Annual Meeting

Little Known Tampa: Culturally Diverse and Exciting!

December 18, 2018

When you come to Tampa, you’ll find examples of good planning, fabulous natural areas, and appealing urban spaces. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Florida and the Tampa Bay area are—or at least were—national leaders in growth management

Beginning in the late 1970s and culminating in the Growth Management Act of 1985, the state of Florida had one of the nation’s most fully articulated statewide planning regimes. Perhaps because Floridians had experienced firsthand the problems of rapid growth without much planning, the state legislature created measures to ensure that each county and municipality engaged in long term planning, that large regional projects were reviewed by regional planning agencies, and that state officials would be charged with upholding plans. Transportation, water resources, and coastal concerns were all taken into account when new developments were proposed. Growth management hardly stopped development – Florida’s population grew from 9.7 million in 1980 to just over 19 million in 2012, with new single family housing accommodating much of that growth. But under the state’s growth management laws, some of the sins of the 1960s and 1970s – houses constructed without attendant municipal services in place, unrestrained draining of wetlands, and inattention to water resource limits – were contained. Unfortunately, important parts of these Growth Management laws were overturned in 2011. The full impact of this retreat has not yet been felt; thanks to the recession, demand for new construction has been limited. But once demand picks up, the flight from comprehensive planning is likely to be felt, especially in the less urban parts of the state.

Tampa Demographics
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)	62.9%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)	46.3%
Black or African-American	26.2%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	23.1%
Asian	3.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan	0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian	0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial)	3.2%
Source: US Census Bureau

Tampa has an industrial history

Incorporated in 1849, Tampa, unlike many Sunbelt cities, emerged as an industrial center. Between 1865 and World War II, Tampa was a key center of the cigar industry. The cities (and now neighborhoods within Tampa) of Ybor City and West Tampa both developed around cigar manufacturing, drawing streams of immigrants to work in the factories. Tampa has a tradition of union activism having experienced several general strikes in the early decades of the last century. Its racially and ethnically diverse population has a tradition of immigrant social clubs and mutual benefit societies that provided cultural and material resources to working class residents. The built legacy of these traditions can be found throughout these communities. The Cuban Club, the German-American Club and the Italian Club are a few of the early 20th century establishments whose buildings have been preserved. And the former cigar factories remain distinctive features of the central Tampa built environment. While some of these sit vacant, others have been repurposed for other industrial uses or converted to condos and offices. Those interested in exploring Tampa history can do so in Ybor City, either by taking advantage of the programs of the Ybor City Museum (www.ybormuseum.org ), or by strolling through the neighborhood.

Tampa has rediscovered its downtown waterfront

Among the most striking characteristics of our area are its water features. Parts of Tampa and all of Pinellas County (location of St. Petersburg) are defined by their rivers, bays and oceans. But until recently, Tampa was largely cut off from its waterfront. In an earlier era, river and bayfront areas were dominated by industrial, port and transportation infrastructure, but as those uses have receded (the Port of Tampa remains quite active, but other waterfront industries are gone), Tampa was slow to recognize the value of its waterfront for recreation and the development of other amenities. One of the major commercial developments in the downtown area, the Channelside shopping/entertainment center, is located directly on the water, next to the Tampa port facilities, and it has been ingeniously designed so that those visiting the development have no contact with the water at all – no access, no vistas. Perhaps that helps explain why the development has gone bankrupt.

But more recent downtown planning has embraced the waterfront location. A “Riverwalk” has been under development now across two mayoral administrations; a recent federal grant will accelerate its completion (www.thetampariverwalk.com ). Those of you visiting downtown Tampa will have the opportunity to enjoy the water at some new locations. The Tampa Bay History Center opens onto a waterfront plaza (https://www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/ ). The newly renovated Curtis Hixon Park, at the other end of the downtown peninsula, is a well-designed, inviting urban space flanked by the newly built Tampa Museum of Art (https://tampamuseum.org/ ). With food kiosks, fountains and children’s play areas, it’s the sort of urban gathering point that this city has lacked for too long. These new spaces signal the success of fledgling coalitions of elected officials, civic activists and business leaders who share an appreciation for appealing design and pedestrian-friendly urban environments.

