For many geographers, the past few weeks have brought major shifts in policies that adversely affect our work across higher education, non-profit organizations, Federal agencies, and research institutions. Data sources, including the US Census, are changing. While “CDC’s website is being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders,” various organizations are working to preserve and make the data available. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is in the midst of controversy, with severe ramifications for critical humanitarian work across the globe and the (potential) loss of jobs for thousands of workers. These sweeping changes to Federal agencies mean serious challenges for scientific research, and for higher education. Data on the impact of NIH funding in your own state is available here. Broad swaths of geographic scholarship are affected as funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) limit indirect cost payments, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) is establishing new guidance with regard to what type of research remains fundable and under what conditions.

In these frenzied times, I have heard from AAG members who feel angry, anxious, and often helpless. Early career researchers on my own campus and elsewhere, in particular, worry that they may not be able to realize their futures and careers as they imagined. In the midst of recent confusion around a Federal payment freeze, post-docs and graduate students who receive salaries or stipends directly from the US government experienced payment delays that caused hardships. Feelings of fear and anxiety in this era of growing uncertainty are understandable, and I want to assure you that you are not alone. AAG stands by our earlier commitments to academic freedom and our support for all geographers across the breadth of geographic inquiry. We value our colleagues whose broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and skills enrich our discipline and society more broadly. I have spoken to many geographers in recent days, and they are here to help, to offer conversations and advice. So, I encourage you to talk to your colleagues, get guidance from supervisors and leadership in your institutions, and to discuss your plans with your advisors and mentors. These may be conversations about short-term decisions regarding field work, conference travel, and visits to archives, or longer-term career planning. If you have concerns that seem beyond your institution’s or workplace’s ability for guidance, please reach out to us at helloworld@aag.org.

In these times, I find it useful to remember that anxiety, fear, and helplessness may be exactly what the current administration intends to create as it seeks to quash opposition with its firehose approach to overwhelm, exhaust, and even traumatize people. As we are processing the onslaught of information and attacks on democratic institutions, it is important to remind ourselves that we are still only in the early stages of these frenzied changes. I have found that staying informed about these intentions and developments helps reduce some of the surprise and shock. More changes are to come, many of which have been foreshadowed in the Project 2025 document, which this BBC article usefully puts into perspective (the article also links to the full report). Several organizations such as the Council on Governmental Relations, the Council of Nonprofits, and the American Council on Education have been compiling relevant information on executive orders or offer podcasts that address the ongoing assault on research, education, rights, and democracy. This is not an exhaustive list. But I find that accessing information from reputable organizations—rather than trying to keep up with every notification and update from social media and news sites—allows me to step back and process information on my own terms.

In recent days, several lawsuits have gotten under way that challenge the legality of executive orders and administrative actions, including the attacks on DEI work and -workers. These legal cases will take time. In the meantime, AAG is working with the coalition of the American Council of Learned Societies to assess and address the shifting legal and funding landscapes, and to consider how and when to organize responses that will require broader support than any single organization can provide. AAG’s JEDI committee is collecting resources and information materials to support our members. We are proceeding with care and caution because we do not want to inadvertently put AAG members at risk.

As an immigration scholar, I know that the onslaught of Executive Orders which target vulnerable people feels both cruel and somewhat familiar; the first Trump administration targeted immigrants and pursued well over 1,000 changes to existing immigration policies, including revoking legal statuses and restricting various visas. The Migration Policy Institute has compiled a helpful list of the current administration’s actions taken so far in the realm of immigration. Legal guidance for dealing with immigration enforcement agencies is available from multiple sources, including the ACLU. I mention this information, in particular, as sanctuary policies of cities and university campuses are under threat. And so are international students, faculty, and staff on our campuses whose political viewpoints may become grounds for revoking their visas and deporting them—in yet other ways of undermining academic freedom.

In the midst of this intentionally inflicted chaos and confusion, I urge you to take a deep breath and to take care of yourself. If you’re able to, please support those in more vulnerable positions. Letting policymakers know what you think about legislative changes remains an important avenue for action. If you are in the U.S. and so inclined, you may call your elected representatives in Washington DC to ensure your voice is being heard. Please make sure to call their local/state offices in addition to their offices on Capitol Hill, which can be reached at (202) 224-3121.

