GPRM Annual Meeting 2022

Thanks for a great meeting! We’ll see you next year for AAG-GPRM 2023, hosted by South Dakota State University.

The Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Denver hosted the 2022 AAG Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Division Annual Meeting on October 14-15, 2022. It was a successful in-person meeting held on the University of Denver campus. 

Nearly 200 active geographers and spatial scientists — including faculty, practitioners, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the states of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming —  participated in discussions about basic and applied research in the human, physical, and geospatial subfields of geography and related disciplines.

In addition to paper and poster sessions, a number of special events were planned including:

• Opening reception at the Hilton Garden Inn Denver Tech Center
• GPRM student social at a favored local establishment
• An invited presentation by Dr. Marilyn Raphael, President, American Association of Geographers
• Banquet and awards dinner included with registration
• Field trips exploring the physical geography of the Colorado High Plains and Front Range, the history of Red Rocks Park, and the cultural geography of the craft beer industry in Denver.
• Student paper and poster competitions, including GeoBowl

Abstract Guidelines and Submissions

An abstract 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 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 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 AAG-GPRM Annual Meeting using the Online Abstract Submission Tool. Abstracts are due no later than October 3, 2022. The AAG-GPRM Annual Meeting committee will review all submitted abstracts and publish a preliminary program shortly thereafter.

Registration

Includes Friday evening welcome reception, access to the conference and awards banquet on Saturday.

• $50 — students, K-12 educators, guests
• $170 — faculty/professionals

Schedule

Friday, October 14 — Field trips, Welcome reception

Saturday, October 15 — Paper/Poster Sessions, GeoBowl, awards banquet, keynote address

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Marilyn Raphael, President, American Association of Geographers

Session Types

Presentations in the form of papers or posters are welcome. Presenters must be registered for the conference. All presentations will take place on Saturday, October 15^th. 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 Helen Hazen 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

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 Mike Keables no later than October 1st to make necessary arrangements.

Field Trips — Friday, October 14

All field trips depart from the conference hotel. Participants should meet in the hotel lobby at the time indicated. Be sure to bring a water bottle, hat, and be prepared for abrupt changes in weather conditions.

• Grasslands to Tundra: The Physical Geography of the High Plains and Colorado Front Range. Steve Hick and Don Sullivan, University of Denver.
  Friday, October 14, 2022, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
  Join your hosts on a day-long transect of the Front Range of Colorado from the grasslands of the High Plains to Subalpine forests, and weather permitting, the Alpine. We will travel by van and make several stops as we follow Bear Creek upstream. We will start our tour at iconic Red Rocks Park and work our way west climbing out of the plains and exploring conifer forests and wildflower meadows. We will visit the University of Denver Field Station and High-Altitude Lab and hike around Echo Lake. Above Echo Lake we enter the alpine tundra, with several stops to observe the flora and fauna of the alpine. We will complete the tour with a stop at Summit Lake, an alpine glacial lake above tree line and, weather permitting, continue our drive to the summit of Mt. Evans at 14,264’ above sea level. Participants should bring a water bottle and appropriate outerwear as temperatures vary greatly along the transect, especially while on Mt. Evans.
  Cost per person: $40 (includes transportation and lunch)
  Note: Participants will experience up to 9,000 ft. change in elevation.
  Limit: 22 people

• Building and Exploring the World-Famous Red Rocks Amphitheater. Paul Sutton, University of Denver.
  Friday, October 14, 2022, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
  We will take a tour of the one the best-preserved Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps established during the Roosevelt administration. This is where mostly young men lived while working on the building of the Red Rocks Amphitheater during the depression. We will then proceed to the Red Rocks Amphitheater and explore the amazing handiwork of those CCC workers of years gone by and reminisce about the bands and concerts we attended or just missed out on.
  Cost per person: $10
  Limit: 14 people 

• From Warehouses to Brewhouses: Revitalization with Craft Beer in the RiNo Arts District. Kris Kuzera and Erika Trigoso, University of Denver.
  Friday, October 14, 2020, 2:00-6:00 PM
  Over a decade ago, an industrialized sector near downtown Denver began revitalizing into the RiNo Arts District. Newly-transformed spaces became ideal locations for startup craft breweries, to which there are now more than a dozen locally. RiNo has become a destination for beer tourism in a city already known for craft beer. Some of Colorado’s most recognizable breweries have also recently found a second home here. This walking tour will visit some of the most influential breweries in RiNo. We will explore varieties of style, scale, and space within this community, all while sampling some of the best craft beer in Colorado.
  Cost per person: Free (participants are responsible for purchasing a $10.50 RTD Day Pass as well as the cost of beverages at each stop).
  Note: This is a walking tour.
  Limit: 15 people

GeoBowl

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.

