Newsletters

Newsletter – July 2021

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Moving Forward on Climate Change and Professional Ethics

By Emily Yeh

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A few weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that atmospheric CO2 concentrations, at 419 ppm, have now reached 150% of their pre-industrial levels – the highest in more than four million years, when sea levels were about 24 meters higher, the global average surface temperature almost 4ºC warmer than today, and the first modern humans had more than three million years yet to appear on earth.   The world-historical COVID-19 pandemic, still wreaking havoc across the mostly unvaccinated globe, temporarily decreased emissions, but not enough to be detectable in rising atmospheric CO2 levels. NOAA has recently defined new “normal” temperatures that are significantly higher than those in the past.

Continue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

New York City to host 2022 AAG Annual Meeting

Statue of Liberty National Monument and NYC skyline

Mark your calendar for the AAG Annual Meeting in the Big Apple, February 25 – March 1, 2022. The hybrid meeting will take place both online and at the NY Hilton Midtown and the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. Registration and the call for papers for #AAG2022 will be announced this summer and we invite you to organize and participate in sessions, workshops, field trips, special events, and activities. We look forward to seeing you in New York City!

PUBLICATIONS

NEW Annals Alert: Articles with topics ranging from foreign domestic workers to subprime auto loans to the Belt and Road initiative

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The most recent issue of the Annals of the AAG has been published online (Volume 111, Issue 5) with a special 7 article section on Reproducibility and 13 new articles on contemporary geographic research. The Reproducibility and Replicability Forum includes an introduction plus articles focusing on the Hartshorne–Schaefer debate; critical human geography; data streams; challenges to reproducibility; GIS and algorithms; and data ethics. Remaining article topics in this issue include imperialism and the Vietnam War; supercell climatology; familiar strangers and crime prevention; farming training programs; tourist mobilities; postcolonial air pollution; cuerpo-territorio; and natural hazard modeling. Locational areas of interest include Hong Kong; Los Angeles; Singapore; western China; and Beijing.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of the Annals through the Members Only page.

Each issue, the Editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Reproducibility and Replicability in the Context of the Contested Identities of Geography by Daniel Sui and Peter Kedron for free for the next two months.

Questions about the Annals? Contact annals [at] aag [dot] org.

Journals-newsletter-100-6In addition to the most recently published journal, read the latest issue of the other AAG journals online:

• Annals of the American Association of Geographers
• The Professional Geographer
• GeoHumanities
• The AAG Review of Books

New issue of African Geographical Review

African-Geographical-Review-cvr-212x300-2The latest issue of the journal of the Africa Specialty Group of the AAG, the African Geographical Review, has recently been published. Volume 40, Issue 2 is available online for subscribers and members of the Africa Specialty Group. The issue includes six new articles covering research in all fields of geography, including human, nature – society, physical and the techniques, to promote better representation of African scholarship, and to facilitate lively academic conversations regarding the African continent.

See the latest issue of the journal.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

AAG Welcomes New Editor of Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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The AAG is pleased to announce Brian King has joined the Annals of the American Association of Geographers editorial team as an editor. A professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the Pennsylvania State, King served on the Editorial Board of the Annals from 2016-2019. His research, teaching, and outreach focuses on livelihoods, conservation and development, environmental change, and human health, centering on Southern Africa. King will serve in the capacity of co-editor through December 31, 2023.

Learn more about Dr. King.

Nominate Colleagues for AAG Honors and AAG Fellows

Please consider nominating outstanding colleagues for the AAG Honors, the highest awards offered by the American Association of Geographers, and the AAG Fellows, a program recognizing both later-career and early/mid-career geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography. Individual AAG members, specialty groups, affinity groups, departments, and other interested parties are encouraged to nominate outstanding colleagues following the newly revised submission guidelines. Deadlines for nominations will be September 15th.

More information about AAG Honors 

More information about AAG Fellows

Nominate Inspiring Geographers: September Awards Deadlines

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AAG Grants and Awards make a huge impact on our community of Geographers and help maintain the legacy of geographers of the past while paying tribute to geographers thriving right now. Deadlines are already approaching starting in September. Don’t miss your opportunity to apply or nominate someone deserving! Learn more about the following grants and awards before their due dates:
Sept. 15: AAG Enhancing Diversity Award and AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award
Sept. 22: AAG Nystrom Award for Recent Dissertations

Sept. 30: AAG Program Excellence Award – masters-granting programs

AAG Welcomes 2021 Summer Interns

2021-AAG-Summer-Interns-300x169The AAG is excited to welcome two new interns coming aboard our staff for the Summer of 2021! Joining us this summer are Eliana Peretz, a senior at Mount Holyoke College pursuing a B.A. in Geography and Gender Studies, and Jacob Tafrate, a senior at the George Washington University pursuing degrees in Geography and International affairs, with a minor in Geographic Information Systems.

Meet the summer interns.

AAG Membership Database Improvement Begins Soon

The AAG is upgrading its membership database to provide new and improved services for you. This will require some planned downtimes, during which AAG members will be unable to log into accounts, access communities or process transactions. For now, everything continues to work as usual, and we’ve created the following page to provide status updates and information on how to address your needs as we make the transition. We appreciate your patience as we complete this upgrade. In the meantime, to join, renew, donate, or ask questions, please email membership [at] aag [dot] org or call us at 202-234-1450.

Note: Once the new database is online, all members will need to create a new login and password. We’ll provide prompts and instructions for this simple change.

POLICY CORNER

Senate Passes Sweeping U.S. Competitiveness Legislation, Includes Endless Frontier Act

US_Capitol

The following update comes from our colleagues at the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)

On June 8, the Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) (S. 1260). The 2,300 page bill was originally introduced in the spring as the Endless Frontier Act, which sought to shore up U.S. leadership in key technology areas—specifically with respect to China—and to enhance “tech transfer” for scientific research funded by the federal government. Since then, hundreds of amendments have been offered, resulting in a substantially altered package that now incorporates several additional, far-reaching bills.

The original proposal authorized $100 billion over five years specifically for a new Technology and Innovation Directorate at the National Science Foundation. The Senate-passed version now includes a total of $29 billion over five years for the directorate and also includes authorized funding increases for NSF’s budget overall (the original bill only included funding for the new directorate, which concerned many in the research community). The substantial decrease in funding to the proposed directorate is the result of several successful amendments seeking to more widely distribute funding to other federal agencies with missions related to key technological advancement, particularly the Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Department of Defense. The massive USICA bill now includes provisions pertaining to NSF, DOE, DOD, Department of Education, Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and others.

The NSF provisions of the USICA attempt to bridge some of the divide between the Senate proposal and the NSF for the Future Act that is currently working its way through the House (see related article). For example, the amended Senate bill includes similar language related to research capacity building for “developing universities,” including minority-serving institutions, promoting STEM education in rural areas, and supporting early-career researchers, among other provisions. However, the two bills remain far apart in their general handling of NSF funding and policy directions. It remains to be seen whether a conference between the House and Senate will be attempted or if another path forward will emerge.

In the News:

  • The AAG is planning a series of state-level panels to encourage geographers to get involved in the 2021 redistricting process, and we need your help. An honorarium will be offered to geographers who organize a panel in their state this fall. To get involved or simply learn more, please reach out to Michelle Kinzer, mkinzer [at] aag [dot] org or visit http://www.aag.org/Redistricting.
MEMBER NEWS

July Member Updates

The latest news about AAG Members. 

Dr. Alexandra Ponette-González has been selected to serve as a charter member to the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), a part of the Environmental Protection Agency. Ponette-González is an associate professor and ecosystem geographer in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of North Texas. The CASAC members will advise on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Learn more about the committee and about Dr. Ponette-González.

Dr. Allen Scott, economic geographer at UCLA, was awarded an honorary degree at the University of Toronto for his work in understanding globalization and the creative economy. Scott gave an address at the 2021 University of Toronto commencement ceremony. View the recording.

Dr. Dee Jordan was recently interviewed by WKAR, the public media affiliate from Michigan State University, for their Curious about Careers children’s segment. Jordan spoke about health geographies in sub-saharan Africa. Watch the video on Twitter or Facebook.

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

YouthMappers and AGS “Everywhere She Maps” Internship Program

YouthMappers, in partnership with the American Geographical Society, has launched a new initiative to advance global gender equity in the geospatial and tech industries, inviting the partnership of other institutions and organizations through the Everywhere She Maps Internship Match Program.

The program aims to match qualified YouthMappers students who identify as women and/or non-binary with internship opportunities where they can develop professionally and strengthen their skills as they help their host organization achieve its goals. Learn more about how to hire an intern for your organization here, and contact the program director, Courtney Clark, at cclark [at] americangeo [dot] org with questions or to register.

IN MEMORIAM

Saul B, Cohen, passed away on June 9, 2021. The former Executive Director of the American Association of Geographers, is remembered for his influential work in political geography and for his time as President of Queens College. As a geographer Cohen published 16 books and was a leading expert in human geography. During his time as Queens he is remembered for improving academic standards and minority enrollment in the CUNY system. Read more.

