UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #840
CHRISTENSEN, BRUCE

CHRISTENSEN, Bruce (1947- )
H. Edwin Young Professor of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine
At UW: 1982-

Interviewed: 2007	
Interviewer: Sandra Pfahler
Length: 2 hours

Family background; Growing up in Osceola; UW-River Falls; Graduate study in parasitology; Research; Hiring by UW; Department chair; Tropical Disease Research Unit; Students; Committees; Public health; Honors and awards; Leisure.

Interview Session (January 29, 2007): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:20	Bruce Christensen was born in Wisconsin in 1947.  His father worked for the railroad in Spooner, Wisconsin and then for a building company in Osceola.  He talks about growing up in Osceola.

00:04:38	UW-Madison recruited BC to wrestle but he ended up at UW-River Falls.

00:08:12	He gave up wrestling and worked numerous jobs during college.  He married his wife, Linda, during his junior year and graduated in 1970.

00:11:04	Bob Calentine inspired BC in his studies of science.

00:12:55	UW-River Falls exposed him to ethnic diversity (which was lacking in his hometown).  He enjoyed being somewhere that valued diversity of opinions as well; he fell in love with the culture of the university.

00:17:57	After graduation he enlisted in the army and applied for the science and engineering program.  He was assigned as a biological scientist to the Fitzsimmons Army Medical Research Center in Denver.

00:20:24	He started graduate school in 1973 at Iowa State.  He became interested in studying mosquitoes and mosquito-transmitted diseases.

00:24:35	BC completed his PhD in 1977.  He studied entomology and parasitology and did research on filarial worms.

00:28:30	He took a position at Murray State University in 1978.

00:33:46	BC successfully applied for a position at UW-Madison as a veterinary parasitologist; he began as an assistant professor in 1982.

00:39:25	He was tenured in 1984 and was promoted to full professor in 1989.  He also assumed the chairmanship of the veterinary science department from 1989 to 1999.

00:43:50	BC talks about recruiting colleagues and creating a research project on tropical diseases.

00:46:10	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:46:20	Bruce Christensen continues to discuss his involvement with the Tropical Disease Research Unit.  He has carried out research in Egypt on aspects of mosquito biology.

00:47:45	He discusses the development of a current project in Upper Egypt.

00:53:01	BC describes some of his outstanding graduate students.  He also speaks about teaching more generally.

01:10:30	He talks about the university budget and administration.

01:16:00	BC discusses the need to “internationalize” public health issues.

01:19:25	He served on the divisional committee and graduate school committees.

01:22:10	He served on a Lyme Disease Task Force under Donna Shalala.

01:23:20	BC talks about traveling for his research.

01:31:00	He describes his honors and awards, including the Henry Baldwin Award Medal.

01:32:50	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:32:55	Bruce Christensen continues to describe honors and awards he has received.

01:38:15	He talks about the necessity of grant funding to support graduate student research.

01:41:40	BC talks about his family.

01:45:35	The major stressor in his career was maintaining grant funding for his lab.

01:46:55	He discusses his leisure activities.

01:59:50	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END