Rate My Professor Steven Borish

Steven Borish serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development & Women's Studies at California State University, East Bay, where he joined the faculty in 2006. His academic background includes a B.A. from Carleton College, an M.S. in Biology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University. Originally trained as a cultural anthropologist at Stanford, Borish returned to the institution for advanced studies in biological sciences. Early in his career, he served two years as a U.S. Peace Corps teacher in Somalia. He conducted fieldwork on communal living, studying an Israeli kibbutz and a commune in the Santa Cruz mountains. Supported by two Fulbright grants, he spent nearly a decade examining culture and educational systems across Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Before arriving at California State University, East Bay, Borish taught at Swarthmore College as well as the Universities of Stockholm, Trondheim, and Copenhagen. Fluent in six languages, he brings a wealth of international experience to his teaching and research.

Borish's scholarship emphasizes an integrated life cycle perspective, insisting that any phase of development be understood in relation to other stages and the entire lifespan. His courses, such as HDEV 311 Infant and Child Development and HDEV 322 Adult Development and Aging, challenge students through readings, research, and discussions to identify what anthropologist Gregory Bateson termed 'the pattern that connects.' Research specializations encompass cross-cultural education, developmental biology, human paleoanthropology, and the history and philosophy of science. Notable publications include two books on Scandinavian societies, one titled The Land of the Living: Denmark's Non-violent Path to Modernization, which was recently translated into Japanese. Additional works feature the lead-authored chapter 'Waddington’s Epigenetic Landscape' (with S. Gilbert) forthcoming in the Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology; 'Bison: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow' in the Natural Areas Journal (2014, co-authored with M. Kolipinski, A. Scott, K. Kozlowski, and S. Ghosh); and 'Sources and Toxicity of Mercury in the San Francisco Bay Area, Spanning California Gold Rush to the Present Day' (2020). Borish has also edited the department newsletter and participated in Academic Senate activities.