GEOGRAPHERS IN THE NEWS
  • We should talk about ‘deepfake geography’: fake AI-generated satellite images, ZME Science, June 9, 2021. Continued coverage of University of Washington geography professor Bo Zhao’s work in testing the capabilities of AI-generated satellite imagery.  Zhao and his team are investigating this issue with the intention of learning how to detect faked imagery for the purposes of fact checking maps in the future.
  • Mapping two and a half million guitars – Conversations, ABC Radio, June 29, 2021. Chris Gibson, a Senior Professor of Human Geography at the University of Wollongong in Australia discusses his book The Guitar: Tracing the Grain Back to the Tree, which he wrote with fellow geographer Andrew Warren.  The book delves into the cultural and geographic significance of guitar production by tracing the creation of guitars both in origin and supply.  He goes in depth on the rare timbers and efforts for sustainability that make the guitar industry unique.
  • The mysterious case of an island that ‘vanished’ in the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico News Daily, June 28, 2021. Geographer and island specialist Israel Baxin Martínez discusses the economic significance of the apparent disappearance of Isla Bermeja, recorded by cartographers in 1539 and seemingly dematerialized by 2008 when the United States and Mexico negotiated drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Journals

AAG Welcomes New Annals Editor

Brian King has been named a co-editor of Human Geography and Nature & Society for The Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 

King is a professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the Pennsylvania State. His research, teaching, and outreach focus on livelihoods, conservation and development, environmental change, and human health, centering on Southern Africa. More recently, his laboratory group (HELIX: Health and Environment Landscapes for Interdisciplinary eXchange) is examining how COVID-19 is transforming the US opioid epidemic. Beyond the university, his affiliations span numerous departments at Penn State and other institutions. At Penn State, he is a Faculty Research Associate with the Population Research Institute, Research Affiliate with the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, and Faculty Affiliate with the School of International Affairs and Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse. King is also an Honorary Research Associate with the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town and was selected as a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow in 2017.

King served on the Editorial Board of the Annals from 2016-2019, as well as on the Editorial Boards of African Geographical Review since 2019 and of Geoforum since 2014. His book States of Disease: Political Environments and Human Health (University of California Press, 2017) received the Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award, and was reviewed in April 2019 in The AAG Review of Books. An active member of several AAG Specialty Groups, including the Cultural and Political Ecology and Development Geographies specialty groups, he has also served in leadership roles, including successive terms as Director, Vice Chair, and Chair of the Developing Areas Specialty Group (which changed its name to Development Geographies in 2008).

King joins Human Geography editor Kendra Strauss of Simon Fraser University and Nature & Society Editor Katie Meehan of King’s College London to respond to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including an increase in manuscript submissions and a decrease in reviewer availability. He will also support the editors’ ability to devote additional attention to upcoming special issues of the Annals. He will serve in the capacity of co-editor through December 31, 2023.

 

 

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President's Column

Moving Forward on Climate Change and Professional Ethics

A few weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that atmospheric CO2 concentrations, at 419 ppm, have now reached 150% of their pre-industrial levels – the highest in more than four million years, when sea levels were about 24 meters higher, the global average surface temperature almost 4ºC warmer than today, and the first modern humans had more than three million years yet to appear on earth.   The world-historical COVID-19 pandemic, still wreaking havoc across the mostly unvaccinated globe, temporarily decreased emissions, but not enough to be detectable in rising atmospheric CO2 levels. NOAA has recently defined new “normal” temperatures that are significantly higher than those in the past.  

As I write, a hazardous and extreme heat wave has gripped the Southwestern US, stretching power grids to their limits and threatening heat deaths. The entire Western United States is also in the throes of a severe drought that is expected to last all summer.  Indeed, global warming has contributed significantly to changing what would have otherwise been a moderate drought in the Southwestern US into a megadrought worse than has been seen for almost a millennium. This year, drought is predicted to lead to another ruinous, record-breaking fire season, on the heels of nightmarish 2020 fire season in the Western US – and around the world. It is also affecting access to safe drinking water and forcing farmers to make difficult decisions about what crops to keep, which will likely lead to higher food prices. 

None of this is news to geographers, so why start my first column as AAG president with a reminder of the ongoing climate devastation?  There are several reasons, beyond my embodied experience of consecutive days of record-shattering heat in my home state of Colorado. (These days, my kids and I have taken to sleeping in a tent on our back porch – itself a privilege.)  First, geographers have been at the forefront of research on climate change, adaptation, resilience, and climate justice, but our research as geographers is often not acknowledged in the press or known to the public; this is relevant to the visibility, and ultimately health, of the discipline. Second, climate change is one of four primary policy campaigns that AAG will be undertaking over the next 1-2 years. Through the release of the new AAG website, expected later in 2021, geographers will be able to more easily engage with legislation and policy related to climate change.   

Third, I want to use this opportunity to highlight the work of the Climate Action Task Force, which has been led by Professor Wendy Jepson and which I joined in 2020.  As a reminder, this task force was formed by Council to undertake the task of realizing the goals of a 2019 member petition: to reduce CO2 emissions related to the Annual Meeting commensurate with what the IPCC states is needed to limit warming to 1.5 C  — that is, a 45% reduction (from 2010 levels) by 2030.  In doing so, the Task Force is seeking ways to position AAG as a leader and model of how large organizations can respond to climate change in a manner that both meets the needs of their members and is environmentally and socially just.   

A 45% reduction is not a trivial change; it’s not a tweak around the margins of business as usual. Achieving this goal would mean a radical transformation in how the AAG stays financially solvent, and perhaps how we form our identities as geographers.  As such, AAG can only move forward through extensive member participation and dialogue about what this means and how we might get from here to there.  These conversations have already begun. At the virtual meeting this spring, the Task Force hosted a collaborative keynote panel of anthropologists who shared their creative and inspiring reflections and experiences on climate-friendly and accessible conferencing, as well as two roundtables of dialogue amongst geographers representing different types of institutions, career stages, and social identities to consider the meaning of annual in-person meetings to their careers, and share ideas for future formats that would be less carbon intensive and yet meet geographers’ needs.   

Going forward, The Professional Geographer will soon publish a Focus Section that presents a variety of perspectives on low-carbon annual meetings.  The Climate Action Task Force is looking forward to community commentary on these contributions and further brainstorming through the new AAG website.  Looking down the road, AAG will also be performing a financial analysis of different future meeting models, working collaboratively with the AAG Regions on a climate-forward initiative, encouraging the formation of meeting nodes, and further soliciting all members’ input through a survey.  I will revisit these important issues in future columns.  

* * * 

If AAG action on climate change has seemed a long time coming to some members, so too has an update of the AAG Statement on Professional Ethics, last revised more than a decade ago, in 2009, long before the implementation of the Professional Conduct Policy. Indeed, graduate students have recently argued that it is outdated, too long, confusing, and falls short of providing clear guidance, especially compared to those of other scholarly organizations.  I am happy to share, therefore, that at its Spring 2021 meeting, AAG Council unanimously approved a revised Statement on Professional Ethics, which can be accessed here. AAG will soon make it readily available for review whenever a member joins or renews, and during the Annual Meeting registration process. 

The impetus for this came from the report of the AAG Geography and Military Study Committee, which was formed in 2017 by AAG Council in response to a member petition calling on the AAG to study the engagement of Geography with US military and intelligence communities vis-à-vis safety, labor demand, curriculum, academic freedom, and ethics, and to offer concrete recommendations based on its report.  Both the Report and the timing of the resulting process have subsequently been subject to critique.  What I want to focus on here, though, are several of the Report’s recommendations that Council voted in Fall 2020 to accept, including: 

 

Revise the AAG code of ethics statement and policy as it relates to the ethical issues that may arise from military-funded research. This should include comparing the AAG statement (current and proposed) with the codes of ethics related to research developed by other disciplines such as the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as the Department of Defense (DoD) statement of ethics as it relates to research. 

 

and 

 

Update and revise the AAG Statement on Professional Ethics (every few years). With new and revised updates, encourage members of the association to read them as part of the membership renewal and meeting registration processes. 

 

In response to this Report, Council also approved the formation of an implementation committee, which I chaired, to update the ethics statement.   

The committee began its work by consulting other professional organizations’ statements of ethics and, based on those models, revised the 2009 Statement to focus on practical and easily memorable principles and actions.  The committee also integrated references to the 2020 Professional Conduct Policy, removed discussion of issues regulated elsewhere (such as regarding the confidentiality of student grades), updated the language regarding new technologies, and explicitly mentioned the ethics of geographers’ engagements with the military, intelligence, security, policing and warfare where specifically relevant, but with an eye toward a Statement broad enough to cover all ethical obligations. It was a significant undertaking conducted over a short period of time, and I want to sincerely thank the committee members for putting in so much, and such thoughtful, time and effort to this task: Council member Richard Kujawa (Saint Michael’s College), Sue Roberts (UKY), Reuben Rose-Redwood (UVic), and former AAG president Eric Sheppard (UCLA). 

Of course, no Statement of Ethics is ever final or perfect, especially as ethics themselves are not a matter that can be settled once and for all. Thus, the AAG should become proactively engaged with the question of ethics, on an ongoing basis. This is already starting to happen, not only with plans for Council to revisit and update the Statement every three years, but also with the ongoing GeoEthics Webinar Series, a partnership between AAG, Esri, and the Center for Spatial Studies at UC-Santa Barbara. Once the AAG’s new website is up and running, we hope to offer a list of links and publications on ethics and geography, and provide a space for feedback for all AAG members, including reactions to the Ethics statement, additional resources, and other discussion. 

