Patty Limerick is the faculty director and chair of the board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she is also a professor of history and environmental studies. Limerick has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between academics and the general public and to demonstrating the benefits of applying historical perspective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts. Limerick is also known as an energetic, funny, and engaging public speaker, sought after by a wide range of Western constituencies that include private industry groups, state and federal agencies, and grassroots organizations. Her second book, The Legacy of Conquest (1987), played a central part in the revitalization of the field of western American history (2012 is the 25th anniversary of its publication). Limerick is also a prolific essayist, and her most widely read article is “Dancing with Professors: The Trouble with Academic Prose,” first published in the New York Times Book Review. As the vice president for the Teaching Division of the American Historical Association, she co-authored the Tuning proposal with Jim Grossman.