Papers of David M. Freeman

David M. Freeman is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University. For over 40 years he has taught, researched, and written about how people have organized themselves to manage water in the western United States and South Asia. He has authored four books, as well as numerous book chapters, articles, and technical reports. His scholarship specialty areas include water resources social organization, social conflict, the sociology of developmental change, and the sociology of technology and technology assessment. His teaching duties primarily consisted of classes pertaining to technology and society, the sociology of water resources, and the introduction to sociology.

Dr. Freeman was born on January 27, 1939, to Simon Peter and Helen Luella Freeman of Glendive, Montana. He received a B.A. in 1961 from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, a Master of Public and International Affairs degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1968. He was hired by the Colorado State University Department of Sociology in 1967 and served as the department's chair from 1985 to 1997. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Sociological Association, the American Political Science Association, and the Policy Studies Association, among others. He married Sandra Kay Bradford on August 30, 1960. They have four children: Brent, Bradford, Bryan, and Rebecca.

Dr. Freeman began studying western water in the 1980s while developing and expanding his course on the sociology of water resources. Much of his early-career research focused on water sociology in South Asia. However, he felt it necessary to incorporate local water sociology into his teaching and research; thus, he began exploring Platte, Poudre, and other western water communities. He committed to studying the Platte River project in 1996 after hearing stories about the situation from water users over the previous two years. Through those stories and his own observations, Dr. Freeman recognized that the Platte River proceedings were going to be historically significant. At the start, those proceedings were projected to last only three to four years. The negotiation process eventually took nearly fifteen years. He attended Platte River negotiating sessions as an impartial observer for more than ten years, observing and recording the positions and issues. Those sessions, as well as related interviews and secondary research, formed the information pool for his book Implementing the Endangered Species Act on the Platte Basin Water Commons (2010).