If ethics are, in part, about doing no harm, then a commitment to act to reduce the future harms of climate change is one in accordance with our stated ethical principles.  I also want to point out that both the new Statement on Professional Ethics and the work of the Climate Change Task Force are ultimately the results of member petitions to Council.  Both petitions have sparked concrete actions that are moving the AAG forward in a positive direction toward addressing the pressing challenges facing the earth and its peoples in the 21st century.   

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0094

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 emily [dot] yeh [at] colorado [dot] edu to enable a constructive discussion. 

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Newsletters

Newsletter – June 2021

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

On Teaching, Time Management, Mentoring, and Service

By Amy Lobben

drew-beamer-Vc1pJfvoQvY-unsplash-300x200-1With summer almost here, I’m about to head into my last year as an academic. I’m “retiring” June 2022, although in truth I’ll work full time running my family’s winery and nonprofit, both built around the mission of providing training, jobs, and community for those with disabilities. As I transition from academics, Andrew and I are encountering many things we didn’t know were part of running a small business. This transition has prompted me to reflect on my transition from student to faculty member and, in turn, on how we prepare our graduate students for major life and career transitions.

Continue Reading.

FROM THE MERIDIAN

Perspectives: A New Column in the AAG Newsletter

By Gary Langham

In May, we introduced a new column to the AAG Newsletter called Perspectives, replacing AAG’s former Op-Ed feature. Perspectives will share the opinions and ideas of members on issues of relevance to geography. We encourage submissions that stimulate dialogue, get members thinking, and challenge our discipline to take new approaches to the social, political, and environmental issues confronting geographers and the public.

Continue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

New York City to host 2022 AAG Annual Meeting

Statue of Liberty National Monument and NYC skyline

Mark your calendar for the AAG Annual Meeting in the Big Apple, February 25 – March 1, 2022. The hybrid meeting will take place both online and at the NY Hilton Midtown and the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. Registration and the call for papers for #AAG2022 will be announced this summer and we invite you to organize and participate in sessions, workshops, field trips, special events, and activities. We look forward to seeing you in New York City!

PUBLICATIONS

NEW Annals Alert: Articles with topics ranging from the 2016 U.S. presidential election to meteorological data in the Antarctic

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The most recent issue of the Annals of the AAG has been published online (Volume 111, Issue 4) with 17 new articles on contemporary geographic research plus one commentary on social vulnerability models and a related response. Topics in this issue include location spoofing at Standing Rock; biodiversity and coffee plantations; postremoval of Mexican deportees; WWII geographies; geography’s involvement with the military; the Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS Institute; Dollar Stores; and distance in geographical analysis. Locational areas of interest include Cambodia; Bangladesh; Ecuador; the North Antarctic Peninsula; and Jakarta. Authors are from a variety of research institutions including University of Colombo; University of Texas – Austin; University College Dublin; and Central China Normal University.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of the Annals through the Members Only page. Each issue, the Editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read On Geography and War: New Perspectives on the Ardennes Campaigns of 1940 and 1944 by Stephan Harrison and David G. Passmore for free for the next two months.

Questions about the Annals? Contact annals [at] aag [dot] org.

Journals-newsletter-100In addition to the most recently published journal, read the latest issue of the other AAG journals online:

• Annals of the American Association of Geographers
• The Professional Geographer
• GeoHumanities
• The AAG Review of Books

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Get a Glimpse of AAG’s New Website

Web-redesign-reveal-1200x675-1-300x169During our virtual annual meeting, we gave a sneak peek of our new website currently in the design process. If you missed the session or weren’t able to attend the conference, you still have a chance to see the recording. Our website agency, Free Range, revealed some of the exciting changes in store for this completely accessible, innovative, and mobile friendly website launching later this spring. Please send us your questions and thoughts at feedback [at] aag [dot] org. We’d love to hear from you! View the recording.

We are also looking for some fresh taglines to appear on the new AAG website when it launches this summer! What does AAG mean to you in a few words? Submit your suggestion here.

Prepare to Nominate Colleagues for AAG Honors

awards_hi-res-300x160Please consider nominating outstanding colleagues for the AAG Honors, the highest awards offered by the American Association of Geographers. Individual AAG members, specialty groups, affinity groups, departments, and other interested parties are encouraged to nominate outstanding colleagues. Deadlines for nominations will be later this year – on September 15th. The new nomination portal will be open for nominations starting later this summer.

More information about AAG Honors

Symposium on COVID-19’s Impacts

On June 22-25, AAG will co-sponsor a symposium on COVID-19’s second-order impacts on cities throughout the world. Register to find out more about the Cities’ COVID Mitigation Mapping (C2M2) program, a program of the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues at the U.S. Department of State through its MapGive open mapping initiative. Join C2M2, AAG, and Harvard University’s Center for Geographic Analysis to hear from experts at the forefront of monitoring the pandemic, producing critical data on local economies, and providing an understanding of critical needs for societies to adapt to the conditions imposed by pandemic strategies, seen through the lenses of migration, livelihoods, and gender. Registration is now open. This symposium is free and open to the public. Find out more and reserve your place here. 

For more information about the Cities’ COVID Mitigation Mapping (C2M2) program, please go to mapgive.state.gov/c2m2. To RSVP to the June 22-25 Symposium, visit this link.

Open Plenaries during this Week’s AAG GFDA Workshops

The AAG is pleased to announce the return of the Geography Faculty Development Alliance (GFDA) Department Leadership workshop this week. Two of the virtual plenary sessions will be FREE to all interested parties.

Thursday, June 3 from 2:30-3:45pm ET the Women in leadership in geography panel will include perspectives from Kavita Pandit, Georgia State University; Marilyn Raphael, University of California Los Angeles; Joanna Regulska, University of California Davis; and Emily Ting Yeh, University of Colorado at Boulder and AAG President. Register here.

Saturday, June 5 from 1:00-2:15pm ET the Visioning and leading for an inclusive future panel invites contributions from Jacqueline Housel, Sinclair Community College; Adriana Martinez, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville; Rashad Shabazz, Arizona State University; Shaowen Wang, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana; and moderated by Gary Langham, Executive Director of AAG. Register here.

POLICY CORNER

Pennsylvania State Bill Threatens Geographers’ Work

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A bill is moving through the Pennsylvania General Assembly that threatens work opportunities for geospatial professionals in the state, and has been described by others in the geospatial community as a “solution without a problem.” HB609 attempts to provide further definitions for licensing and surveying by encompassing a wide array of mapping activities, including broadly-characterized geospatial data collection that has been successfully done by skilled and trained GIS and mapping professionals for years. If passed, this bill will exclude from market opportunities professional geographers, GIS practitioners and geospatial technology businesses, both large and small, unless they opt to acquire a surveying license.

When property boundaries are called into question, those in our community appreciate and understand the necessary work of land surveyors. But this overreaching piece of legislation fails to acknowledge the innovative, high-quality work done by geographers and GIS practitioners far outside the realm of land surveying. The AAG will continue to track this critical issue in PA, and will monitor for similar bills in other states. Click here to learn more about the bill and how you can get involved.

In the News:

  • The AAG is planning a series of state-level panels to encourage geographers to get involved in the 2021 redistricting process, and we need your help. To get involved or simply learn more, please reach out to Michelle Kinzer, mkinzer [at] aag [dot] org.
  • During the May 20-21 meeting of the Council of Councils at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a Working Group on Basic Behavioral and Social Science Research (bBSSR) presented a report analyzing past support for basic research on behavioral and social phenomena related to health and areas ripe for additional study.
  • On May 17, the House of Representatives approved a group of bills introduced in the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee that aim to make the U.S. science enterprise more equitable, safe, and fair. Four bills, the Supporting Early-Career Researchers Act (H.R. 144), the STEM Opportunities Act (H.R. 204), the MSI STEM Achievement Act (H.R. 2027), and the Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science Act (H.R. 2695) were introduced by Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson and were endorsed by COSSA.
MEMBER NEWS

Profiles of Professional Geographers

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Daniel Cole began his career as a research cartographer at the National Museum of Natural History. Today he is the GIS Coordinator & Chief Cartographer at the Smithsonian Institution and oversees over 400 GIS and Storymap users and developers working on scientific projects. Cole recommends geographers not only develop good cartographic design skills for public communication, but also that students take courses in related fields of interest such as conservation, anthropology, or computer science to best be able to jump in on cartographic projects in other fields.

Learn more about Geography Careers on the recently updated AAG Jobs & Careers website.

June Member Updates

The latest news about AAG Members. 

Mark Monmonier has received the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award from Syracuse University. Monmonier, known best for “How to Lie with Maps,” retired from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University this May. More.

Craig E. Colten, Carl O. Sauer Professor in Louisiana State University’s Department of Geography & Anthropology, was granted the prestigious Senior Scholar Rainmaker Award winner for 2020 from Louisiana State University. The Rainmaker Awards are given each year to faculty who have demonstrated outstanding research, scholarship, and creative activity for their respective ranks and discipline. More.

Laura Szymanski, geography PhD candidate at University of Wisconsin – Madison, was named the 2021-2022 William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow from the American Geosciences Institute. Szymanski will spend a year working in Congress on intersections of geoscience and policy. More.

