Daniel Paul Steiling

Daniel Paul Steiling, adjunct professor of geography at Riverside Community College, Moreno Valley Campus,died December 22, 2004.

A San Jose native, he earned a bachelor’s at San Jose State and a master’s in geography at University of California, Berkeley. Before becoming a geography professor, Steiling held jobs in a number of fields, being a road right-of-way agent, bicycle shop owner, computer-disk manufacturing specialist, soil inspector, and railroad conductor. In addition to teaching at Riverside Community College, Steiling also taught at Mira Costa Community College in San Marcos.

Daniel Paul Steiling (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(3): 17.

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Darryl Cohen

Darryl Cohen is a Geographer in the Population Division of the U.S. Census Bureau, where he has worked since 1998. He has worked on reviewing and revising the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) standards for defining metropolitan areas. He also works on maintaining the geographic base for the Census Bureau’s intercensal population estimates. In addition, Darryl helps design and maintain various metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area data products, including Census 2000, and post-censal population estimates table packages, and various definition and geographic relationship files publicly available on the Census Bureau’s website. Frequently, he responds to inquiries from the media, congress, other government agencies, and the general public.

Darryl’s research on settlement classification, census geography, and population data has been published in journals and government reports, and serve as the subject for numerous conference presentations. He holds a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in Geography with concentrations in Urban Planning from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. In 2001, Darryl received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award as a member of the metropolitan area standards review team. He currently lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

This profile was published in 2004. Darryl is currently still a geographer in the Population Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. 

AAG: Did you always know you wanted to be a geographer?

Darryl: No, actually I found geography almost by accident. My original intention was to become an urban planner. I have always been fascinated by cities, which probably stems from having grown up in the District of Columbia, and learning about the L’Enfant plan and how the city was laid out. Finding the right undergraduate program was a bit of a journey for me, but in the end I was fortunate enough to find an urban planning concentration in the geography program at UNCG.

AAG: And now you have the rare job title of Geographer. How does that feel?

Darryl: It’s not as important to me as the fact that I enjoy what I’m doing. It doesn’t really matter what’s on my business card, as long as my work is intellectually stimulating and I’m contributing something valuable.

AAG: Well said.

Darryl: I think the variety of job titles among geography professionals speaks to the nature of our discipline. There are so many different opportunities and areas of specialization that often your job title is not going to be geographer. Even here at the Census Bureau, there are a lot of people who have degrees in geography, but do not have the job title of geographer; they are statisticians, or cartographers, or social science analysts. There are a lot of different jobs for which people with degrees in geography are qualified.

AAG: What is your favorite part of your job?

Darryl: Probably the research. Discussing — from a conceptual standpoint — what constitutes a metropolitan area and how the areas should be defined.

AAG: What kinds of discussions come up?

Darryl: One fascinating thing . . . is taking a look back at research done previously and finding that many of the same issues come up over and over again. Say, 50 years ago they were having some of the same discussions that we are having today regarding determining the extent of metropolitan boundaries, what measures of integration to use, how to assign titles . . . all those things have been addressed by various people here at the Census Bureau and other agencies since the 1940s. That’s something that I’m working on – a history of the development of the standards for defining metropolitan areas.

AAG: What major new research potential do you see on the future horizon?

Darryl: Well, one is certainly on the micropolitan statistical areas, since OMB has only been defining them since 2003. We only have 4-5 years of data using those definitions, so that’s an area that’s certainly becoming ripe for research.

AAG: What do you see about your work that is important for others?

Darryl: It is important that the definitions add value to our data products – and that they are as good as they can be – because so many people depend on the data for various levels of decision-making, whether it’s setting policy at the federal level, state or local government planning, location analysis in the private sector, academic research, and so on.

AAG: Do you get to make it to the AAG Annual Meeting every year?

Darryl: Usually, yes. The Census Bureau is very supportive of our participation in professional associations and conferences.

AAG: Why do you most like to go?

Darryl: Mainly to build contacts with people, particularly people I may not know personally, but I may share a research interest with them. Over time, you develop a professional relationship with folks and look forward to seeing them year to year.

AAG: Why is that important?

