Allen Dieterich-Ward is an environmental and urban historian with a focus on political ecology and community development. He has earned acclaim for teaching, professional service, and scholarship, including the Arline Custer Memorial Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference for Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America, which was published in 2016 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Allen holds a PhD in history from the University of Michigan (2006), an MA in history from Michigan (2002), and a BA from the College of Wooster (2000).

Allen is currently a professor of history at Shippensburg University and the immediate past president of the Pennsylvania Historical Association. He serves as coeditor of the Pennsylvania History series, a joint publication of the PHA and Temple University Press. He is also active in the conservation and community development communities, serving on the board of the Cumberland Valley Rails-to-Trails Council and the steering committee of the Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage Committee among others.