Ride the TECO trolley

Like too many Sunbelt cities, Tampa once had a dense network of light rail lines, most of which were bought up by bus companies and dismantled by the late 1940s. But a trolley line was resurrected recently; it runs a loop connecting the downtown/Channelside area with Ybor City (https://www.tecolinestreetcar.org/). The embattled trolley line has struggled to maintain ridership; critics claim its empty cars are proof that this region will never embrace mass transit while defenders note that its limited route makes it useful mostly to visitors or the rare resident whose home and work happen to be near one if its stops. But those of you staying at one of the conference hotels are well positioned to use the trolley for your explorations.

There’s much in this area that transcends the generic – the newly opened bike and pedestrian bridge that traverses Tampa Bay along the Courtney Campbell Causeway; one of baseball’s best teams (the Tampa Bay Rays) playing in one of baseball’s worst stadiums (Tropicana Field); the annual invasion of the city by sea led by business and civic leaders dressed as pirates (the Gasparilla Festival) and the annual crowning of a “Strawberry Queen” in nearby Plant City. If you want to learn more about what the region offers, you can read all about it the highly regarded Tampa Bay Times (www.tampabay.com), one of the last independently owned metro area newspapers. We urge you to explore the area and learn that it has a diverse array of historic places, quirky areas, and scenic spots. ♦

Elizabeth Strom
University of South Florida

DOI: 10.14433/2013.0024

Dorothy Drummond

It is with sadness that we note the passing of geography professor and advocate Dorothy Drummond on November 30, 2018. At the age of 89, she was traveling on her seventh trip to China to conduct research when she fell at the museum for the Three Gorges Project. After surgery in Hong Kong, she sustained severe head trauma and passed away peacefully with her friend and daughter by her side.

Drummond began her career as an editorial assistant for the Geographical Review, the flagship journal of the American Geographical Society. She then went on to live in Terre Haute, Indiana where she was an affiliate faculty member of Indiana State University and an adjunct at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. In 1983 she founded the geography non-profit, Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana, following her husband’s death in 1982, and remained a long standing board member of the organization.

Born in San Diego in 1928, she held an undergraduate degree from Valparaiso University (1949) and a masters degree in geography from Northwestern University (1951). A world traveler, she lived in Burma during 1957 while both her and her husband were Fulbright Scholars. She also traveled widely in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, and had visited large parts of Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and China. She used this experience and her geographical expertise to author and co-author four World Cultures textbooks. She was included as a GeoInspiration in Directions Magazine in 2016.

In addition to her work with the Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana, Dorothy was active in service to several non-profit organizations including United Campus Ministries and Citizens for Better Government and a respected member of the Terre Haute community. She was scheduled to present a paper at the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting on the historical settlement of ancient Israel as well as appear on a panel sponsored by the Bible Geography Specialty Group on curbing violence in the Middle East.

The information above is courtesy of the Terre Haute Tribune Star

See All Memorials

President's Column

Paradise Lost, Global Warming Report, and Geographers Speak Up

November 30, 2018

The 2019 Annual Meeting of the AAG is shaping up, and I thank those who responded to participate in the three featured themes, Health and GIScience, Human Rights, and Physical Geography in Environmental Science, in addition to the many independent abstracts and sessions submitted. Program committees and AAG staff, to whom I offer my deepest appreciation, are now sorting abstracts and assembling sessions from the more than 5,000 paper abstracts submitted. Thus far, we have 306 paper abstracts and 71 sessions submitted in Health and GIScience; in the Human Rights Theme we have 201 paper abstracts and 82 sessions; and in Physical Geography in Environmental Science there are 233 paper abstracts and 42 proposed sessions. Although the call for paper sessions and abstracts is now closed, participants may still edit their entries until 23 February 2019. Additionally, the Call for Posters is open until 31 January 2019, and poster session organizing is open until 14 February 2019. I look forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C., April 3-7, 2019!

