Peter Iverson was an Emeritus Professor at Arizona State University (ASU) and served as 44th WHA president (2004-2005). He held faculty positions at ASU (1975-1981), and the University of Wyoming (1981-1984).  In 1986 he became Program Director at ASU West. He joined the History Department at ASU Main Campus in 1988 where he retired in 2011 as Regents Professor of History, an honor received in 2000. Iverson served as Anderson Visiting Professor of American Studies at Carleton College (1991) and Acting Director of the McNickle Center for American Indian History at the Newberry Library (1994-1995). Iverson was born April 4, 1944 in Whittier, California.  He received his B.A. (1967) from Carlton College, and his M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. (1975) both from University of Wisconsin, Madison.  His awards and fellowships include several teaching awards, a McNickle Center for American History Fellowship, an American Philosophical Society Research Grant, three NEH Fellowships, the Chief Manuelito Appreciation Award for Contributions to Navajo Education, and a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.  His publications include Diné: A History of the Navajos (2002), We are Still Here (1998), When Indians Became Cowboys (1994), and Carlos Montezuma (1982).

Iverson’s dedication to American Indian Studies and Western History extended beyond the classroom and the archive.  He was involved with Native American communities, especially the Navajo Nation.  His respect and interest for the Navajo was imbued in him by his grandparents who lived in Navajo country where his grandfather was principal in schools at Fort Wingate, Keams Canyon, and Toadlena.  In 1969 Iverson served on faculty at Diné (Navajo Community) College where he taught from 1969-1972. Throughout his scholarship Iverson credited many people as his teachers, especially Navajo elders and friends. His acknowledgements of these individuals are indicative of his approach to his own students who regard him as a generous mentor and teacher. All of his students have benefited from his knowledge and wisdom since he began his teaching career.  In 2003 ASU recognized Iverson for service to students by naming him Outstanding Doctoral Mentor. He mentored graduate students throughout his career and directed 33 doctoral students -- many of whom hold positions at colleges and universities -- attesting to his influence on the fields of teaching and history. (Authored by Rebecca Bales, California State University; Sources: Peter Iverson, Diné: A History of the Navajo  (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002), “Peter Iverson Collection, 1898-2002.” Arizona Archives Online.  Arizona State University.)                              

Robert “Bob” Trennert (1937-2019) was a charter member of the Western History Association and a member of the Emeritus College at Arizona State University. Trennert came to ASU after teaching at Temple University and earlier finishing a graduate degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1969 where he studied under Wilbur R. Jacobs. Prior to his Ph.D. Trennert earned an MA from Los Angeles State College in 1963 and a BA from Occidental College in 1961. Trennert’s research efforts have produced five books Alternative to Extinction (1975), Indian Traders on the Middle Border (1981), The Phoenix Indian School (1988),  White Man’s Medicine (1998), and Riding the High Wire: Aerial Mine Tramways in the West (2001 and over thirty articles in scholarly journals. Trennert has also published nearly 100 book reviews over the course of his career.

Professor Trennert’s teaching and research interest focused on American Indian history, the Southwest, and the American West, with special interests in American Indian policy, Indian education and Indian health.  Trennert’s grants and awards include National Park Service, NEH, and ASU research grants, the Arizona Humanities Council Distinguished Scholar Award, and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Western Heritage Award.  His professional activities included service on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Historical Foundation, the Arizona Historical Sites Review Committee, the Arizona Humanities Council, the Council of the Western History Association, and in 1997 he served as President of the Mining History Association. In 2003 Robert Trennert retired from teaching at Arizona State University where he had served on numerous graduate student committees, served as Department Chair, and regularly encouraged graduate students to attend conferences and meet people who were doing work in which they were interested. Graduate students attended Trennert’s last lecture at ASU and they applauded his teaching on behalf of all his former students as he concluded his last class. (Authored by Brian S Collier, University of Notre Dame)