Darryl: Part of the reason why we try to remain active in the AAG and participate in meetings is that our work is and should be done in an open manner – not only do we want to share what we are doing, but we also want to learn about how people are using the data that we publish.

AAG: What do you think would inspire more young people to do geography like you?

Darryl: Looking at how geography has grown in leaps and bounds, I think they are already inspired. That may be in part because we live in an increasingly global society, and it’s more important now to have information about places that aren’t necessarily close to where you live. Since so much information from different parts of the world is so readily available, geography has become more important now than ever. And . . . it can be a very fulfilling career choice.

Dr. Patricia Solis, 2004

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Edgar Conkling

Economic geographer Edgar “Ed” Conkling died November 24, 2004.

Born in Indiana in 1921, Edgar Conkling earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology from Morehead State College, a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago, and another master’s degree and a PhD in geography from Northwestern University. Beginning in 1961, Ed served as professor of economic geography at Kent State University and then at Queen’s University in Canada. In 1968, he moved to the State University of New York at Buffalo where he taught various courses in rural land use theory and regional development, economic geography, international trade, and regional economic integration until his retirement in 1989. During his tenure at SUNY at Buffalo, he was instrumental in creating the department’s undergraduate and graduate programs in international business, which built upon his earlier work as a manager of the home office of a multinational corporation headquartered in Chicago. He was Chair of the department from 1974-77.

In addition Conkling was Associate Editor (1963-64) and then Editor (1978-82) of The Professional Geographer, and Co-editor of the Annals of the AAG (1982-84). Among his publications are the following co-authored books: Geography of International Trade; The Geography of Economic Systems; Man’s Economic Environment; Economic Geography: Resource Use, Locational Choices, and Regional Specialization in the Global Economy; and The Global Economy: Resource Use, Locational Choice, and International Trade. Deeply involved in historic preservation during his retirement, he wrote Frederick Law Olmsted’s Point Chautauqua: The Story of an Historic Lakeside Community and was a founding member of the Point Chautauqua Historical Preservation Society.

Edgar “Ed” C. Conkling (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(3): 17.

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Macel Wheeler

Macel Marteva Wheeler, geography professor and coordinator of the geography program at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), died November 20, 2004.

Wheeler received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography from Marshall University and her doctorate in geography from the University of Kentucky in 1978. Under her leadership, the NKU geography program expanded to include a concentration in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Her areas of expertise included cultural geography, North America, map studies and GIS, and reading skills. She also made contributions in brownfields research.

Macel M. Wheeler (Necrology). 2006. AAG Newsletter 41(2): 37.

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Jim Goodman

Long-time faculty member and former Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Oklahoma, Jim Goodman passed away on November 15, 2004. .

James M. Goodman was born in Henryetta, Oklahoma on July 23, 1929. He earned his BA at the University of Oklahoma in 1952 and his MS and PhD at Northwestern University in 1953 and 1961, respectively. He taught at Western Kentucky State University (1956-64); Wisconsin State University-Oshkosh (1964-66); Oregon College of Education (1966-67); and the University of Oklahoma (1967-93), where he was Chair of the Department of Geography in his last seven years. During his tenure at OU, Jim was President of the National Council for Geographic Education (1980-81). He was founder and the first Director of the Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education. He was the author of The Navajo Atlas, which was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1982. After Jim retired from OU, he served as geographer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC, for two years before moving with his wife Mary to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Jim Goodman (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(11): 17.

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William Wallace

Retired forty-year University of New Hampshire professor, William H. Wallace died of liver cancer on October 29, 2004. He was born in Chicago, December 10, 1924. After attending Beloit College in Wisconsin, Wallace entered the graduate program in geography at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, receiving his Master of Science degree in 1950 and his PhD in 1956. His first academic position was at the University of Auckland in 1952. After returning to the U.S. in 1954, Wallace joined the faculty of Rutgers University.

Wallace began an appointment at the University of New Hampshire in 1956 and served on the faculty for forty years, retiring in 1997. He introduced the major program in geography in 1964 and established the Department of Geography in 1968. Wallace served as chair of the Department of Geography for twenty-four years. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1963 and was a Fulbright lecturer in Norway in 1971. Wallace was active in the AAG, the New England-St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society and the Eastern Historical Geography Association. His most recent scholarship focused on the Historical Geography of New England, particularly issues of colonial settlement and land division. Earlier in his career he wrote extensively about railroads.