Smoke plume from the fast-moving Woolsey Fire encroaching on Malibu on Nov. 9, 2018, as residents evacuate along the Pacific Coast Highway (CC by-SA 4.0 by Cyclonebiskit)

This week marked two landmark accomplishments. The first accomplishment is that fire-fighting crews have brought the Camp Fire in my beloved northern California to 100 percent containment. The city of Paradise, (population around 26,000), is devastated along with the smaller communities of Magalia and Concow in the largest and deadliest wildfire in California history, and the largest fire in the U.S. in 100 years. 88 people are now known to have lost their lives, with nearly 200 still missing. Paradise is on the doorstep of Chico where I went to school, and families are hurting, with hundreds homeless, 18,000 buildings destroyed, and more than 62,000 hectares scorched (an area bigger than the city of Chicago). Schools across northern California, all the way to San Francisco, were closed due to the smoke from the fires, and only recently are re-opening. A part of southern California also burned in tandem to the Camp Fire, with the Woolsey Fire in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties consuming over 39,000 hectares, an area roughly the size of Denver. The fire destroyed 1,500 buildings, and killed three people. It was brought under containment shortly before the Camp Fire. Three firefighters were injured in each fire, respectively. We thank Cal Fire and all of the responders from other jurisdictions who assisted. Cal Fire provides web based GIS fire mapping and incident tracking, an important geographic information science benefit offered to the public. And the first response from the White House was unbridled ignorance about California forests and blame wrongly cast upon California State forest management, before and after a Presidential site visit. Our dear leader in the White House suggested forest floor raking as the answer. This is lunacy. In reality, 45.8 percent of all land in CA is federally owned, and KTVU TV reported that 57 percent of California forests are federally managed, with 2 percent managed by the state, and the remaining 39 percent are under private management, where most of the fire losses have occurred. Most of the land that burned does not look like Trump’s imagined Jellystone (apologies to Hanna-Barbera Productions) to be tended by Finnish raking teams, it is Mediterranean scrubland and chaparral, mixed with suburban neighborhoods. As the Camp Fire hit close to home for my family and community, the Woolsey Fire hit even closer to home for Past AAG President Glen MacDonald, who with his family had to evacuate from their home. Dr. MacDonald made a bold public statement calling out the U.S. President’s misinformation about California forest management, and noted the powerful connection between increasingly frequent and large wildfires, changing seasonality, and climate change. Now, flooding is beginning to take over the Camp Fire site. Although Giving Tuesday is past, and I do not often break the “fourth wall” to make personal appeals, please do consider contributing to the charities of your choice to assist wildfire victims.

Leslie-Ann Dupigny-Giroux (Photo courtesy U. of Vermont)

The second landmark accomplishment this week was in climate change communication: Federal scientists at 13 Federal agencies partnering with independent, university, and research scientists were able to complete and publish a clear and sobering report on Climate Change, the Fourth National Assessment, reporting mandated by Congress since 1990. The report covers 12 areas of impact and actions. When reporters asked Trump about the report, Trump said he “saw” it, read “parts” of it, and it is “fine.” A follow-up question about the findings of negative economic impacts elicited his response that he does not believe it. This is completely off the rails to deny, without any counter evidence, his own administration’s scientists’ dire findings on global warming that will affect our economy, our environment, our food, our water, and our health. He claims that our water and air are at their “cleanest” by ignoring the very legislation that he has attempted to disassemble, that allowed air and water quality to improve over the last decades. If our commander in chief will not wake up, we cannot wait for that day, we must wake up and act ourselves. Geography Professor Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, Northeast Chapter lead author on the Fourth Climate Assessment, spoke out in an interview on the report. She notes that changes in seasonality and in coastal environments are vulnerabilities in the Northeast, the regional report she led. She also notes a key takeaway that mitigation and adaptation measures being put in place offer hope and are critical. Dr. Dupigny-Giroux also notes that even if greenhouse gas inputs stop today, global warming will not level off anytime soon due to greenhouse gases already accumulated in the atmosphere. Climate change matters. The free press matters. Peer-reviewed science matters. The freedom to practice, communicate, and benefit from science matters.

