotayev. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

Harper T. 2013. Global Volcanism as It Impacts the Integrity of the World System. Evolution: Development within Big History, Evolutionary and World-System Paradigms. Eds. Grinin, Leonid E. and Andrey V. Korotayev. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing House.

Harper, T. 2010a. The Macropattern of Urbanization over the Course of the Last 5000 Years of World-System History. Social Evolution and History. 9(1):115-133.

Harper, T. 2010b. The Trajectory of the World System over the Last 5000 Years. History and Mathematics. Uchitel Publishing House. Moscow.

Harper, T. 2007. The Utility of Simple Math Models in the Study of Human History. Social Evolution and History. 6(1):38-56.

Reviews:

Harper A. 2017. Clarity in the Face of Immense world-System Crisis: A Review of ‘Economic Crises, Cycles and Global Periphery’. Journal of Globalization Studies. 8(2):132-137.

Harper A. 2016a. Review of L. E. Grinin and A. V. Korotayev ‘Great Divergence and Great Convergence: A Global Perspective; Springer International Publishing; 2015. Kondratieff Waves: Cycles, Crises, and Forecasts. Eds. Grinin, Leonid E. and Andrey V. Korotayev. Uchitel Publishing. Moscow.

2016b. As above but found in: Evolution and Big History: Dimensions, Trends, and Forecasts. Eds. Grinin, Leonid E. and Andrey V. Korotayev. Uchitel Publishing. Moscow.

*My class was the last class to graduate before the school system split into north and south schools. The older of the two schools, Glenbrook North H. S. was the one I attended.

**This was my first experience with MOOC’s, and I audited this course, i.e. I engaged in no evaluation exercises.

***This course was initially taken in the fall of 2013, however, I had to withdraw because of a heart attack.

Teaching this course was the highlight of my teaching career. I co-taught this course with a colleague, Tim Kajfez, from the Social Studies Department, for eleven years. The course consisted of addressing the question, What does it mean to be human? from four different perspectives, communication, competition and cooperation, the triad of religion, science, and art, and, fourthly, the effects of the geological and biological baggage that our species has.

Contact this candidate