‘Annals of the AAG’: COVID-19 Announcement
The Long View
When the Annals was launched in 1911, penicillin did not yet exist. As Editors, we are taking the long view on the COVID-19 pandemic. While the journal has persevered through many global crises, the present moment is clearly not business as usual.
We recognize these are exceptional times that are creating unusual burdens for individuals and communities. Many people are taking on additional duties as they cope with self-isolation and social distancing; cancelled classes, school and childcare; caring for and assisting older people and those with underlying health conditions; and the very real needs of students, staff and colleagues in our institutions. Those with caring responsibilities are facing more demands on their time, not fewer. These caring responsibilities are diverse and include friends, neighbors, colleagues and students—not just family members or dependent children.
We have chosen not to suspend our journal activities or operations for a set period, given the uncertain duration of this crisis. Instead, we are slowing things down, in order to stay nimble and responsive to differential challenges, capacities, and needs of our staff, contributors, and community members. Editorial decisions and copy-editing will be slower than usual; the window of reviewing will be extended and adapted to personal circumstances; responses and communications may be uneven or delayed. The months ahead will test all of us in different ways. Through difficult times, we ask for your patience.
Most important, we ask that our readers put care and community first. Peer review and academic publishing is, at its core, an act of goodwill—it requires sustained, thoughtful engagement with others, a kind of relation-building. We fully recognize and respect that not all members of our community are in a position to submit or review papers at this time. If you are able to engage in peer review, we will work with you to fully take account of your circumstances.
In the months to come, we expect to see trials and tests like never before, requiring us to pull together as a community. In this community, we find strength and hope. Reflecting on the recent words of Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, we take some inspiration: “in the years to come, let them say of us: when things were at their worst, we were at our best.”
Editors, Annals of the American Association of Geographers
Ling Bian, David R. Butler, Katie Meehan, Kendra Strauss
AAG Past President Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach will focus on the theme of Science, Geography, and Human Rights for her address at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting. The AAG is a founding member of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary in Fall 2019. This address will highlight the roles played by AAG and Geography in the coalition, and address the broader impacts that geographers can and do contribute to promoting Science and Human Rights. To open the Past President’s Session, Luzzadder-Beach will present the 
Tired of carrying a large printed program around the AAG Annual Meeting? Want to easily organize your AAG session schedule in a digital calendar format? Make the most of your AAG annual meeting experience by downloading the AAG mobile app. Don’t wait until you’re standing in the registration line. Get the app now and start planning your schedule.
The Annals publishes a special issue each year to highlight research around a specific theme of global importance. The 
In addition to the most recently published journal, read the latest issue of the other AAG journals online:
From Silk Roads to Rwandan streets, there are always new titles in geography and related disciplines to be found on the New Books in Geography list. Some of these books will be reviewed in the AAG Review of Books. Persons wishing to volunteer their reviewing services for new books should have the requisite qualifications and demonstrable prior knowledge and engagement with the subject area, preferably through publications. Please contact the editors at 
The latest issue of the journal of the Africa Specialty Group of the AAG, the African Geographical Review, has recently been published. Volume 39, Issue 1 (January 2020) is available online for subscribers and members of the Africa Specialty Group. The latest issue contains five articles covering all sub-fields of geography, to enhance the standing of African regional geography, and to promote a better representation of African scholarship.
The AAG members have spoken and the candidates running for various AAG governance positions have been selected. Election results for the 2020 AAG Election have been posted. Congratulations to all who will be assuming their new roles on July 1st. The AAG thanks those whose terms will be concluding later this year.
Congratulations to the recipients of 2020 AAG Awards including the AAG Harm de Blij Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the AAG Presidential Achievement Award, the new AAG-Kauffman Awards for Best Paper and Best Student Paper in Geography & Entrepreneurship, the AAG Marcus Fund for Physical Geography Award, the 2020 William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography, the 2020 Anne U. White Grant, the 2020 Dissertation Research Grant recipients, and the 2020 Research Grant recipients! Formal recognition of the awardees will occur during the 
This month, we checked in with Patricia Syvrud, the Minerals, Materials and Society Program Manager at University of Delaware! What advice does Syvrud give to those looking to develop their geography career? “Follow your passion and think outside the box. If you can’t find a job in your area of interest, don’t be afraid to volunteer your time which can lead to employment opportunities.”
Each year for the AAG Annual Meeting, the National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE) organizes and compiles a track of papers, posters, and panels focusing on geography education research. NCRGE is sponsoring this track to raise the visibility of research in geography education, grow the NCRGE research coordination network, and provide productive spaces for discussion about geography education research and what makes research in the field potentially transformative.
The NSF announced the issuance of a new program name and solicitation, Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS, NSF 20-547), replacing Geography and Spatial Sciences (GSS, NSF 17-566). The name change articulates more clearly the human, environmental, and geographical sciences that are appropriate for funding at the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the name change better reflects the agency’s mission to “promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense,” as well as HEGS’s location in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. Note that the program will be accepting proposals two times per year, in August and January, with the 2020 deadline falling on August 18, 2020. The program will continue to accept Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) proposals under the existing GSS DDRI solicitation (NSF 17-567).
We have always been the “AAG” but five years ago the membership overwhelmingly decided to change the full title from the Association of American Geographers to the 
Nicholas Dunning, University of Cincinnati
Sally Horn, University of Tennessee
Professors lucky enough to obtain full-time employment find themselves in a variety of job environments and at different types of institutions with varied research expectations, teaching loads, and opportunity to mentor graduate students. Some geographers stand alone in a department with other faculty; other geographers are part of a large unit with 20 or more faculty and an opportunity to specialize in their specific subfield.