2023 West Lakes Regional Division Meeting

The Department of Geography & GIS at DePaul University is hosting the conference at the DePaul University Conference Center in the heart of Chicago’s downtown (aka the Loop).

The West Lakes Division represents geography faculty, students, educators, practitioners, and professionals from the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

ABSTRACT GUIDELINES AND SUBMISSIONS

An abstract of no more than 250 words is required for everyone presenting a paper or poster at the conference and must be submitted using the online submission tool. Abstracts can only be submitted during or after registering for the conference. A student or faculty registration for at least one contributor to the presented work is required for the abstract to be accepted.

GUIDELINES

• Abstracts must be 250 words or less.
• Abstracts must describe the presentation’s purpose, methods, and conclusions.
• By submitting an abstract, you are granting the conference organizers permission to publish it in the abstract compilation and to disseminate it electronically.
• Do not include author names, contact information, affiliations in the body of the abstract.
• Do not use bulleted lists.
• Do not include formatting codes in your abstract (justification, line height/centering, margins, spacing, fonts, page centering/numbering, suppression or tabs, etc.).
• Keep in mind that your abstract will not be edited. You are responsible for any spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors.
• Be sure to include no more than FIVE keywords (see below).

Selecting Keywords

• Keywords may be compound (such as “political geography”).
• Do not use abbreviations.
• Should generally be nouns, not adverbs or adjectives.
• Keywords must be separated by a comma.

SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT

Upload abstracts for paper and poster presentations for the WLAAG Annual Meeting using the online abstract submission tool. Abstracts are due no later than September 29, 2023. The WLAAG Annual Meeting committee will review all submitted abstracts and publish a preliminary program shortly thereafter.

REGISTRATION

SCHEDULE & PROGRAM

SESSION TYPES

Presentations in the form of papers, panels, and posters are welcome. Presenters must be registered for the conference. Presentations will begin Friday morning October 20 and run through the Saturday morning October 21^st.

All sessions are 100 minutes in length.

Paper Sessions

Paper sessions will consist of five presentations with each presentation allotted 20 minutes (including questions and discussion). Special sessions are welcome. Organizers of special sessions should contact George White for coordination.

• 5 presentations per session
• 20 minutes per paper (time includes presentation and discussion)
• Presenters must furnish their own computers/laptops
• Digital projectors/AV equipment will be provided in each meeting room

Poster Sessions

Materials, both textual and visual, should be of professional quality and be clearly legible from a distance of four feet. Poster dimensions should be no larger than 48 inches in width and 36 inches in height. Neither poster width nor height may exceed 48 inches. Text should be limited to brief statements. Posters are exhibited for informal browsing with opportunities for discussion with authors.

Panels

Panels should be thematic and discussion focused. Panels should be capped at five to six participants.

Audiovisual Equipment

Rooms for paper sessions will be equipped with standard A/V equipment including screens or monitors, projectors, and A/V cables. Participants must provide their own computers and any specialized equipment or connectors necessary to connect to a standard A/V cable. Session chairs are strongly encouraged to bring a computer to the conference to support their speakers.

Special Needs

Poster or paper presenters with special needs or requiring non-standard audio/visual equipment should contact Alec Brownlow no later than September 20^th to make necessary arrangements.

STUDENT PAPER/POSTER COMPETITION

To be considered for an award, each student will need to register to attend their fall Regional Division meeting and submit their paper at that time. Awards will be presented at each Regional Division meeting.

• WLAAG Region Awards for Best Student Papers and Posters — Awards are given for Best Graduate Student Paper, Best Graduate Student Poster, Best Undergraduate Student Paper, and Best Undergraduate Student Poster. Award amounts for each competition are $100 for first place, $50 for second place, and $25 for third place, with the exception of the best graduate student and undergraduate student papers, who will receive the AAG Council Award (see below).
• AAG Council Awards for Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Papers at Regional Meeting — These awards are designed to encourage undergraduate and graduate student participation at AAG Regional Division meetings and support their attendance (in-person or virtual) at AAG Annual Meetings. Each awardee (one undergraduate and one graduate) will receive $1,000/each in funding for use towards the awardee’s registration and travel costs to the AAG Annual Meeting. More information coming soon!

FIELD TRIPS

Check back for updates as we add more trips and information!