Taking care also means taking breaks from the news, engaging in self-care, and doing work and organizing that is possible and meaningful to you. Self-care will not dismantle the systems of oppression that traumatize and create new vulnerabilities. But self-care is and needs to be part of preserving our ability to stay focused on what matters, including our work as geographers. There is still the need to educate, to study the consequences of climate change, wildfires, flooding, and intensified hurricanes as well as affordable housing and challenges to democracy, to understand geopolitics, and to work toward food security and climate justice—to mention but a few of the urgent questions that geographers collectively address. Very little, if anything, is gained if trauma manifests as anger and aggression toward others. So, please do what is necessary to take care of your health and well-being, whether that’s taking breaks from screens, going for a walk or to the gym, meditating, being with friends and family, reading a novel, or watching a movie. And please make sure to seek out counseling if self-care strategies are not enough.

Our Annual Meeting in Detroit next month will bring ample opportunities for conversations, collaborations, and community building with other geographers. The preliminary program lists several sessions that center on the changing spaces of and challenges to higher education. There are workshops on research methods for students, as well as mentoring sessions that highlight career opportunities across non-profit, government, and industry sectors for early career geographers. Yet other sets of sessions specifically address questions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am confident that these sessions, along with those focused on geographic research, will generate ideas of how our work can continue within the new legal and political frameworks. AAG’s JEDI committee has also organized a number of listening sessions that will make space for discussions of concerns.

I look forward to the conversations that will emerge as we get together and exchange our experiences and insights, develop further strategies for teaching, share the results of our research, and imagine together how we can continue to do the important work that geographers have been doing and need to continue to do. AAG remains committed to being a home for all geographers and to working toward positive change, to doing it together, even—and especially—in these challenging times.

Please note: The ideas expressed in the AAG President’s column are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. This column is traditionally a space in which the president may talk about their views or focus during their tenure as president of AAG, or spotlight their areas of professional work. Please feel free to email the president directly at P.Ehrkamp@uky.edu to enable a constructive discussion.

As the December solstice approaches and the days promise to get longer for those of us in the northern hemisphere, we often consider this a hopeful time in which to look forward to what comes next. Given how challenging 2024 has been for higher education and for geography in various parts of the world, I do so with mixed feelings. News of potential program and department closures—in the U.S. and in Australia—and reductions in funding for social sciences and humanities research (most recently to New Zealand’s Marsden Fund) combine with uncertainty for higher education more broadly as the next administration of the U.S. appears poised to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, which administers Federal financial aid for students—among other plans that may impact higher education and research. Attacks on academic freedom and civil society continue. On many occasions, the AAG has written letters in support of individual scholars and departments or advocated for continued funding for scholarly research across the full spectrum of physical and social sciences and the humanities.

But nonprofits and professional associations such as AAG are themselves encountering strong headwinds. Conservative think tanks argue for policies that would effectively reduce funding for organizations like ours, which would make advocacy on behalf of geography and geographers more difficult. Agendas that weaken the work of scientific and professional associations—whose major goals are education and support for knowledge production and exchange—add to legislative efforts aimed at undermining civil society institutions more broadly. Just last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 9495 with 219 to 184 votes, largely along partisan lines, albeit with the support of 15 Democratic representatives. The bill (which has yet to pass in the U.S. Senate and get signed into law) seeks to imbue the Treasury department as part of the country’s executive branch with the discretionary power to declare an association as ‘terrorist’ and no longer eligible for nonprofit status—without requiring a proper inquiry first. This discretion, as the reactions of a large number of non-profit organizations show, is highly problematic because it stands to undermine advocacy and weaken civil society and democracy. And even if non-profit organizations are able to fight such designations, these fights will come at a high cost.

Strengthening the Foundation for Geography

In the context of such challenges, it feels at times daunting to work toward better futures. But that’s what AAG has been doing this year. Over the past several months, with sound advice from the Finance Committee, AAG Council has devised plans to rebuild financial reserves that were depleted in the Covid-19 pandemic. These plans put us in a better position for supporting geographers and geography programs into the future. We are also beginning work on our next long-term plan, which will outline our priorities for the coming 10 years and lay the foundation for our strategic planning process. And we have strengthened our connections to other geographic associations across the globe. This includes renewing our memorandum of understanding with The Geographical Society of China on the occasion of its 115^th anniversary in 2024 and renewing our commitments to reciprocal membership with RGS-IBG (while ironing out some bureaucratic wrinkles in such reciprocity along the way.) Our international collaborations on education and knowledge exchange remain critically important because, as geographers well know, the challenges facing the world, including climate change, do not stop at national borders.

