Bruce Olav Solheim was born on September 3, 1958, in Seattle, Washington, to hard-working Norwegian immi­grant parents, Asbjørn and Olaug Solheim. Bruce was the first per­son in his family to go to college. He served for six years in the US Army as a jail guard and later as a hel­icopter pilot. He earned his PhD in history from Bowling Green State University in 1993.

Bruce is currently a distinguished professor of history at Citrus College in Glendora, California. He also served as a Fulbright professor in 2003 at the University of Tromsø in northern Norway. He teaches a paranormal personal history course at Citrus College. Dr. Solheim is an associate member of the Parapsychological Association, and a member of CERO, and MUFON.

Bruce founded the Veterans Program at Citrus College and co-founded, with Manuel Martinez and Ginger De Villa-Rose, the Boots to Books transition course—the first college course in the United States designed specifically for recently returned veterans. He has published eight books, one comic book, and has written ten plays, two of which have been produced.

Bruce is married to Ginger, the girl of his dreams, who is a professional helicopter pilot and certified flight instructor. He has four wonderful children: Bjørn, Byron, Caitlin, and Leif. He also has two precious grandsons, Liam and Wesley. Bruce, his brother, and his nephew still own the family home in Åse, Norway, two hundred miles above the Arctic Circle.