An ancient Roman aqueduct leading to ancient Carthage (Tunis) is presented by CAJG meeting local organizing chair Dr. Mabrouk Boughdiri, professor at the University of Carthage, earth science department to field group. (Photo courtesy Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach)

I end this column with hope. We must work hard to get there, however. In the same month that a CNN White House correspondent had his press credentials stripped by the White House, but later restored by a federal judge, as noted in last month’s column, a Washington Post reporter was brutally murdered in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul. The White House has repeatedly called members of the press the enemy of the people and has chosen to believe Saudi government denials of involvement in the murder, over our own national intelligence community findings otherwise. I travelled to Tunisia this month to give a keynote in the 10^th Anniversary of a Springer/Nature Journal, the Arabian Journal of Geosciences, the flagship journal of the Saudi Society for Geosciences. (Full disclosure, I am an AJGS associate editor for Geography, Geoarchaeology, and Geotourism.) What I witnessed at this international meeting of nearly 500 participants was enthusiastic freedom of expression, camaraderie, academic diplomacy, thoughtful discussion and debate, student encouragement and empowerment, and science communication. In my keynote comments, I thanked the founding editor for giving voice to scientists across the region for the past 10 years with the journal, and reminded all of the right for scientists to practice, to share their science, and to gather and collaborate internationally. And at this meeting, all were treated as welcome, and women were featured speakers in addition to men. I am grateful for the new friends I have met, the outstanding papers I heard, the excellent field trips to enhance our teaching, and the new research opportunities and ideas we all shared. (Tunisia hosted the International Geographical Union meeting in 2008). This week, Tunisian citizens freely rose up to speak against the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince, in protest of the murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi. So, our Geoscience conference was not a singular or staged event in free speech. I am encouraged by Tunisians lighting a candle in the darkness, and thank our Tunisian hosts for their warm welcome, sincere hospitality, and many kindnesses during the meetings, and look forward to returning, Inshallah.

Finally, there are two upcoming events related to Science and Human Rights to observe in December: The 30^th Anniversary of World AIDS Day will be observed on 1 December 2018; and Human Rights Day will mark the 70^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 2018. Cherish and protect our First Amendment and our human rights. Take part, speak up, and make a difference with Geography!

Wishing you a peaceful and rejuvenating holiday season,

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
President, American Association of Geographers
Professor of Geography and Fellow of the C.B. Smith Sr. Centennial Chair in U.S. Mexico Relations, University of Texas at Austin

Please share your ideas with me at: slbeach(at)austin(dot)utexas(dot)edu

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0048

Newsletters

Newsletter – November 2018

November 6, 2018

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Watershed Moments

By Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach

vote sticker i voted 3002776434_643d076694_z-150x150 “It is encouraging to be receiving AAG Members’ thoughtful geography abstracts for the AAG Annual Meeting major themes: Geospatial Health Research; Geography and Human Rights; and Physical Geography in Environmental Science. Thank you. There is still time to participate… While you are in Washington, visit your legislators, share your science, speak up and be a part of the change: make a difference with Geography. And on Tuesday 6 November, make a difference with your citizenship: VOTE.”

Continue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

Additional Theme Announced for #aagDC

Deepwater_horizon_beach_cleanup500-300x200 The AAG Council and Executive Director have announced a third theme for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting: Physical Geography in Environmental Science. This theme joins two others, Geography, GIScience, and Health: Building an International Geospatial Health Research Network (IGHRN) and Geographies of Human Rights: The Right to Benefit from Scientific Progress, as a way to focus the meeting.

