Trask has worked as a history professor at the University of Wisconsin Manitowoc for more than thirty years.
He worked his way through college in steel foundries, dairy farms, and as a ranger with the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests.
[1] Shortly after earning his Ph.D. in American History, Trask joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Manitowoc.
In 2006, he received the Benjamin F. Shambaugh Award from the State Historical Society of Iowa for Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America.
[12] Trask ran as the Democrat in the 25th District race for Wisconsin State Assembly in the November 2010 general election.