The Historical Geography of Chicago’s South Loop

Leader: Dr. Euan Hague

Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood has long been at the heart of the city and as a result, its historical geography offers a fascinating insight into Chicago’s development, issues of racial segregation, politics and urban change. In this 2-mile walking tour, participants will have the opportunity to see and learn about sites associated with the 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn, Gilded Age Chicago, the Great Migration and the Blues, the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and 21st Century development of entertainment-led urban redevelopment.

The Subway Series: The History and Architecture of Chicago’s Unique Baseball Communities

Leader: Paul Sill)

We will begin at Wrigley Field, do a walking tour of the historic building and architecture and geography that shaped Wrigleyville, including the exterior of the ballpark.  Then hop the Red Line to Sox Park.  Walk the Bridgeport area and discuss the housing, history and architecture that has shaped that neighborhood, and the ballpark, ending with lunch at the Vienna Beef Factory Store at 3847 S. Morgan St.

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

Leader: Dr. Connie Johnston – more info forthcoming

SPECIAL ISSUE OF ijger

The International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research (IJGER, Editor-in-Chief Woonsup Choi) is an open-access, peer-reviewed international journal published by Korea-America Association for Geospatial and Environmental Sciences. IJGER provides a forum for discussion among researchers in all fields of geography, both human and physical, and environmental research that has an explicit spatial dimension (http://dc.uwm.edu/ijger/). It places particular emphasis on the development and applications of geospatial technologies, such as geographic information system, remote sensing, and spatial analysis.

The editors of IJGER invite submissions of papers to a special issue for the American Association of Geographers (AAG) West Lakes Regional Division. The special issue intends to be an outlet for manuscripts from the research presented at the 2023 meeting of the AAG West Lakes Regional Division. The special issue is expected to showcase the work of researchers in the region and enhance mutual understanding across a range of topics and methods.

Manuscripts should adhere to the IJGER Policies available at http://dc.uwm.edu/ijger/policies.html. Potential authors should first forward the title and the abstract submitted for the meeting to ijger.office@gmail.com by November 1, 2023. Authors will then be asked to submit complete manuscripts for peer review by February 1, 2024.

Tentative timeline

• November 1, 2023: Abstract submission due (a manuscript invitation will be made within a week from each submission)
• February 1, 2024: Manuscript submission due (submit via IJGER website at http://dc.uwm.edu/ijger)
• April 1, 2024: Editorial decision sent to authors
• May 1, 2024: Final revised paper submission due
• June 1, 2024: Final editorial decision sent to authors and subsequent publication

For inquiries, please email to ijger.office@gmail.com.

LODGING & Conference Venue

DePaul Loop Conference Center

The DePaul Conference Center is located on the 8^th Floor of the DePaul Center at Jackson Drive and State Street, in the heart of the Chicago Loop and within easy walking distance to many of Chicago’s major attractions, including Grant Park, Millenium Park and the Chicago ‘Bean’, Maggie Daley Park, the Chicago lakefront, the Art Institute of Chicago, Buckingham Fountain, Michigan Avenue and the Magnificent Mile, and the main branch of the Chicago Public Library.

The DePaul Center is within easy walking distance of the following Chicago L train stations: Adams & Wabash (Brown, Purple, Orange, Pink, and Green Lines);  Jackson (Blue and Red Lines); and Harold Washington Library/Van Buren (Brown, Purple, Orange, and Pink Lines).

Maps and Parking

Parking information coming soon.

Thanks to our SPONSORS

Thanks to our sponsors for their support towards this year’s conference.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

The WLAAG welcomes the support of sponsors at the following levels.

Sponsorship Levels

Platinum Sponsor — $1000

• Two complimentary registrations
• Recognition at banquet
• Logo on conference website
• Table for use at registration area 

Gold Sponsor — $500

• One complimentary registration
• Logo on conference website
• Table for use at registration area 

Silver Sponsor — $250

• Logo on conference website
• Signboard display at registration area

CONTACT uS

• Conference Coordinator — Alec Brownlow, Department of Geography & GIS, DePaul University
• Conference Support Staff – Sheila Sullivan (Department Administrator), Cassie Follett (GIS Coordinator)
• Sponsorship – Alec Brownlow or Aida Guhlincozzi (Department of Geography, University of Missouri)
• West Lakes Division Chair — Alec Brownlow, Department of Geography and GIS, DePaul University