Thomas Paradis

Born and raised in northern Connecticut, Thomas (Tom) Paradis obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Geography at the Pennsylvania State University (1992), and his Masters (1994) and Ph.D. (1997) degrees in Geography: Urban & Rural Development from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He continued moving west to Flagstaff, Arizona in 1997 as faculty at Northern Arizona University (NAU), where he was recognized in 2011 and 2014 as a President's Distinguished Teaching Fellow. He further served as the Chair of the Department of Geography, Planning & Recreation and as the university's Director of Academic Assessment. As a professor of geography and community planning here at Butler, he is also an affiliate faculty member in Butler's Science, Technology & Environmental Studies (STES) program. Having originally majored in meteorology at Penn State, he ended up teaching weather and climate at the U. of Illinois and later at NAU. He therefore teaches an NW course for the Core Curriculum, Weather, Climate & Society (NW 265). Beyond the fun of academics, Tom enjoys traveling, photography, railroad history and modeling, playing basketball, and was once an avid trumpet player in high school and the Penn State Blue Band (Go State!). 

Teaching and Scholarship

Tom's areas of teaching and research encompass the topics of urban and cultural geography, downtown redevelopment, historic preservation, urban design, heritage tourism, Italy, the American Southwest, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and most recently, the Hunger Games series and franchise. He also offers a creative First-Year Seminar (FYS) course focused on Unpacking the Hunger Games, an interdisciplinary approach to understanding our world through Suzanne Collins' dystopian series. Having led several study-abroad programs in Viterbo and Siena, Italy to explore livable cities and walkable design, Tom is the author of two books about Siena, including Living the Palio: A Story of Community and Public Life in Siena, Italy (3rd edition 2020), and Unbridled Spirit: The Untold Story of the 2018 Extraordinary Palio in Siena, Italy (Feb. 2020). He remains active in the Panther contrada (neighborhood) in Siena. Other books (some very recently) include the following:

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Landmarks (2012), A Place Called District 12: Appalachian Geography and Music in the Hunger Games (2022), Behind the Ballads: A Tribute to the People, Places, and Music of Sonbirds and Snakes (2024), and A Daughter of Singapore: Life Lessons of a Homegrown Tour Guide (2025). 

Current and Upcoming Butler Courses

• FYS 101/102: Unpacking the Hunger Games, Part 1 (every fall/spring)
• NW 265-ENV: Weather, Climate & Society (every fall, summer)
• ENV 315: Designing for Livable Cities (fall 2025)
• HST 347: U.S. Urban History and Landscape (spring 2025) 
• HST 359: Architecture History and Preservation (spring 2026)
• ENV 390 (Topics): Sustainable Community Planning (fall 2026)
• SW 205: Cultural Geography: Regions of the World (spring 2026)