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

New issue of you are here

you-are-here-1-300x169The 2021 issue of you are here: bodies & politics has been published. This issue focuses on the significance and political potentials of bodies and embodiment in the current political moment. you are here is an annual publication produced by graduate students at the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development, and Environment. The journal seeks to explore geographic themes through poetry, creative writing, maps, photographs, visual art, sonic art, film, and other imaginable genres.

Learn more about you are here.

Call for Participation: Developing Geospatial Expertise Symposium

You are invited to submit papers discussing your perspectives and/or research on geospatial expertise as part of the Spatial Cognition 2020/21 Conference.  Ten to twelve of those papers will be selected by the organizers for 15-minute presentations plus Q&A.  Background, links to registration, paper submission via EasyChair, and details of this can be found at: http://burtelab.sites.tamu.edu/developing-geospatial-expertise-symposium/

IN MEMORIAM

kasperson_roger_2021Roger Kasperson passed away in his home in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 10, 2021. A former Clark Graduate School of Geography faculty member, Kasperson also received his B.A. in geography from Clark and his M.A. and PhD from University of Chicago. Kasperson was a major figure in risk analysis, resilience, and sustainability and was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. More.

The AAG is also saddened to hear of the passing of Jene McKnight.

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From the Meridian

Perspectives: A New Column in the AAG Newsletter

In May, we introduced a new column to the AAG Newsletter called Perspectives, replacing AAG’s former Op-Ed feature. Perspectives will share the opinions and ideas of members on issues of relevance to geography. We encourage submissions that stimulate dialogue, get members thinking, and challenge our discipline to take new approaches to the social, political, and environmental issues confronting geographers and the public.

We are grateful to Guo Chen of Michigan State University, whose article “Working Together for Racial and Social Justice: From Anti-Asian Racism and Violence to Anti-Racist Praxis in Geography” was the first Perspective to appear, last month. We look forward to sharing more of our members’ thought-provoking commentary in the coming months.

One of the great strengths and challenges of the discipline of geography is that it embraces the world. We envision Perspectives as having wide-ranging potential, showcasing our members’ voices, experiences, and opinions regarding virtually any topic. We want to make space for members to engage and challenge one another, taking on questions that help illuminate and strengthen the relevance of geography to people’s lives.

In all cases, the articles will focus on the best ideas: showcasing novel ways of considering social, political, and geography concepts, adhering to the AAG Code of Conduct and supporting AAG’s goal of fostering robust discussion and respectful disagreement. Optimal length is 1,000-1,500 words.

So, do you have a probing question or fresh inspiration for the discipline? Do you have a unique and engaging response to a column or feature article you’ve seen in our newsletter? We want to hear from you. Consider submitting a column for consideration as an upcoming Perspectives. Read more about our submission guidelines here.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0092

Please note: The ideas expressed by Executive Director Gary Langham are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. Please feel free to email him at glangham [at] aag [dot] org.

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Newsletters

Newsletter – May 2021

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Opening Up the Possibilities for an Accessible AAG

By Amy Lobben

amy-225x300

Many of us “went” to the AAG annual meeting last month, scheduled to take place in Seattle. Of course, we all attended virtually from separate isolated locations. I attended from my living room, my kitchen table, and my bedroom floor… Keeping with my personal mission and my conference theme of Access, now is a good time to discuss how we all can participate in enhancing inclusion of attendees with disabilities at our meetings, whether they be national, regional, or in our departments. And wouldn’t it be nice if we all could be disciples, each carrying this message forward into our sister organizations when we attend meetings in cognate disciplines? My hope is that this column will be useful going forward, in particular for people who are as yet less familiar with disability and other accessibility issues, not just at AAG but at other conferences as well.

Continue Reading.

FROM THE MERIDIAN

A Good Day for Geography, Every Day

By Gary Langham

The late Will Graf would end his AAG President’s columns with this optimistic affirmation: It’s a good day for Geography. Given the last year, you might be surprised to hear that it is just as true today as it was during his tenure in 1998-99. Let me explain.

Continue Reading.

PERSPECTIVES

Working Together for Racial and Social Justice: From Anti-Asian Racism and Violence to Anti-Racist Praxis in Geography

By Guo Chen, Associate Professor of Geography and Global Urban Studies, Michigan State University

stopAAPIhate-1-300x197-1In June 2020, the Association for Asian American Studies issued an open call for putting an immediate end to anti-Black racism and advancing efforts toward achieving global social justice. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floyd pulled a painful trigger for many Asian Americans… Since January 2020, the lives of Asian-heritage people in the U.S. and likely the same for those in other countries have been violently shaken. Asian Americans were among the first to help local communities combat Covid-19, while racist attacks were increasing in cities like Los Angeles…

Continue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

What was Presented at the 2021 AAG Annual Meeting?

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Curious about all 2,952 papers and posters that were presented during the 2021 AAG Annual Meeting last month? Geographers Seong, JI, Stanescu, Lee, and Hwang used keyword network analysis to create a visual summary of the annual meeting. Based on presentation keywords, Urban was identified as the most frequent keyword, followed by COVID-19, GIS, and Climate Change.

Read the full analysis.

Save the Date for AAG NYC!

Join us for the 2022 AAG Annual Meeting February 26 – March 1, 2022. We invite you to organize and participate in sessions, workshops, field trips, special events, and activities. Look for the call for papers in June 2021. We look forward to seeing you in New York City.

PUBLICATIONS

NEW Annals of the American Association of Geographers Issue Alert:
The 2021 Special Issue of the Annals on the Anthropocene

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The Annals publishes a special issue each year to highlight research around a specific theme of global importance. The thirteenth annual special issue includes 29 articles on the Anthropocene and is guest edited by David Butler. The articles are divided into six sections: definitions and conceptual considerations; historical perspectives on the Anthropocene; physical geography and the Anthropocene; natural hazards, disasters, and the Anthropocene; the environment and environmental degradation; and the Anthropocene and geographic education. Introduced in 2000 as a concept indicating that human modification of the environment had reached such a significant level that a geological epoch distinct from the Holocene had been initiated, the Anthropocene has no universally accepted starting point. The 2021 special issue examines all geographic facets of the Anthropocene.

Read more about the Annals Special Issues.

Questions about the Annals? Contact annals [at] aag [dot] org.

NEW The Professional Geographer Issue Alert: Research featuring urban agriculture, geospatial analysis of HIV care, unemployment and more

The-PG-2017-generic-213x300The most recent issue of The Professional Geographer has been published online (Volume 73, Issue 2, May 2021) with 14 new articles on current geographic research. Topics in this issue include direct injuries and fatalities from tornado outbreaks, shrinking cities, post-great recession geographies, electoral geography, principal component analysis, residential satisfaction in historic blocks, and structural fractality of road networks. Local areas of interest include Henan Province, Brazil, New York City, and Ethiopia. Authors are from a variety of institutions including University of Cologne, University of Connecticut, and Simon Fraser University.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of The Professional Geographer through the Members Only page. In every issue, the editors choose one article to make freely available for three months. In this issue you can read The Elasticity of Shrinking Cities: An Analysis of Indicators by Maxwell Hartt for free for the next three months.

Questions about The PG? Contact profgeog [at] aag [dot] org.

NEW Spring Issue of the AAG Review of Books Published

Review-of-Books-Cover

The latest issue of The AAG Review of Books is now available (Volume 9, Issue 2, Spring 2021) with 14 book reviews on recent books related to geography, public policy and international affairs. The Spring 2021 issue also includes two book review essays: Olwig’s comparison of Landscape and Power in Geographical Space as a Social-Aesthetic Construct and Landscape Theories: A Brief Introduction both by Olaf Kühne; and Kearns’ review of A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers by Jen Jack Gieseking, recipient of the 2021 Glenda Laws Award.

Questions about The AAG Review of Books? Contact aagreview [at] aag [dot] org.

Journals-newsletter-100In addition to the most recently published journal, read the latest issue of the other AAG journals online:

• Annals of the American Association of Geographers
• The Professional Geographer
• GeoHumanities
• The AAG Review of Books

ASSOCIATION NEWS

2021 AAG Nystrom Award Recipients Announced

Nystrom-Awardees-300x169The J. Warren Nystrom Award, established by a former AAG President to annually recognize a paper based on a recent dissertation in geography, is awarded during a special session at the AAG Annual Meeting. Two recipients were chosen for the 2021 AAG Nystrom Award: Daniela Aiella, currently a Postdoc at Queen’s University (PhD University of Georgia), for “A colonial genealogy of eviction: racialized dispossession in Atlanta and Vancouver” and Ziqi Li, a Visiting Assistant Professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (PhD Arizona State University), for “Computational Improvements to Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression.” The Nystrom Award session recording is available to watch in the Annual Meeting program until May 11.

Learn more about the Nystrom Award and previous awardees.

AAG Announces Undergraduate Program Excellence Awards

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Two recipients have been named for the 2021 Award for Bachelors’ Program Excellence in Geography: The Geographic Science Program at James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia, and the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. The annual award honors Geography departments and programs that have significantly enhanced the prominence and reputation of Geography as a discipline and demonstrated the characteristics of a strong and engaged academic unit, playing an important role in educating future geographers and promoting the discipline to a wider world.

