Dr. Don Zeigler

Don is professor of geography at Old Dominion University, where he has been on the faculty since 1980. He teaches courses on the Middle East, plus cultural and political geography. Don received his degrees, all in geography, from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (B.S.), the University of Rhode Island (M.A.), and Michigan State University (Ph.D.). He has participated in a Fulbright Group Project to Morocco and has had a USIA Fellowship to Syria, a Malone Fellowship to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and a post-doctoral fellowship in Jordan from the American Center for Oriental Research. In 1997, he served as president of the National Council for Geographic Education. He works with Virginia teachers on a regular basis to improve their ability to teach the Standards of Learning. He is an avid photographer and map enthusiast.

Foreword by Michael Wood

Michael Wood, a British writer, historian and presenter, provides a foreword for the course as well as his perceptions about how geography is linked to history. Mr. Wood has created more than 60 television documentaries that have been broadcast around the world and has written books to accompany his television series, some of which are still in print after 20 years.

Mr. Wood trained as a medievalist and then worked as a journalist before moving to television as a writer and presenter of films on history, travel, and culture. His recent broadcasts include In Search of Myths and Heroes and In Search of Shakespeare.  He has made many films including: the Sacred Way, Darshan - An Indian Journey; the award-winning Saddam's Killing Fields (prizes included the Silver Nymph, critics prize for Best Documentary on ITV - Monte Carlo Television Festival, and a BAFTA award nomination for Best Documentary); and the epic journey In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great, a four-hour program for BBC and PBS.

Mr. Wood also wrote the best-selling books that accompany his television series. He is editor of The World Atlas of Archaeology and is now working on Travels in Time, stories about British history.

Mr. Wood was born in Manchester, England. He holds degrees from Oxford, where he pursued post-graduate studies in medieval history. Mr. Wood lives in London with his wife and their two children.