Biography
Harold Aurand Jr. is a rare, second generation professor at Penn State. His late father taught history at Penn State Hazleton from 1964 through 1999. After spending a lot of time growing up on Hazleton campus, Harold Jr. spent two years there as a student, then transferred to University Park where he completed his bachelor's degree in History. He received his master's and Ph.D. in History at the University of Minnesota.
Harold Jr. came to the Schuylkill campus in 1992, right out of graduate school, for what he was told would be a part-time, one-semester appointment, and never left. Harold has taught courses in American and World History, Western Civilization, and Ancient Greece, as well as others in the field of American Studies. He has represented Penn State Schuylkill in the University Faculty Senate, and the Hazleton campus at the University's Alumni Council.
Along the way he met his wife Helen, a Penn State graduate. They have one son, still in school.
Awards
- 2008 Penn State Schuylkill Award for Excellence in Faculty Service
- 2011 Penn State Schuylkill Award for Excellence in Teaching
- 2012 Penn State Schuylkill Student Government Association Faculty Award
Research Interests
Centralia mine fire, anthracite mine fires and community response
History of geologic models of resource use
Eastern European immigrant Christmas traditions and their role in maintaining a sense of ethnic and regional identity
Publications
With Melissa A. Nolter and Daniel H. Vice, "Comparison of Anthracite Mine Fires: Centralia and Laurel Run," In Glenn B. Stracher, ed., Geology of Coal Fires: Case Studies from Around the World: Geological Society of America Reviews in Engineering Geology, Vol 18, 2007: 261-270.
With Melissa A. Nolter and Daniel H. Vice, "Anthracite Coal Fires of Northeastern Pennsylvania," In Glenn B. Stracher, Anupma Prakash, and Elina V. Sokol, eds, Coal and Peat Fires: A Global Perspective, Vol 3, Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2015: 651-665.
With Daniel H. Vice, "A Brief History of Peak Oil: Hubbert's Peak, McCabe's Pyramid, and Recent Developments," Oil Industry History 18 (2017): 179-186
Education
Ph.D., History - University of Minnesota
M.A., History - University of Minnesota
B.A., History - Penn State University