Learn more about these programs.

Get a Glimpse of AAG’s New Website

Web-redesign-reveal-1200x675-1-300x169During our virtual annual meeting, we gave a sneak peek of our new website currently in the design process. If you missed the session or weren’t able to attend the conference, you still have a chance to see the recording. Our website agency, Free Range, revealed some of the exciting changes in store for this completely accessible, innovative, and mobile friendly website launching later this spring. Please send us your questions and thoughts at feedback [at] aag [dot] org. We’d love to hear from you! View the recording.

We are also looking for some fresh taglines to appear on the new AAG website when it launches this summer! What does AAG mean to you in a few words? Submit your suggestion here.

Careers in Geography: Developing Collegial Relationships in a Department

Wednesday, May 12, 2:30 – 3:45pm EST

Join AAG members in the next webinar in our Department Leadership and Early Career series. This free event brings together panelists to discuss issues of onboarding, collegiality, and how a healthy department is widely beneficial for students, staff, and faculty. REGISTER NOW!

The Department Leadership and Early Career series combines two themes in one: building and growing strong academic programs, and helping students and young geographers navigate their early careers. AAG is pleased to continue this series throughout the spring, free and open to the public. Recordings of webinars held thus far are also available to watch at any time.

See upcoming webinars and view recordings

POLICY CORNER

New Data from Census as Geographers Prepare for Redistricting

US_Capitol

Last week the Census Bureau released its long-awaited congressional apportionment data. The 2020 population count resulted in some surprises and close-calls as states learned how many seats in the House of Representatives they will keep, gain, or lose. The release of this apportionment data was the first of two important steps in what’s next for congressional and state redistricting. States still require the Census demographic data in order to start drawing new district lines, which may not be released until late summer.

While the drawing of new maps won’t start for several months, now is the time to familiarize yourself with the process. To learn more, check out A Geographer’s Place in Redistricting published in Esri’s most recent edition of ArcNews. In this article, AAG’s Michelle Kinzer emphasizes that “when it comes to the fight for fair redistricting, there is no one better equipped than a geographer.”

In the News:

  • Competing NSF bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, the NSF for the Future Act (H.R. 2225) and the Endless Frontier Act (S. 1260). While both bills propose a new NSF directorate, they are otherwise substantially different. Click here to see a side-by-side comparison prepared by COSSA.
  • On March 31, the White House issued a fact sheet detailing many of the spending priorities in President Joe Biden’s proposed infrastructure initiative, the American Jobs Plan. The proposal includes $250 billion in research funding.
  • Nominations are being sought for to fill eight upcoming vacancies on the National Science Board (NSB), the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF) that also serves as an independent advisor to the President and Congress on federal science policy. More information on the nomination process is available on the NSB website. Nominations are due by May 31, 2021.
MEMBER NEWS

Profiles of Professional Geographers

Johana-Ostling-300x225

Growing up in the Bay Area inspired a career in hazards for Johanna Ostling, a Forestry Technician (Fire Lookout) for the U.S. Forest Service. Fire Lookouts play a vital role in identifying locations of wildfires during fire season and directing responders to the location on the ground. Ostling uses her knowledge of weather conditions to record variables like wind speed, cloud types and cloud cover, and precipitation as well as her abilities to identify physical landscape features and map coordinates to determine wildfire locations and response.

Learn more about Geography Careers on the recently updated AAG Jobs & Careers website.

May Member Updates

The latest news about AAG Members. 

Four geographers are newly elected to the Academy of Arts and Sciences: incoming AAG Vice President Marilyn Raphael, 2020 AAG Lifetime Achievement recipient Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Marshall Shepherd, and 2021 Stan Brunn Award for Creativity recipient Dawn Wright. Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Read more.

Two geographers have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences: Marshall Shepherd and 2021 Stan Brunn Award for Creativity recipient Dawn Wright. Established in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences is committed to furthering science in America, and its members are active contributors to the international scientific community. Read more.

Dr. Reece Jones of the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa has been named a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. Read more.

AAG Member Caroline Tracey is among eight selected to be a WW Dissertation Fellow in Women’s Studies for 2021. Tracey, a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, is working on an ethnography of the activism of women and trans deportees and return migrants in Mexico City for her dissertation. Read more.

Dr. Matt Cook of the Department of Geography and Geology at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has been awarded the Ron Collins Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching award EMU presents. He received this award in the same year as being granted tenure and serving as a co-PI on a major grant project. Read more.

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

A Few Spaces Remaining: AAG Leadership and Early Career Workshops, 1-5 June

Two summer professional development workshops from the AAG’s Graduate Faculty Development Alliance have moved online. Registration is free and currently open, though only a few open slots are available – reserve your spot by May 15. Department Chairs, Heads, new Deans, and other emerging leaders – develop the tools you need to do your job, network with peers, and learn from top leadership professionals in an inclusive, innovative, and interactive series. The AAG Geography Faculty Development Alliance for early career geographers, as well as non-AAG members who are graduate students or teaching geography in higher education, offers an innovative, new online approach to the highly successful early career workshops that have been offered since 2002.

For more information about both workshops see http://www.aag.org/gfda or contact Dr. Patricia Price (patricia [dot] price [at] baruch [dot] cuny [dot] edu) with questions about the leadership workshop or Dr. Michael Solem (msolem [at] txstate [dot] edu) about the early career workshop.

Call for Abstracts: 2021 Climate Adaptation Research Symposium

call-for-abstracts-graphic-twitter_Climate_Adaptation-300x150The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation is delighted to invite abstracts for our 2021 Climate Adaptation Research Symposium. This virtual event will feature recent social science research on the impacts of climate change, particularly on vulnerable populations and communities. We’re building off the success of last year’s event, which brought together 70 presenters and more than 2,000 attendees from across the nation and world. Abstracts are welcome from economics, geography, law, public health, sociology, urban planning, and related disciplines. Research should measure the scale of climate impacts or focus on strategies to reduce these impacts.

Submission deadline: May 7, 2021

Symposium: September 8, 2021

Learn more and submit your abstract here: https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/abstracts/

Please direct any questions to lcievents [at] luskin [dot] ucla [dot] edu.

Participate in AGI’s Geoscience COVID-19 Impacts Survey

RAPID-COVID19-Geosciences-Study_04-1-300x194The American Geosciences Institute’s Geoscience COVID-19 Impacts study has been extended into a second phase that will continue the longitudinal study through March 2022, thanks to continued support by the National Science Foundation (Award #2029570). The second phase of this study will focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way in which geoscientists work and study and how workplace and instructional environments transition into post-pandemic configurations. The study will continue to accept new participants through January 2022 and is open to all geoscientists, including students, retirees, and those not currently employed, who reside in the United States, and are at least 18 years old.

For more information and to participate in the study, please visit https://www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/covid19.

IN MEMORIAM

Hultquist_NancyNancy B. Hultquist, retired Central Washington University (CWU) geography professor, died March 30th, 2021. Nancy is remembered fondly by students, friends, and colleagues. Starting out using computer punch cards, Hultquist eventually moved to using GIS, ultimately introducing countless K-12 teachers to the early iterations of making maps and GIS through NCGE workshops she participated in. She was quick to assist junior faculty and devoted countless hours to helping students find employment, including maintaining a jobs list of employment opportunities across the Pacific Northwest which currently has over 800 subscribers. Read more.

The AAG is also saddened to hear of the passing of Jene McKnight and Roger Kasperson this past month with written tributes forthcoming.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Why should geographers care about data science?

By By Canserina Kurnia, Esri Senior Solution Engineer for Education, and Joseph Kerski, Ph.D., GISP, Esri Education Manager

HouseValueMap-300x229“Data science is the study of data. Data science involves developing methods of recording, storing, and analyzing data to effectively extract useful information. The discipline of geography has always been focused on data science, because geographers have always been keen to gather, analyze, and make sense of large volumes of data across a wide variety of scales and covering a wide variety of themes, from ecoregions to individual census blocks. Those using GIS are spatial data scientists: They combine their data with theoretical foundations such as Tobler’s First Law to explain and predict. As they visualize and analyze data, they detect patterns and relationships, testing real-world phenomena against hypotheses.

Why is geographic thinking and spatial analysis important to data science?” Continue reading.

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President's Column

Opening Up the Possibilities for an Accessible AAG

Many of us “went” to the AAG annual meeting last month, scheduled to take place in Seattle. Of course, we all attended virtually from separate isolated locations. I attended from my living room, my kitchen table, and my bedroom floor. Though just to insert some sense of the old days, for one committee meeting, I invited one of my University of Oregon colleagues (Alec Murphy) to the “Presidential Suite” (my kitchen table). I mistakenly thought the meeting was scheduled for later in the day and in my email invite, I offered to serve charcuterie and wine. Alec corrected my timing mistake and suggested that 8am might be too early for wine. I’m not so sure.

President Lobben opening up “the Presidental Suite” (her table at home, and a laptop) at AAG 2021.

Keeping with my personal mission and my conference theme of Access, now is a good time to discuss how we all can participate in enhancing inclusion of attendees with disabilities at our meetings, whether they be national, regional, or in our departments. And wouldn’t it be nice if we all could be disciples, each carrying this message forward into our sister organizations when we attend meetings in cognate disciplines? My hope is that this column will be useful going forward, in particular for people who are as yet less familiar with disability and other accessibility issues, not just at AAG but at other conferences as well.