Looking beyond the AAG, there are encouraging developments to note as well. For the first time in years, public trust in scientists, which plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic (in the U.S.), has improved. A new report released by the Pew Research Center in November 2024 indicates the first increase in public trust in scientists since 2020, which is particularly encouraging given continued attacks on science and higher education. The report shows that partisan differences in the public’s perception of scientists remain. But importantly, the majority of the U.S. public views scientists as intelligent and as “focused on solving real-world problems.” A recent panel hosted on the AAAS YouTube channel delves deeper into the report as different experts discuss their take on the data.

A new report released by the Pew Research Center in November 2024 indicates the first increase in public trust in scientists since 2020”

The Pew Research Center’s report identifies communication as one arena where there is room for improvement for scientists. This point shows the timeliness of efforts by AAG to Elevate the Discipline. Public and engaged scholarship is another way of addressing such perceived shortcomings in communicating knowledge beyond scientific venues. In a recent essay in its “Innovation in Action” hub, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) highlights a successful, faculty-led initiative at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to change promotion and tenure guidelines for such scholarship. One lesson from this piece is that “Disciplines, and disciplinary associations, can provide leadership and support by publishing their own guidelines.” Incidentally, the AAG’s Task Force on Public and Engaged Scholarship, led by Past President Rebecca Lave, just concluded its work and, among other products, produced new guidelines for institutions on how to value and evaluate such work. These will be available on the AAG website soon.

Inspiration comes from yet other sources: In a strong rejection of what they term “the siege mentality in higher education,” Heather Hewitt and Stacy M. Hartman detail examples of innovation across undergraduate and graduate curricula in the social sciences and humanities on campuses across the U.S. While not mincing words in their criticism of how universities have been “breaking trust with many constituencies, including students, local communities, and the broader public,” their article emphasizes the dedication of scholar-educators to teaching, and to preparing students for meaningful careers. In advocating for what they consider “humanities vocationalism” for example, Hewitt and Hartman outline alternatives to simplistic notions of workforce preparation (a term that often headlines conservative reform demands for higher education). Their discussions also include interdisciplinary initiatives and innovation in Ph.D. programs that seek to better support Ph.D. students who are envisioning ‘alt-ac careers,’ that is, non-faculty careers in academia or outside of the academy. There is much food for thought here for geographers to think carefully about how we prepare our Ph.D. students, and how we can better serve them given the fact of a declining academic workforce and a wealth of career opportunities outside of the academy. These are important questions for geographers to take up, including at our annual meetings.

As I finalize this column, preparations for our 2025 Annual Meeting in Detroit are well underway. In keeping with AAG’s commitment to building stronger ties to the cities and regions that host our meetings, returning-generation farmer and scholar-educator shakara tyler kicked off our series of webinars with a discussion of Building Black Food Sovereignty in Detroit. This first webinar will be followed by Robert Nelson offering insights into the foodways of Arab Americans and Arab Canadians in the Detroit region on January 22, 2025. On February 13, 2025, Michelle Martinez will discuss environmental justice, climate change, and energy. We have several more webinars planned in the coming months. All of our planned webinars feature scholars or activists with longstanding ties to the city and region. Beyond introducing AAG members in more depth to the host city for our 2025 Annual Meeting, it is my hope that these webinars will serve our members after the conference, for example in their teaching and in outreach that explains why geography matters.

I began this column with mixed feelings in light of the challenges and uncertainty this year has brought. But in the end, one sentiment prevails: profound gratitude. Gratitude for the immense dedication that AAG staff has shown this year despite dealing with difficult cuts and personnel restructuring. Gratitude for the numerous colleagues who have volunteered their time, energy, and wonderful insight as they serve on AAG Council, our numerous standing committees and task forces, and the boards of our specialty and affinity groups. Gratitude, as well, for all the outstanding scholarship, service, and teaching that we are able to honor with our awards. All of this collective work does indeed defy a siege mentality and is deeply encouraging. Thank you.

Please note: The ideas expressed in the AAG President’s column are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. This column is traditionally a space in which the president may talk about their views or focus during their tenure as president of AAG, or spotlight their areas of professional work. Please feel free to email the president directly at P.Ehrkamp@uky.edu to enable a constructive discussion.