William Wallace (Necrology). 2005. AAG Newsletter 40(11): 17.

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Arthur E. Karinen

Arthur E. Karinen, professor emeritus in geography, passed away May 25, 2004, at the age of eighty-five.

Karinen earned his B.A. and M.A. from UC Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Karinen joined the California State University-Chico faculty in 1959 and retired in 1986. Prior to coming to Chico, Karinen had held positions at Ohio State, University of Maryland and the Helsinki School of Economics.

He was a member of the AAG and the American Congress on Surveying Mapping.

An expert in cartography and the economic geography of Europe, Karinen was a consultant to the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1958-59 and was a Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Finland in 1970. He contributed to many atlases and publications, and was co-author of California: Land of Contrast and California, both of which went through several editions and revisions.

Arthur E. Karinen (Necrology). 2004. AAG Newsletter 39(7): 28.

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Larry Hargrave

Larry Hargrave, 61, of Medford, Oregon died May 15, 2004, at home surrounded by family and friends after a battle with leukemia.

Hargrave completed his undergraduate work at Southern Oregon University and had just received his master’s in Geography from Miami University in Ohio. He returned to school after full careers first in the lumber industry and then as a financial consultant.

Larry Hargrave (Necrology). 2004. AAG Newsletter 39(7): 28.

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George Carter

Geographer George F. Carter died March 16, 2004.

Carter earned his A.B. in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked as curator of anthropology at the San Diego Museum of Man (1934-38). In 1942 he earned his Ph.D. in geography under Carol O. Sauer at the University of California, Berkeley.

Carter served as an analyst for the Office of Strategic Services (1942-43, 1945), before entering academia definitively. He taught from 1943-67 in the Isaiah Bowman Department of Geography at the Johns Hopkins University (where he was chair 1944-58) and afterward as Distinguished Professor Geography at Texas A&M University until his retirement in 1978.

Carter was a noted scholar in the field of early transoceanic spreads of culture and “Early Man” in America.

George F. Carter (Necrology). 2004. AAG Newsletter 39(7): 28

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Tom McKnight

Tom McKnight died peacefully of kidney problems on February 16, 2004.

Shortly after his 75th birthday, he underwent hip replacement and during the rehabilitation process developed the kidney problems that lead to his death.

McKnight earned a bachelor of arts degree in geology at Southern Methodist in 1949, a master’s in geography at Colorado in 1951, and a Ph.D. in geography and meteorology at Wisconsin in 1955. He began a distinguished teaching and writing career at UCLA in 1956. He retired there in 1993, having gone from Assistant Professor to Full Professor, and was Professor Emeritus at the time of his death. He played many roles at UCLA in those thirty-seven years, and served as departmental Chair from 1978-83.

It was during his term as Chair that he initiated an outreach effort to community college teachers in Southern California. Periodic meetings of varied teachers led to a creative and stimulating interaction between faculty in different academic settings. The seeds of the national Geographic Alliance movement were planted in this McKnight-UCLA innovation. The National Geographic Society diffused this extraordinarily popular concept of teachers from K-12 through to graduate level all working together in the promotion of increased geographic interest, both in education and public awareness.

McKnight’s breadth of belief in geography is shown in his love of the concept of “landscape appreciation” which he defined as “an understanding of everything that one can see, hear, and smell—both actually and vicariously—in humankind’s zone of living on the earth.” During the last decade of his life, McKnight and his wife, geographer Joan Clemons, carried these interests to all corners of the world, and Tom wrote of the wonders of such geography in a number of evocative texts and numerous articles. Although Australia received the lion’s share of McKnight’s foreign fieldwork and writing, his global interests were catholic and touched all continents except Antarctica.

Anyone wishing to remember Tom McKnight in a more formal way is encouraged to send contributions to Friends of Geography (FOG) c/o Department of Geography, 1255 Bunche Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524.

Tom McKnight (Necrology). 2004. AAG Newsletter 39(5): 19.

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