Let me start with a bit of background. Over its lifetime, members of the Disability Specialty Group have spent significant time and effort working on issues of access, inclusion, and optimal integration at the AAG Annual Meetings. These efforts have included advocating for accommodations, sending advance scouts to venues, reporting on mobility strategies, and developing guidelines for conference assistants (for example, identifying an accessible route between the Marriott Wardman Park and the Omni Shoreham Hotels in Washington, D.C; it’s certainly not a direct one).

These efforts are beyond helpful—they are necessary for many of our members. But, these are not the sort of activities in which AAG Specialty Groups should have to engage in on their own. Imagine tasking members of the Water Resources Specialty Group with mapping access to safe drinking water at each conference.

As a result, AAG Council approved the creation of an Accessibility Task Force to ensure structural foregrounding of accessibility for all in all AAG’s operations. While I hope that this Task Force will continue to work on additional issues of accessibility, the initial charge was to address physical barriers to access and inclusion in the AAG. The first report has been drafted and submitted to Council and focuses on three issues: the website, Meridian Place, and the annual conference. AAG staff are already working on implementing nearly all of the report’s recommendations. Task Force members and I are thrilled by this progress and applaud our AAG leadership for taking these steps.

While I hope that this Task Force will continue to work on additional issues of accessibility, the initial charge was to address physical barriers to access and inclusion in the AAG.

But there are substantial barriers to access—socially situated barriers—that AAG cannot legislate or manage centrally. The social model of disability recognizes that disability manifests in cultural attitudes embedded in social practices. It’s the social model that suggests our society has to change to remove disabling barriers to access.

At the AAG annual meeting, many of these socially constructed barriers to access are created by other attendees. This is something that is in your control.

If you want to take small, individual and significant steps to foster inclusion, consider making the following social and behavioral changes outlined in the table below. This list is put together from a short survey I sent out to members of our Task Force and from my own personal experiences. It is by no means inclusive of all the measures we can take, and does not touch on other sets of measures that would help inclusion for other marginalized groups, but it is a starting point. And it is often taking that first step that opens us up to being more aware of how our actions affect others.

  • Don’t block ramps.
  • Adjust microphone heights as necessary.
  • Ensure equal integration in spaces (don’t relegate people with mobility devices to areas just for them or to the margins of the room).
  • Don’t move chairs around and block access corridors.
  • Avoid wearing scents.
  • Respect independence.
  • Don’t pet service animals unless invited to do so.
  • Talking louder doesn’t improve clarity. Be clearer rather than louder.
  • Don’t use flash photography or other strobe-like devices.
  • Avoid low lighting. It’s not safe for anyone, but especially unsafe for people who are blind or have low vision.
  • When communicating with someone using a sign language interpreter don’t talk to the interpreter, talk to the person with whom you’re communicating.

I want to spend some time contextualizing four important issues: judging others, bathrooms, language, and presentation guidelines.

Judging others: We all know that we’re not supposed to judge others based on appearance. And, yet we do. People who are visibly different from the majority of others that are present in a space are judged differently and assumed to be unable (or able). It’s an age-old adage: Don’t judge people by their appearances. This is especially true in the world of ability.

Bathrooms: I have to admit, I’m obsessed with bathrooms. They seem to be the battleground for so much of our collective history and ongoing exclusions – notably also around gender non-conformity and transgender rights in present times.

I also have deeply personal experiences navigating public toileting with my son with cognitive disabilities. Many of his and our experiences have not been easy, nor dignified. There have been many times when assisting my son has involved both of us finding ourselves on filthy public bathroom floors because public bathrooms are not designed for adults in his situation. Fortunately, my son can now use the family bathrooms or men’s bathrooms with Andrew (my husband). If Andrew isn’t with us, he and I go to the women’s bathroom. That often incites negative comments and critiques from others.

I’ve been asked not to use profanity in my columns. Too bad. If I could I’d be able to convey what I think about the judgement of others in the women’s bathroom in those circumstances.

But, my obsession with bathrooms isn’t really about the bathroom itself. It’s about how we have designed and legislated our bathrooms to control access to public space. From Victorian-era gender discrimination (which extended far beyond just public bathrooms), to Jim Crow racially segregated bathrooms (also extended far beyond bathroom spaces), to recent battles over transgender people’s rights to bathrooms (think North Carolina’s HB2 law), it seems that people only want to drop drawers in spaces that include people who only look like them or suspect they are like them.

The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) ensures that public bathrooms provide accommodations for people with disabilities. But accommodation is not inclusion. ADA laws mandate separate spaces, including bathrooms (but also: building entrances, classrooms, hiring process, educational practices, work environments…). You’ve seen these bathroom spaces on campuses and in civic venues, airports, and conference settings–rows and rows of stalls for non-disabled people and merely one or two “disabled stalls.”

I’ve paid attention to our public bathrooms at the AAG annual meeting venues. Without exception, the gendered public bathrooms at our venues have been airport style; only one or two stalls for people with disabilities, but rows for non-disabled people.

Until our society implements universal design and access for our public bathrooms, in our future meetings, attendees can focus on two key things to ensure dignified access to bathrooms: 1. when both an accessible stall and standard stall are available, use the standard stall if you don’t need the accessible stall; and 2. avoid judging others for seemingly inappropriate use of an accessible stall; you cannot judge by appearance alone who needs to use those stalls.

Language. We must condemn the use of derogatory slurs about marginalized groups, and that includes words that are considered “metaphors” (e.g., “stupid” “crazy” “lame”) but really point to ableist thinking. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review provides a good overview on the use of ableist language.

I don’t think that most people are intentionally derogatory about or towards disability when they use such words. But, these are not used as words of praise, and their usage upholds stigma for many groups with cognitive impairments and/or mental health diagnoses.

For a handy guide on when it’s OK and not OK to words like those above, consult the chart below (which I developed from a chart from the Military Special Needs Network).

Adapted from the Military Special Needs Network

The National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/style-guide/) lists some excellent guidelines for referring to people with disabilities. To paraphrase:

  • Refer to a disability only when it’s relevant to a conversation and when knowledge of the disability is certain (e.g. not based on appearance alone).
  • Be sensitive to preferences for people-first or identify-first language. For example: “People who are blind…” rather than “Blind people…” This is intended to emphasize an individual’s personhood rather than their disability. However, there are critiques against the use of people-first language, including that it is often imposed by non-disabled people on disabled individuals and that the use of people-first language does not address the social injustices faced by the disability community. Also, many disabled people prefer identity-centric language because their disability is an important part of their identity and because it facilitates activism based on identity. In any case, people have the right to refer to themselves however they want.
  • When possible, ask the individual how they would like to be described.
  • Avoid made-up words like “diversability” and “handicapable” unless referring to them in a quote, a movement, or an organization.

None of us can be perfect and language preferences are subject to change. In fact, the very term “disabled” is contested as pejorative and biased. But we can all try to be better in how we use language around ability. Be open to self-correction.

Presentation Guidelines. One of the primary goals of our annual meeting is to exchange scholarly findings and ideas. We mostly use an audio/visual format for that sharing. Yet not everyone uptakes audio/visual presented information in the same way. Fortunately, presenters have a few options for enhancing the accessibility of their presentation and, happily, these guidelines by the APHA will improve the effectiveness of presentations more generally. Moderators and organizers must also stay aware of the needs of all of their presenters with regard to disabilities and access.

Going back to the inclusion diagram I referenced in the March column. We all decide what sort of Annual Meeting we want to host and attend. We can reject the medical models that suggest that disability is a personal problem and can only be ‘fixed’ by medical intervention. Instead, we can embrace universal access, and a space, a culture, and an annual meeting that moves beyond individual accommodation so as to be truly inclusive.

If you’re wondering which disability model you embrace, answer this question: What do you think needs curing, the body or the society?

Thank you to the Accessibility Task Force for their efforts in drafting the first report: Audrey Kobayashi, Deborah Metzel, Katherine Ericson, Sandy Wong, Hamish Robertson, and Leonor Vanik. Thank you to several others who shared their conference experience with me as I gathered input for the foundation of this column. And thank you to Sandy Wong, Diana Beljaars, and Stephanie Coen for their feedback on initial drafts of this column.

—Amy Lobben
AAG President and Professor at University of Oregon
lobben [at] uoregon [dot] edu

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0091

FURTHER INFORMATION

AAG 2021 sessions on disability, mental health, and access (for registrants’ view until May 11)

Accessibility Guidelines for Presenters, American Public Health Association

Disability Language Style Guide, National Center on Disability and Journalism

Knowledge base, including chart of definitions toward inclusion, Think Inclusive

Why You Need to Stop Using These Words and Phrases, Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar, Harvard Business Review

Military Special Needs Network and EFMP Coalition

Disability Justice, from Showing Up for Racial Justice, including these Google Docs:

Disability Home Manners,

Disability Justice, anti-ableism and access resources, and

Nuts and Bolts of Disability Access.

Is there a resource you’d recommend? Email us at newsletter [at] aag [dot] org.