Learn more about the meeting themes.

FocusOnNewOrleansLogo

“Focus on Washington, DC and the Mid Atlantic” is an ongoing series curated by the Local Arrangements Committee to provide insight on and understanding of the geographies of Washington, DC and the greater Mid Atlantic region in preparation for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center

Amidst the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County, Maryland lies the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center. The Center celebrates the legacy of Harriet Tubman, who spent her childhood enslaved in the area before assisting over 100 African American slaves to freedom in the mid 1800s. Catherine W. Cooper provides an overview of Tubman’s life and the landscape she impacted.

Read more.

Registration rates increase for #aagDC November 8!

Abstracts for paper presentations are due November 8, while abstracts for poster presentations are due January 31. All abstracts can be edited until February 23.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Geography Awareness Week is Almost here!

Geography Awareness Week, held the third week of November each year, will run from November 11-17, 2018. This year’s theme is Migration. Get involved in Geography Awareness Week with some of our suggested activities. Don’t forget to share your involvement with us on social media with the hashtags #GeoWeek or #GeographyAwarenessWeek.

Find activities and resources.

AAG Announces Launch of Geography.com

AAG and Esri have teamed up to create geography.com, a website designed for educational purposes and the promotion of the discipline. It is intended as an outreach tool for site visitors to learn more about what geography is, what geography offers, and career opportunities available in the field. The intended audience includes the general public and students (high school and undergraduates), as well as educators, parents, and federal agencies or other organizations seeking information about geography.

Learn more about the website.

Dwayne Parks Joins AAG Staff as Accounting Specialist

The AAG is pleased to welcome Dwayne Parks to fill the role of Accounting Specialist. Dwayne brings more than 17 years of experience working with organizational data to the association headquarters in D.C. Previously, he has worked in a variety of fields including science, legal, and healthcare.

Read more about Dwayne.

MEMBER NEWS

Profiles of Professional Geographers

Douglas Gress

Douglas Gress, Professor of Economic Geography, Seoul National University, has spent the majority of his professional career outside of his home country of the United States. In this month’s Profile he offers some advice not just about geography careers, but also about living abroad and being prepared to move while working to obtain a dream job.

Learn more about geography careers.

November Member Updates

The latest news about AAG Members.

The UK Academy of Social Sciences conferred the award of Fellow on Mei-Po Kwan in their 2018 class of social scientists. Kwan, the only US geographer to receive the award this year, was chosen for her “significant contributions to theory, methods and practice in urban, GIScience, mobility and health research.” More about the award.

In early October, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton issued a certificate of commendation to the John R. Borchert Map Library at University of Minnesota for its work in preserving and providing access to historical aerial photography of the state. The library provides online access to 270 different sets of 1923-1991 historic photos covering Minnesota’s 87 counties. The Map Library is named for John R. Borchert, AAG president in 1968-69. Borchert was professor of geography at the University of Minnesota (1949-1989) and member of the National Academy of Sciences. Explore the library.

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Upcoming Awards Deadlines – Nominate Deserving Geographers!

honors and awards December 31st marks the deadline for multiple awards to honor and support geographers in all stages of their careers. Members may nominate their colleagues for the Wilbanks Award for transformational research in geography or the Glenda Laws Award for social justice as well as the AAG E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Award for contributions to geography in teaching or research. Students can apply for AAG Dissertation Research Grants and the Hess Community College Geography Scholarship. Those with a geography career are invited to apply for an AAG Research Grant. Nominations are also being solicited for a variety of books in geography awards including the Globe Book Award, the Jackson Prize, and the Meridian Book Award.

Follow the AAG Awards Calendar for Deadlines.

Take Time Out This Summer for Professional Development

The AAG’s Geography Faculty Development Alliance (GFDA) will once again offer a valuable in-depth opportunity for early career professionals and department leaders in Geography to learn and engage during its annual workshops June 23-29, 2019, at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The shorter four-day workshop for department leaders (June 26-29) will overlap with the week-long conference for early career attendees providing a full career spectrum of exercises and activities. These workshops are part of AAG’s membership resources, which also include its Jobs and Careers Center and many other programs.

