UW And Ucross Announce Partnership

On April 15, 2024, Ucross and the University of Wyoming announced today that the inaugural Haub Fellow at Ucross will be Corrine Knapp, an associate professor in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.

Presented once a year to a Haub faculty member, the fellowship offers a two-week residency at Ucross, which includes private studio space, living accommodations, meals by a professional chef and the experience of interdisciplinary, cross-cultural conversation with international artists-in-residence, all on Ucross’s 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming.

“Our landscape, our land stewardship initiatives and the deep connection between creativity and place are embedded in the Ucross mission, as well as the unique perspective on the American West that we provide,” said Ucross President and Executive Director William Belcher. “This partnership with the Haub School is a natural extension of our program, and we look forward to welcoming Corrie Knapp to Ucross this fall.”

The idea of the partnership began in 2023, after Ucross and the Haub School collaborated on a pilot fellowship project during which Jacob Hochard, the Knobloch Associate Professor of Conservation Economics in the Haub School, received time and space at the prestigious residency program. Hochard described his two-week residency at Ucross, and the bond formed with the interdisciplinary artists in his cohort, as “lifechanging.”

“We are excited about this partnership that brings a member of the Haub School to the Ucross community of residents to seek inspiration from the wild and working lands that are so vital to Wyoming,” said Haub School Dean John Koprowski, also a Wyoming Excellence Chair. “Corrie Knapp is the ideal inaugural Haub Fellow at Ucross, for she epitomizes our interdisciplinary approach and commitment to creative scholarly activities.”

Knapp plans to use her uninterrupted time and space to draft an article exploring how socioecological feedbacks can amplify or dampen perceptions of climate change, illustrated with case studies.

Before coming to UW in 2019, Knapp directed the Integrated Land Management Program in the School of Environment and Sustainability at Western Colorado University in Gunnison. She received her B.A. in literature and writing from the University of Colorado-Denver, her M.S. in rangeland ecology from Colorado State University and her Ph.D. in human ecology from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Knapp’s research interests are at the intersection of land-based livelihoods and conservation in the context of climate change. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from local/Indigenous knowledge to climate change adaptation, endangered species management to rangeland ecology.

Learn more about the Ucross artist residency program and art gallery at ucross.org.