The Authors of the OE

Erika Weisensee teaches journalism and communication courses at the University of Portland. Her writing has appeared in numerous regional publications, including Portland Monthly, Livepdx.com and Oregon Humanities Magazine. In 2003, she earned a master's degree in non-fiction writing from Portland State University. Erika lives in Milwaukie.

Elliott West, Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, is a specialist in western social, environmental, and Native American history. He is author of several books, including The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (2009).

Geoffrey Wexler is the archivist of the Oregon Historical Society. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and master's degrees in history and library science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has worked as a professional archivist for over twenty years in a variety of repositories, including the Bancroft Library and the Wisconsin Historical Society. In recent years he has created a number of art installations using historical materials.

Charles White was born in Mackinaw City, Michigan, in 1924. He attended Michigan State, Central Michigan University, and Columbia Midshipman's School before shipping out as a navigator in World War II. His ship earned three battle stars and weathered two typhoons. He returned to Michigan State after the war and earned a B.A. with honors and an M.A. with distinction, followed by a Ph.D at the University of Southern California. In 1952, he began teaching at Portland State Extension Center (Portland State University) and served as director of the Summer Session and director of International Education. He retired in 2006.

W. Thomas White received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1981. His dissertation focused on railroad workers in the Pacific Northwest from the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883 to the New Deal. He served as curator of the James J. Hill and Louis W. Hill papers at the James J. Hill Library in St. Paul from 1981 to 2007. He has published extensively on business and labor history in the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest and teaches at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Metropolitan State University-Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Gerald W. Williams was the national historian for the USDA Forest Service. He received his Ph.D. from Washington State University, taught at Indiana State University, and was the recreation research director for the City of Eugene. He worked for the Forest Service on the Umpqua National Forest and the Willamette National Forest, and is an adjunct staff member with Grey Towers National Historic Landmark. He was chief historian for the Forest Service, led the national history program, and was editor of History Line. Jerry retired from the Forest Service in 2005, and is currently living in Portland, where he is a historical researcher and writer. 

William F. Willingham, Ph.D., has taught at the college level for eleven years, served as District and Division Historian for the Corps of Engineers for fifteen years, and spent twelve years as an independent consulting historian. He has written widely in the fields of Pacific Northwest history, historic preservation, historic architecture, and water resources development. Major publications include Waterpower in the Wilderness: A History of the Bonneville Lock and Dam, Northwest Passages: A History of the Seattle District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Starting Over: Community Building on the Eastern Oregon Frontier (2005). He also has written numerous scholarly articles, reviews, consultant reports, and professional papers.

John Witte is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Second Nature (University of Washington Press, 2008), and the editor of The Collected Poems of Hazel Hall (Oregon State University Press, 2000). He teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Oregon, where he has edited Northwest Review for thirty years.

Vincent Wixon co-produced the video Lawson Fusao Inada: What It Means To Be Free.

Craig Wollner is the associate dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University. He is the author, co-author, or editor of six books on the economic, business, and labor history of the Pacific Northwest, including Electrifying Eden: Portland General Electric, 1889-1965; The City Builders: One Hundred Years of Union Carpentry in Portland, Oregon, and, with Gordon B. Dodds, The Silicon Forest.