Learn more.

IN MEMORIAM

Marilyn Sue O’Hara

The AAG is saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Marilyn Sue O’Hara, also known as Marilyn Ruiz on September 30, 2018. O’Hara was a Clinical Professor of Pathobiology at the University of Illinois. She obtained a PhD in geography in 1995 from the University of Florida. Her work largely centered around the spatial diffusion of disease and epidemiology.

Read more.

PUBLICATIONS

Read the November 2018 Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’

Annals-cvr-2017

The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 108, Issue 6 (November 2018) of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is now available online. The November issue contains a special forum: Context and Uncertainty in Geography and GIScience.

Full article listing available.

New Books in Geography — September and October 2018 Available

New Books in Geography illustration of stack of books

From places like the Arctic and Africa to people like Lévi-Strauss and Doreen Massey, the topics are varied on the latest list of new books in geography! Recently released books are compiled from various publishers each month. The October list features topics such as citizenship, drugs, plants, and fire safety. Some of these titles are later reviewed in the AAG Review of Books.

Browse the list of September new books.

Browse the list of October new books.

Fall 2018 Issue of ‘The AAG Review of Books’ Now Available

Volume 6, Issue 4 of The AAG Review of Books has now been published online. This quarterly online journal publishes scholarly reviews of recent books related to geography, public policy and international affairs. A review essay this quarter by Gerry Kearns reflects on Ireland’s Brexit Problem.

Read the reviews.

GEOGRAPHERS IN THE NEWS

EVENTS CALENDAR

Submit News to the AAG Newsletter. To share your news, email us!

President's Column

Watershed Moments

November 5, 2018

It is time to show our democracy, our humanity, our compassion, and our resolve. It is time to say no to the murders of journalists, worshippers in synagogues, African American churchgoers, schoolchildren, theatergoers, yoga practitioners, and disco dancers. It is time to VOTE. Please take a moment of silence for all victims of ever-senseless and hate-fueled violence inspired by the rhetoric of the current U.S. Administration…

…Thank you.

I embrace the privilege to write this column each month, a right to free expression for which Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi died. VOTE.

I am honored for the opportunity to take part in AAG Regional Division Meetings this fall, and am grateful for the freedom of assembly, a right for which 11 worshippers died in the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue. VOTE.

Now, the U.S. President believes he can change the Constitution by executive order, to erase the birthright of American citizenship. Furthermore, the Administration is working to erase transgender identities, lift protections for endangered species, and is sending National Guard troops to an imaginary invasion at the U.S.-Mexico border. VOTE.

Remember to speak out against alternative facts, to light the candle in the dark. During Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s powerful testimony in the Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing, Sen. Patrick Leahy stated “Bravery is Contagious.” VOTE.

When you exercise your right and civic duty to vote on Tuesday 6 November, remember that our great grandmothers fought for that right in suffrage. Communities today still fight voter suppression. This is a watershed moment in our history, it is now or never for freedom of expression, for civil and human rights, for the environment, for the future of the planet. Of course, your choices are your own: be heard. VOTE.

Deepwater Horizon beach cleanup. (Photo by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)

