Nash received his [[Bachelor of Arts]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1960 and his [[Ph.D.]] from the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aapra.org/pugsley-bios/roderick-frazier-nash |title=Roderick Frazier Nash {{!}} American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration |website=aapra.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913131734/http://www.aapra.org/pugsley-bios/roderick-frazier-nash |archive-date=2014-09-13}}</ref> He is the author of several books and many essays. His [[dissertation]], "Wilderness and the American Mind," done under the supervision of [[Merle Curti]], became what has come to be seen as one of the foundational texts of the field of [[environmental history]]. After teaching for two years at [[Dartmouth College]], he was called to the growing History Department at the [[University of California, Santa Barbara]] where he joined distinguished historians such as [[Wilbur Jacobs]], [[Robert O. Collins]], [[Frank J. Frost]], [[C. Warren Hollister]], [[Leonard Marsak]], and [[Joachim Remak]]. After witnessing a massivean oil spill in [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]] in 1969, he and a number of other faculty members became active within the university and founded an environmental studies program there in 1970. Since the initial 12 graduates in 1972, there have been 4,000 graduates within 300 separate majors. Nash is aan firmadvocate believer infor environmental education and is also an avid [[white water rafting|white-water river rafter]].
