Troy Nordman

Troy D. Nordman, Lead Instructor for English/Humanities Division, received degrees for Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Wichita State University. Nordman has taught composition, literature, and creative writing at Butler Community College since 1990.

Before coming to Butler, Nordman taught for six years in a local high school. While at Butler, Nordman has served various committees including the South Central Kansas Higher Education Consortium of English Instructors and the Heartland Alliance Consortium. For three years Nordman served as coordinator for the Butler Community College Creative Writing Workshop. Along with his teaching and writing interests, Nordman has an avid interest in "living history. " Sometimes called "experiential archaeology," living history is the study of a specific period of history through first or third person character interpretations, demonstrations, and experimentation using the dress, tools, equipment, foods, etc. to reenact that lifestyle in order to understand it more completely. Specifically, Nordman has spent several years researching and investigation the history of the fur trade in southeastern Kansas (1790's - 1820's). This "hobby" has created opportunities both in research, writing, and presentations allowing him to share that historical knowledge with others.

Nordman has spoken to numerous groups including schools, scout groups, civic organizations, and church groups. His presentations are interactive so that audiences may have a "hands on" appreciation of the equipment, dress, and tools of the time period.

Recently, Nordman, along with four students in the Radio and TV Production department, finished a production on two docudramas entitled, "Along The Osage Trail: The French and Osage Fur Trade in the Arkansas River Valley 1790-1825" and "Along The Osage Trail: Journals of Discovery" Available through the Butler Community College Endowment Office, sales of the video support the Marianne Koke Folk Collections and future living history projects.

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