 

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 lobben [at] uoregon [dot] edu to enable a constructive discussion.

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Amy Lobben
Amy Lobben
From the Meridian

A Good Day for Geography, Every Day

The late Will Graf would end his AAG President’s columns with this optimistic affirmation: It’s a good day for Geography. Given the last year, you might be surprised to hear that it is just as true today as it was during his tenure in 1998-99. Let me explain.

As I write this, it is the one-year anniversary of our official announcement canceling the AAG Annual Meeting in Denver. I will never forget that week or that gut-wrenching decision. The AAG meeting was one of the first big academic meetings of the year, and the crisis was escalating quickly. I am sure that I was not the only one waking up in the middle of the night and checking the latest statistics and news. Increasingly, it seemed that we would have to cancel, yet more than 6500 members had registered, and the AAG had not canceled a meeting since WWII.

As the Executive Committee sat in the conference room in San Diego and voted to cancel the in-person meeting, it was just 30 days before the event. Since the AAG had been investing in a virtual platform for months, we knew we could offer a virtual meeting, though 30 days was not much time to prepare. We decided to give full refunds and make the virtual meeting free for anyone already registered. Of course, this was the only fair decision, but it was also consequential for the organization, both culturally and financially. We also knew that membership was likely to dip significantly, but we had no idea how much or how long it might take to rebound. So, we budgeted for up to 50% losses in membership and took a pessimistic view of the current fiscal year. This time last year, the AAG was looking into a fiscal abyss, but I am pleased to report that the AAG has weathered this financial storm very well.

With the losses from the meeting, we expected to take a loss in FYE20, and we did: Official losses were $2M. This figure does not include additional spending that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 Rapid Response program. In total, $900k was approved from reserves to fund nine programs.  For example, our support for students included Bridging the Digital Divide, providing direct funds to purchase hardware and software for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities. These programs are meant to help members cope with the economic challenges of the pandemic.

After the initial FYE21 budget was approved in April 2020, the AAG Council re-convened in June 2020 to adopt a new budget. The first draft of the revised budget projected a loss of $1.5M due to loss of membership and projections for the Annual Meeting with reduced attendance. To offset these projected losses, we reduced expenses by $846k, with the other half being approved from reserves. This approach cut nearly all expenses except for staff. Remarkably, we expect to end the year without the need for any reserves, ending in positive territory, even without considering revenue from investments.

While AAG has experienced a 19% loss in membership year over year during the pandemic, this is far lower than the feared 50% loss. Three out of four of our lost members are either graduate students or members making under $75k per year. Therefore, Council has expanded eligibility for membership renewal fee coverage to all those making less than $75k and expanded the membership window for qualifying to two years. The job market appears to be recovering: Between March 1, 2019 and 2020, job postings at AAG dropped 38%. Postings have rebounded in 2021, and are now up 31%, suggesting at least some postings were merely delayed in the early pandemic.

The whole world turned upside down in the last year, and none of us are untouched. And still, it’s a good day for Geography.

The AAG has managed to get through a pandemic with surprising ease. To be sure, there are serious challenges ahead and much work to do. However, there is also reason to expect tomorrow will be a better day. Our work to replace our membership database and website is moving forward. On April 7th, we offered members the first preview of the site, and the full site is expected to launch in early summer. (We are welcoming feedback from members about a new tagline; share your ideas for a new tagline here). Together these new systems will open up greater possibilities for membership retention and a range of new and improved services. Multi-year membership, automatic renewals, tagged content, and much more will be possible. We continue to invest in creative, more inclusive approaches to meeting, including a climate-forward dispersed-meeting model for a new fall meeting, and a hybrid meeting that blends the best possible options for international virtual access and in-person convening in New York City.

Nearly two-thirds of graduate students in the AAG Methods workshops found the interactions highly valuable.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the last year is how popular our online seminars have been. In February, we kicked off a GeoEthics series, bringing together experts to talk about locational ethics. We also offered methods training workshops that have connected more than a thousand graduate students to a whole range of experts to discuss research challenges and solutions—and to one another at a time when peer support was also important. In all these cases, we showcase our membership’s expertise, connecting our members to it and each other. Traditionally, we might offer all these things only at the Annual Meeting. However, online platforms allow us to share year-round, to feature topics and presenters that reflect the AAG we want for the future. With minimal new expenses, we can showcase the expertise of our members while connecting and building community.

All respondents to the survey on AAG Methods workshops found resources helpful; nearly two-thirds found them very or extremely helpful.

If you attended any of these sessions, you know that it really matters to attendees. Three hundred people were on one three-hour session, engaged and eager for more. Students shed tears as they connected to methods experts and one another, gaining access and answers they needed during the pandemic. More to come on this experiment, but it gives me hope. During the troubling days and nights this past year, one thing kept coming back to me. Even as the pandemic loomed over all aspects of our personal and professional lives, we still found the energy, funding, and resolve to launch the COVID Rapid Response programs and to support one another. We put the members and our community first.

The whole world turned upside down in the last year, and none of us are untouched. And still, it’s a good day for Geography.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0090

Please note: The ideas expressed by Executive Director Gary Langham are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. Please feel free to email him at glangham [at] aag [dot] org.

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Changing Human Populations Living within Ecosystems Spatial Narratives
Gary Langham
Gary Langham
Perspectives

Working Together for Racial and Social Justice: From Anti-Asian Racism and Violence to Anti-Racist Praxis in Geography

By Guo Chen, Associate Professor of Geography and Global Urban Studies, Michigan State University

This column is the first in a new section of the AAG News called Perspectives, which offers a platform for members to discuss issues of relevance to geography. A slightly longer version of this article was first published in April as a tie-in with related sessions sponsored by the Asian Geography Specialty Group and the China Geography Specialty Group at AAG’s annual meeting. Registered participants at the meeting may view the recordings of these sessions until May 11:

In June 2020, the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) issued an open call directed at putting an immediate end to anti-Black racism and advancing efforts toward global social justice. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floyd pulled a painful trigger for many Asian Americans. The Association clearly stated that “[the] fight against anti-Asian pandemic racism is rooted in a common struggle against white supremacy” and “[to] end global anti-Black racism, we must fight racism in our local communities and educate ourselves and others about the rich history of Black Americans and support, validate, and value Black lives now and always.”

Most recently, but not for the first time, the urgency of this shared struggle against white supremacy was highlighted by the horrific Atlanta-area shootings of eight people on March 16, 2021, including six women of Asian descent. In April, four members of the Indianapolis Sikh community were killed in a shooting at a FedEx warehouse. Anti-Asian racism in the United States has been more widely reported by the media lately than before (see LA Times coverage and NY Times, for example), and reports of anti-Asian hate crimes are rising around the world (see Time). In early 2020, Asian American communities and scholars were already well aware of this rise in anti-Asian racism. On a virtual panel in June 2020, the president of the AAAS, Dr. Jennifer Ho of the University of Colorado Boulder, explained why COVID-19-related anti-Chinese sentiment is essentially anti-Asian racism:

“[w]hile China and Chinese people have been targeted and blamed for the coronavirus in the United States … the truth is all forms of racism against the Chinese in the United States are forms of racism against anyone who is perceived to be Chinese in the United States. It’s an Asian/Asian American issue … what it means to be an Asian American is the recognition that those particularities that happened in a natal homeland get diminished, get flattened when you arrive in the United States. Because someone who doesn’t know what your particular ethnicity is, your nationality, and only sees your Asian-looking face and is going to make certain assumptions of who you are, about your ability to speak English … one of the things we have in common, as Asian Americans, is this understanding that we are not benefiting from white privilege, that we have been on a receiving end of systemic racism, starting with the Chinese, extending into other Asian ethnic groups.”

Since January 2020, the lives of Asian-heritage people in the U.S. and probably also in many other countries have been violently shaken. Asian Americans were among the first to help local communities combat COVID-19, while racist attacks were increasing in cities like Los Angeles. The Stop AAPI Hate website received 3,795 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents nationwide between its launch on March 19, 2020, and February 28, 2021. In these reports, the Chinese were the ethnic group most targeted, but 60% of the respondents were non-Chinese. Incidents occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Asian women reported significantly more incidents than did Asian men. The fatality rate for Asian women has continued to increase due to the combined effect of COVID-19 and a terrifying rise in hate incidents. In fact, the AAPI Data website reports that 13,620 more Asian Americans died than usual in the first seven months of 2020 (a 35% increase over the prior 5-year average). Over this long year, anxiety has also built up as many have been separated from their families or extended families and ancestral lands due to travel bans from both sides of the Pacific—a circumstance that has likely caused more stress to Asian women than to men, given that women are more likely to fulfill caregiver roles. As early as July 2020, studies were already finding a large percentage (40.3%) of Asian Americans with self-reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depression (an 8-fold jump from the previous year) compounded by racism-related vigilance. These same studies warned of the serious and long-lasting negative impact of experienced and perceived racial discrimination on physical health and psychological well-being.

Despite discussions on the xenophobic sentiment stoked by the previous U.S. administration, we must also accept the historicity of our current crisis of racism and racial violence. As race scholars have commented, white supremacy is the root of all race-related violence in the U.S., and “race is a thread that connects all shootings.” Anti-Asian racism is racism, just like anti-Black racism and any other form of racism. Whenever an Asian country is perceived as a national threat, Asian Americans suffer. Asian Americans are all too familiar with the history of state-sanctioned discrimination.

