The following is a list of research publications produced to date by the EDGE Project.   Additional manuscripts are pending review.

Refereed articles

1. Solem, M., Cheung, I., and Schlemper, B.  2008.   Skills in Professional Geography: An Assessment of Workforce Needs and Expectations.   The Professional Geographer, 60(3): 1-18.

This study compares the skills of professional geographers and the needs of employer organizations across major sectors of the U.S. workforce. Following a series of focus groups, two surveys were developed to explore: (i) the extent specific skills were performed by geographers in different professional positions, and (ii) the value of and anticipated demand for those skills from the perspective of employers. Overall, respondents in the focus groups and both surveys emphasized the need for general skills ranging from time management and writing ability to information management and computer literacy.  But employers also cited many geographic skills as being vital for enhancing the work of professionals in all types of organizations.  Competency in field methods, the ability to work across disciplinary boundaries, and spatial thinking were three skill areas that characterized the work of geographic professionals irrespective of specialty.

2. Solem, M., Lee, J., and Schlemper, B.  2009.  Departmental climate and student experiences in geography graduate programs.   Research in Higher Education, 50(3): 268-292.

This study explores how graduate students enrolled in M.A./M.S. and Ph.D. geography programs perceive the social and academic climate of their departments.  A second objective is to understand how these students self-assess their own professional abilities, values, and goals, and whether these self-assessments differ across demographic and institutional contexts.  The survey instrument for this research is based on data collected from graduate student focus groups and on validated constructs of academic culture and climate from previous research.  T-tests, ANOVA, and regression analyses identified significant differences among graduate students and their perceptions of departmental climate when compared on the basis of gender, citizenship, race/ethnicity, disciplinary subfield, and institutional type.  Interview data provide additional context for analysis of the survey data. The primary areas in which we detected differences in graduate students’ experiences were 1) diversity issues, 2) disciplinary and institutional cultures, 3) career planning and development, 4) financial matters, and 5) quality of the learning environment.

3. Solem, M. and Foote, K.  2009.  Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education in Geography: A Disciplinary Project in Professional Development.  International Journal of Researcher Development, 1(1): 11-28.

This paper describes the development, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) in Geography, a multi-year project begun in 2005 to study the process of professional development in graduate geography in the U.S and sponsored by the National Science Foundation.  As a research and action project responding to the needs of graduate geography programs, EDGE seeks to provide academic geographers with an empirical perspective of disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary and generic skills that MA/MS and PhD students develop as a result of graduate education.  Related objectives are to understand how disciplinary skills are applied by geography graduates once they enter the professional workforce in both academic and non-academic professional settings, and to gauge the extent graduate programs are sufficiently preparing geography graduates for those careers. 

We begin by summarizing the research goals and design of EDGE, highlighting the roles and contributions of geographers and educational researchers, and noting the interplay and synergy between disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies and practices.  To date, research has focused on: 1) assessing contemporary workforce competencies in professional geography and 2) examining the role of department climate and culture on student experience and faculty development within masters and doctoral programs.  Although the EDGE research efforts are still underway, we present some preliminary research findings and discuss the implications of those outcomes for professional development in geography and related social and environmental sciences.  Also discussed is the complementary nature of discipline-based and interdisciplinary professional development efforts.

Conference proceedings

Foote, K., Solem, M., and Monk, J.  2009.   Developing geographic competencies for careers in higher education, business, government, and non-profit organizations.   Proceedings of the Development of Competencies in the World of Work and Education (DECOWE) Conference, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.