One and done for Philip Boucher

Philip Boucher, Distinguished Professor of History, will retire from UAH at the end of this spring semester. Beginning in the fall of 1974, Dr. Boucher has taught here for thirty-three years. He remarked that the biggest change at the university has been the younger age of the typical student. When he began, he was 29 years old, and UAH was a commuter campus; his classes had many students about his age! In recent years, after UAH built more dorms, students have gotten younger. Boucher leaves UAH still walking in his historian boots. Johns Hopkins University Press will publish his book France and the American Tropics to 1700: Tropics of Discontent? in the late summer this year. He found writing the book challenging because it required knowledge of diverse topics including the environment, indigenous peoples, French colonists, and slaves. Dr. Boucher plans to stay in Huntsville, and after a couple weeks of rest and recreation, turn to a second volume on France in the tropics. Bon voyage, Professor PB!