• GPRM 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.

Photography in the Field

Do you have a stunning photograph from the field or that represents your work as a geographer? If so, please submit it to the AAG-GPRM 2022 photo competition! Photos will be assessed in three categories:

1. Fieldwork — any image of your field activities, or your students, colleagues, or collaborators working in the field
2. Landscape — natural or built landscapes
3. Working in geography — any other images that represent your work in geography are welcomed in this third category

NOTE: Please ensure that you have permission to use images of any people that feature in your photos.

Photos will be judged by a panel of University of Denver faculty and students and the best photos will be displayed during the conference.

Each conference participant may submit up to three photos. Images must be submitted in .jpeg format. Send submissions to Helen Hazen by no later than September 30, 2022.

Sponsors

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

Lodging

Hilton Garden Inn

Denver Tech Center (DTC), 7675 E. Union Ave, Denver, CO 80237, 303-770-4200.

A block of rooms has been reserved for October 14-15 at a rate of $119/night plus taxes and fees. Reservations must be placed by October 1 to receive conference rate.

Other Denver Tech Center hotel options include Marriott, Hyatt Regency, Hampton Inn. There are also hotels closer to campus but without convenient access to light rail (see transportation below).

Transportation

Getting to AAG-GPRM 2022: Hilton Garden Inn Denver Tech Center

From Denver International Airport (DEN)

If traveling by air, the most sustainable and cost-effective method to get from Denver International Airport (DIA) to the hotel is via the Regional Transportation District (RTD) light rail system.  From the airport, take the A Line train to Peoria Station, then transfer to the R Line train to Belleview Station. The hotel is a 5-10 minute walk from the light rail station. Fare: $10.50. Taxi service and ride share options are also widely available. Taxi service from DIA to the DTC is a flat rate of $57.00 + $5.03 gate fee. Typical ride share fares from DIA to the hotel are $30 or higher, depending on type of service/vehicle.

By Vehicle

• From the north: Take I-25 South to Exit 199 (Belleview Avenue). Turn left on Belleview Ave and take the next left on to Syracuse St. Follow Syracuse 0.4 mi to the roundabout to East Technology Way. Entrance to the hotel parking lot is on the left.
• From the south: Take I-25 North to Exit 199 (Belleview Avenue). Turn right on Belleview Ave and take the next left on to Syracuse St. Follow Syracuse 0.4 mi to the roundabout to East Technology Way. Entrance to the hotel parking lot is on the left.
• From the east or west: Take I-70, I-76 or I-80 to I-25 South. Continue on I-25 South to Exit 199 (Belleview Avenue). Turn left on Belleview Ave and take the next left on to Syracuse St. Follow Syracuse 0.4 mi to the roundabout to East Technology Way. Entrance to the hotel parking lot is on the left.

Getting to AAG-GPRM 2022: University of Denver, Sturm Hall

• RTD Light Rail – The most sustainable and cost-effective way to get to the DU campus from the Hilton Garden Inn DTC is via the RTD light rail. Fares may be purchased per trip, although the RTD Day Pass provides unlimited access to rail and bus travel .
• The Belleview Station is located within walking distance of the hotel. From the hotel, head west on Union Ave. Elevator/stair access to the RTD Belleview Station is just west of the I-25 overpass.
• Take the E Line train (Union Station) to the University of Denver Station. Trains run every 15 mins; travel time to DU is about 10 mins. Sturm Hall is a 5-10 minute walk from the University of Denver Station — follow the signs to the venue. Light Rail system map available here.  E Line schedule available here.
• By Vehicle. From the hotel, take I-25 North to Exit 205 (University Blvd). Turn left on University Blvd to Asbury St. Turn right on Asbury St. Sturm Hall is located on the left side of Asbury St. opposite the tennis courts. Parking near the DU campus is limited to street parking (difficult to obtain when the university is in session) and in select parking lots for an hourly fee (time limits apply) — details available here. Sturm Hall street address: 2030 S. Race St, Denver, 80210.

