Oelschlaeger, professor of philosophy and religion studies at the University of North Texas, wrote The Idea of Wilderness (Yale University Press 1994), which earned Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominations in 1991. His forthcoming books are Nature’s Odyssey: Essays on Environment and Wilderness and Ecological Semiotics.

Established by Margaret V.B. and C. Angus Wurtele, the Philip J. Otis Lectureship commemorates their son, Philip, a member of the Bates class of 1995, who died attempting to rescue an injured climber on Mt. Rainier in Summer 1995. Otis was deeply concerned about nurturing a sense of responsibility for the natural environment, and the annual lectureship will focus on environmental issues and the spiritual and moral dimensions of ecology.