Kansas University professor of environmental history Karl Brooks is shown Jan. 19 along the banks of the Kansas River. Brooks was recently appointed as regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

A Kansas University professor recently named to a federal environmental administration post is no stranger to career changes.

“To put it mildly, I’ve had sort of a varied background,” said Karl Brooks, an associate professor of history and environmental studies, who was recently nominated by President Barack Obama to be the regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

He worked as a corporate attorney for a wood and paper company and served six years as an Idaho state senator before he came to academia, settling in at KU in 2000.

He’ll still be living in Lawrence and commuting to the EPA office in Kansas City, Kan., that oversees Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.

Brooks plans to take a leave of absence from KU and return to teaching when he leaves his EPA administration post — likely when a new president takes office, he said.

Chris Brown, director of KU’s environmental studies program and an associate professor of geography, said that Brooks’ background would serve him well in his new position.

He described Brooks as a positive contributor to KU’s strong environmental history field of study.

“Karl’s always been extremely productive within the program,” Brown said. “He’s someone people go to as a resource for what’s going on in the community.”

Brooks has written books on the environmental legacy of Harry S. Truman, the origins of American environmental law and an exploration of how water policy affected the Hells Canyon dam on the Snake River on the Idaho-Oregon border.

Brown said Brooks will still be able to help KU in his new job, both during and after his tenure.

“I told Karl he’d better familiarize himself quickly with the internship policy,” Brown said.

Brooks said that while he wasn’t sure exactly how he came to be nominated for the post over others, he said he hoped it had to do with his background in working with the environment.

He’ll be the eyes and ears of both the EPA administrator and the White House for the region. The EPA monitors ongoing issues such as large Superfund cleanup sites in Omaha, Neb., and in southeastern Kansas, in areas impacted by coal, lead and zinc mining decades ago.

Paul Kelton, KU’s history department chairman, said that his colleagues were happy to share in Brooks’ continued success.

“We’re all real proud of Karl, and what he’s accomplished, and we think this is only a good thing for KU,” Kelton said.