Participants in need of mobility accommodations should contact Patricia Guerra. 

Note: The conference venue is Sturm Hall (not the Sturm College of Law).

Maps

COVID-19 Considerations

Conference events will comply with all University and City and County of Denver COVID-19 guidelines. Currently there are no restrictions regarding in-person events, and we are planning on holding all events in person this fall.

AAG Childcare Subsidy Program

The AAG provides limited reimbursement to registered conference attendees to subsidize part of the necessary childcare expenses incurred during the meeting at a licensed childcare agency/provider up to a maximum of $150.

Reimbursement forms should be submitted to the conference chairs after the regional meeting along with original receipts that clearly show the hourly or daily rate and the number of hours for each day. The regional chairs will forward these materials to the AAG who will process each request and issue a check that will be mailed to you.

Total subsidy is limited to $150 per family. Reimbursement is only available for childcare on-site at the Denver meeting. No reimbursement is made for childcare at your home while you are attending the conference or for childcare provided by anyone other than a licensed childcare agency/provider. All childcare arrangements should be made by the individual attendee.

The AAG and its regional divisions do not endorse, recommend, or promote any one agency. Responsibility for selection and investigation of an agency’s or provider’s credentials is the sole responsibility of the child’s parent or guardian.

Download and complete the childcare subsidy form which includes information about how to contact agencies in the Albuquerque area. Attach original receipts to this form and mail to the following address to begin the reimbursement process:

AAG-GPRM 2022 Childcare Subsidy Program
Department of Geography and the Environment
University of Denver
2050 E. Iliff Avenue
Denver, CO 80208

Find a Licensed Childcare Provider

Visit Colorado Shines for assistance locating childcare or call toll free 877-338-2273 to request a list of childcare facilities in the Denver area. The online information system is a tool to support families in making informed childcare choices and can be used to review compliance history of a current or potential childcare provider. The Colorado Department of Human Services maintains inspected results for licensed childcare facilities in Colorado.

Land Acknowledgement Statement

We would like to acknowledge that the University of Denver resides on land held in stewardship by the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. We recognize the descendant communities of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, and the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma who were forcibly removed from this land. We also acknowledge the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, which are the only two federally recognized tribes in Colorado.

Today, Denver is home to many different citizens of Indigenous nations and we recognize their enduring presence on this land by paying respects to their elders, both past and present. Please take a moment to consider the legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and resettlement that bring us together today and please join us in uncovering such truths at all public events. It is because of the sacrifices and hardships of the traditional Indigenous inhabitants of this land that we are able to be here to learn, collaborate, and share knowledge.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Meeting Overview

The 2022 Meeting of the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) is expected to draw an enthusiastic group of 200+ active geographers, including faculty, practitioners, graduate students, and undergraduate students, from Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Sponsor support will enhance our meeting by connecting geographers to related organizations and their goods and services. All funds generated by sponsorships are used to offset participant registration costs which, in turn, promotes even higher meeting attendance.

Date and Location: October 14-15 at the University of Denver.

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

Contacts

• Conference Coordinator — Mike Keables
• Field Trips
  • Grasslands to Tundra: The Physical Geography of the High Plains and Colorado Front Range — Steve Hick, Don Sullivan
  • Building and Exploring the World-Famous Red Rocks Amphitheater – Paul Sutton
  • From Warehouses to Brewhouses: Revitalization with Craft Beer in the RiNo Arts District — Kris Kuzera, Erika Trigoso
• Food/Beverage — Patricia Guerra
• GeoBowl — Erika Trigoso
• Student Paper Competitions — Mike Keables
• Paper and Poster Session information — Helen Hazen
• Student Paper/Poster Competitions — Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong
• Photo Competition — Helen Hazen
• GPRM Regional Chair — Mike Keables, Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Denver