Racism is like a river that affects everyone in the country, and it is deeply rooted in white supremacy in the U.S.
. . .

We have come to realize that our geographic scholarship is compartmentalized along national, experiential, and personal identity lines. Racialized identities and the angst and alterity experienced by diasporic scholars in North America often need some translation to the rest of our international colleagues. But the themes of our studies are universal. As one geographer wrote to me, “different forms of oppression are linked … nobody is free until all are free.” And, as a community of geographers, we need to continue our discipline’s strong tradition of studying how oppression and marginalization play out, within places and across space. As a former chair of a Specialty Group of the AAG, I have led open dialogues with Asian and China-heritage geographers, some of whom shared opinions and stories with me in June 2020. Most expressed pain arising from frustration with a cross comparison of the ways different nations had handled COVID-19, together with feelings including fear about the prospect of leaving their “anodyne” research areas to embrace a perceived “politicized” arena, such as addressing the legacy of anti-Asian racism and distant or near memories of being discriminated against or marginalized as a Chinese or Asian scholar within our institutions. I appreciate their sharing with me.

“[T]here is a rising anti-Asian sentiment because of the [previous] U.S. leader’s rhetoric and the hawkish advisors and media he listens to … it is easier to blame the Other, versus looking clearly at the fault of not acting early, to respond to the pandemic, and doing the necessary steps to have masks, etc. We can see the … examples of Taiwan, South Korea, New Zealand and even many African nations that have low infection rates, and VERY low fatalities [by June 2020 during the first wave] … I get emotional almost weekly because of the current situation … I will stop writing about this.”

“I’m not a China-study scholar and I was never an active member as I almost never went to those AAG happy hours. But I do care about the study subjects … I used to think politics and politicization should be separate from academic endeavors, however, it becomes increasingly difficult, if not possible at all, to be like that. And even further, being a social scientist, I started asking myself whether it’s responsible not to face the challenges from the political side. I guess it’s a learning process for me.”

“I grew up in post-colonial Africa and have a very low level of tolerance for racism in any form. Even if I am not genetically Asian, I too could say a few words on bigotry and prejudices. But is this enough? Should we try to publish our personal opinions if this helps us discover our own identity and the originality of our own contributions as transnational geographers? We are a tiny minority but maybe it is easier for us to articulate or advocate than it is for a vast majority of people.”

“[One can] in no way ignore the anti-Asian/Chinese racism and discrimination that exist around the world, not just in the US … the diasporic Chinese scholars’ life experience …matter, and … the research on Asian (im)migration and racism … matter.”

“As a Mainlander based in Hong Kong, I can totally relate to [the] feeling … [about] racial prejudices against Asian scholars.”

“[I] would like to reach out to say that I feel [I am] being discriminated [against] in my job.”

In 2021, these messages from nine months ago look so distant, but the concerns are even more relevant today. As we sojourned in the Zoom world of scholarly exchanges in the past year, the fluidity has afforded us connectedness and made us academic refugees striving for existential relevance. The interruption of COVID-19 in our customary lives also provides an opportunity to change. It is time to prioritize anti-racist praxis in Geography, like in other disciplines, and to ensure that our being anti-racist advances a resolution to “challenge structural racism and other intersecting oppressive systems—e.g., ableism, classism, ethnocentrism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia—by shifting power—e.g., funding and other critical resources, policies, processes, leadership, culture” in our discipline and subdisciplines. For area geographers (those whose research has been largely framed regionally rather than systematically or globally), some clear goals are to continue to interrogate the assumptions and privileges embedded in area-bound expertise, to continue to problematize our positionalities and the dominant narratives in our research field, and to continue to privilege the scholarship that has long been considered “marginal,” such as work on transnational migration and migrants, underprivileged people, race, ethnicity, and social justice, to name a few. There is also an urgency to develop anti-racist learning and teaching praxis in our discipline.

Many challenges are ahead, but the most dreadful time is when we are in silence. We should continue to intervene with dialogues to break this silence. The research field is there to be defined and redefined.
. . .

Guo Chen (PhD, Penn State), Associate Professor of Geography and Global Urban Studies at Michigan State University. She is the recipient of a Wilson Center Fellowship in 2017-2018 and an Outstanding Service Award from the China Geography Specialty Group of the AAG in 2020. At MSU, Guo serves as an elected faculty representative on the Asian Studies Advisory Council, a founding member of the Geo Diversity Committee, a newly appointed faculty member on the President’s Advisory Committee on Disability Issues, a SWIG faculty advisor and a core faculty member of the Asian Pacific American Studies Program beginning fall 2021. Guo thanks Christian Lentz, Ken Foote, Shaolu Yu, Jennifer Ho, and Lisa Schamess for their reading of this piece, and the many anonymous colleagues for their emails, warm words, and generously shared resources, which led to this op-ed. The opinions expressed here are solely her own.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0089

Panel resources:

Ho, J. 2020. Anti-Asian racism, Black Lives Matter, and COVID-19. Japan Forum. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09555803.2020.1821749 .

Japan Forum Podcast 8 With Prof Jennifer Ho – Anti-Asian Racism, BLM, and COVID-19. https://soundcloud.com/soas-university-of-london/japan-forum-podcast-8-with-prof-jennifer-ho-anti-asian-racism-blm-and-covid-19 .

Teaching resources for Anti-Asian racism and COVID-19. www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2020/04/08/anti-asian-racism-and-covid-19.

To be an Asian woman in America. CNN opinion.

For an understanding of white supremacy as the root of all race-related violence in the US, read https://theconversation.com/white-supremacy-is-the-root-of-all-race-related-violence-in-the-us-157566

Read Ben Barron (PhD student in Geography at CU Boulder) article about the Boulder and Atlanta shootings: https://www.boulderweekly.com/opinion/guest-columns/race-is-a-thread-that-connects-all-mass-shootings/

Anti-Racism Resources for Asian Americans. https://tiny.cc/AntiRacistAsAmResources .

Alberts, Heike C. and Helen D. Hazen. 2013. International Students and Scholars in the United States: Coming from Abroad. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Please note: Perspectives is a new column intended to give AAG members an opportunity to share ideas relevant to the practice of geography. If you have an idea for a Perspective, see our guidelines for more information. 

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AAG Staff
AAG Staff

Nancy Hultquist

Nancy B. Hultquist, retired Central Washington University (CWU) geography professor, died March 30th, 2021. During her geographic career she was an active member of the American Association of Geographers (over 50 years), the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), and the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA). Nancy is remembered fondly by students, friends, and colleagues. She was quick to assist junior faculty and devoted countless hours to helping students find employment.

Like many geographers, Nancy was drawn to the field early in her academic career. Also, like many geographers, she had many non-academic interests including bowling, raising Brittneys, and playing the fiddle.

Born in 1943, Nancy grew up in Atlanta, GA where she lived near a 32-lane bowling alley. There she worked and became good at the sport. (Nancy holds the record of High Series (679) for Women in Moscow, ID.) She completed her undergraduate degree in 1965 at Georgia State University and then on to Graduate school, first at the University of Cincinnati and then on to the University of Iowa. Along the way she married John (also a geographer) in 1969. From the farming country of Iowa came the first Brittany. Then the University of Idaho beckoned (1974), and the three headed further west.

The Moscow university provided a split position that Nancy and John shared. Along the way she gained knowledge and teaching experience using computers to make detailed maps. Like so many of her contemporaries, Nancy started out with key-punch cards and eventually moved on to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Countless K-12 teachers were introduced to the early iterations of making maps and GIS through NCGE workshops she participated in with Paul Baumann.

In 1988, Nancy joined the CWU geography department as the first full-time, tenure-track woman faculty member. There, she became involved with an Army initiated (GRASS) GIS program. Initially the program used CWU faculty to do mapping for the Army’s Yakima Firing Center/Training Center. Nancy expanded the program to include undergraduate GIS classes and was instrumental in moving the program along. Her popular classes grew, and she soon had students presenting their GIS projects at professional meetings. It is little wonder that, as an advisor, she supervised more interns than any other geography department faculty.

Other than her love of geography and dogs, (their kennel name – Cedaridge Brittanys – was known throughout the Nation) Nancy was also a talented musician. She first played the fiddle at the age of 4 and, as an additional outlet for her boundless energy, joined a group named Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends. Heart issues from a childhood case of Rheumatic fever ended her academic career, but only interrupted her fiddle playing. Major heart surgery came in 2009. Her surgeon told her she was spared because there was more for her to do on Earth.

As she recovered and gained stamina, Nancy began to take a larger role in the music of the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends. They played at elder care facilities in Ellensburg and other venues in the area, especially at the Adult Activity Center. The photo accompanying this text is from this period. She considered the entertainment provided to the residents of the valley in these facilities one of her best experiences.

Nancy was known as a great teacher and an even greater supporter of student success. She maintained a jobs list of employment opportunities across the Pacific Northwest which currently has over 800 subscribers. Many CWU alumni credit her tireless work to helping them launch their career. The list will continue, serving as a living memorial to her impact. Please take a moment to remember Nancy B. Hultquist as a shining light to students, colleagues, and friends.

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