I have served in planetariums since leaving school (though, since all of the planetariums were in schools of one sort or another, you could say I've never left school. Which, considering how slowly I learn, is probably just as well).
Iowa. In a sense, I began his planetarium career in college in 1965, where I assisted in
operating a new planetarium that had been included as part of a new science building. The facility was a Spitz A3P, one of a large number that were constructed in the mid- to late 1960s in response to a heightened public interest in space resulting from the great Space Race with the Russians. Luther College was a great place to go to school (and I would say that even if he hadn’t met his future wife there), and the planetarium was a great place to work. Having a key to a dark room with comfortable seats and a tape deck loaded with Tschaikowsky and Mozart was a great aid to my dating techniques, for one thing.
Texas. After attending graduate school, in 1974 my first job was at Odessa College, a two-year school in West Texas, about midway between El Paso and Dallas (and just about the only thing between El Paso and Dallas). Half of my time was spent serving as director of the planetarium (another Spitz A3P, in a 30-foot dome), and half in teaching classes in astronomy and physics. In West Texas, I had quite a bit of trouble convincing his students that the Earth was not flat…
Arkansas. In 1980 I moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and became associate director of a larger planetarium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (a Minolta machine in a 40-foot dome). During the 1986 visit of Comet Halley, the state governor and his family attended one of my public planetarium shows. Since I suspected they found it difficult to participate in most public activities without attracting attention, I offered to bring a telescope out the governor’s mansion and let them look at the comet from thei backyard. After Governor Clinton became president, I was hoping to be appointed Astronomer Royal, but that did not eventuate.
Nevada. 
I moved to Reno, Nevada in 1987, and spent (let’s see now: six months the first year, the renovation was in 1994, carry the two, subtract time off for good behavior, take the square root…) 17 years as associate director of the Fleischmann Planetarium at the University of Arizona. This facility, created in 1963, was noted for its unusual architectural design. The Fleischmann was also the first planetarium to show full-dome movies on a permanent basis (similar to the Imax/Omnimax, but the film frames weren't as large as those). Being in an area that depended on tourism, the Fleischmann was open to the public more than most planetariums its size, and was quite active in the local school district. Some years attendance at all shows (public, school special private, university classes) exceeded 40,000, which is considered good for a dome only 30 feet in diameter (another Minolta machine).
I produced star shows and school shows, and generally enjoyed my time in Reno until December of 2002, when the university president, without notifying the planetarium director, suddenly announced that he planned to close the planetarium in six months. Public outcry forced him to change his plans, but the handwriting was on the dome, and I decided I should keep my eyes open for a new challenge.
New Jersey. Some months later, I saw an announcement seeking a director for a new facility in New Jersey. My beautiful wife and I had lived in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones, so we decided to give the Eastern zone its chance. I applied for the job, and became the director of the Edelman Planetarium in July, 2004.