Meanwhile in the Colorado River Watershed we are not safe either, and are not being helped by a gutted and demoralized EPA…It is humbling to live in the very modern city of Austin, Texas, with the advantages of modern water treatment and sewer systems, to receive a 5 am text with a boil water order for our metropolitan area of nearly a million citizens. Our water treatment system was overwhelmed by flood waters traveling down the Colorado River Watershed. This 50 year magnitude storm event took out a 49 year old bridge in the Hill Country. Austin and its suburbs were without clean tap water for over a week and we still face restrictions of not being able to water yards, fill pools, or wash cars. Such a first world problem with regards to pools and cars, and water conservation is the increasing norm for drought-prone central Texas. Imagine never having clean water or sanitation in the first place. 844 million of the world’s citizens today have no access to safe water, and 2.3 billion people live without access to sanitation. And in the U.S., Food and Water Watch notes that half a million households had their water shut off for the inability to pay their water bills in 2016. How do we ensure water security, both from an economic and humanitarian perspective, and from a production capacity perspective? This is a grand challenge for Geographers to work on. As climate change continues to bring more extreme events, our infrastructure is being overwhelmed. If this is the case in one of the most developed nations on the planet, how will less well-off countries cope with looming environmental challenges? In the U.S., the Trump Administration rolled back protections for clean water in 2017, relaxing limits on toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plant ash, among other senseless environmental protection rollbacks. VOTE.

It is encouraging to be receiving AAG Members’ thoughtful geography abstracts for the AAG Annual Meeting major themes: Geospatial Health Research; Geography and Human Rights; and Physical Geography in Environmental Science. Thank you. There is still time to participate the paper abstract deadline has been extended to 8 November 2018; Poster abstracts are due 31 January 2018. Consider submitting your research to be presented at the AAG Annual Meeting in Washington DC in April 2019. While you are in Washington, visit your legislators, share your science, speak up and be a part of the change: make a difference with Geography. And on Tuesday 6 November, make a difference with your citizenship: VOTE.

Please share your thoughts with me at slbeach (at) austin (dot) utexas (dot) edu.

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
Professor and C.B. Smith Sr. Fellow in U.S.-Mexico Relations
Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0047

President's Column

Geography and Climate Change in the 21st Century: Keeping our Eyes on the Prize

October 2, 2018

Geography has many grand challenges for the 21st Century: combatting climate change and biodiversity loss; providing clean water; investigating safe refuge, health care, education, and poverty; preparing for natural hazards, and ensuring food security among many. Another grand challenge is ensuring a harassment-, bullying-, and bias-free Geography workplace, to ensure that progress continues on our other grand challenges. This is a “climate change” that we must unite around. This is not an easy topic to write about, but it is my civic and professional duty.

Donna Strickland, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics (Credit: UNI, Waterloo)

On this week that Nobel Prizes are being announced, a cloud hangs over the academy and over our justice system. The Nobel Prize for Literature for 2018 will not be awarded because of sexual and financial misconduct allegations against committee members, culminating in one key figure being sentenced to jail this week for rape. Another news item notes how few women have been awarded Nobel Prizes and raises questions about bias. Fortuitously, the Nobel Prize committee just awarded Dr. Donna Strickland, the third female scientist in history (and first in 55 years), a Physics Nobel, shared three ways by scholars working on laser physics.

U.S. Supreme Court building (Credit: Joe Ravi, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Meanwhile, the U.S. has just been through wrenching hours of testimony regarding sexual assault allegations, as part of the hearings to appoint the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice. We have not progressed far since Anita Hill testified on Capitol Hill. Another professional woman, separated by nearly three decades from Dr. Hill’s experience, gave solemn testimony last week. Both women came forward out of a sense of civic duty and opened their professional and personal lives and families to public scrutiny and far worse, for no personal gain. This testimony contrasted sharply with a privileged candidate for the highest judicial seat angrily responding during his turn, especially towards female questioners. But these are not the only allegations that have crossed our news feeds or desks. I have learned of recent sexual misconduct allegations, proceedings, and findings against a geographer at a U.S. institution. I also have received a signed request from AAG members for our organization to address a specific case and, more broadly, these issues in more depth. Broadly speaking, as a former administrator, I cannot discuss specifics of cases because victims, witnesses, and accused (and exonerated) parties must receive due process and be protected from retaliation in these proceedings. Meanwhile, the challenge for AAG is what can we do, as a professional organization, to improve the climate for and among our members?

As I wrote in my September 2018 column, the AAG Council appointed a committee to work on improving and strengthening our AAG Meeting Conduct policies, to make our Annual Meeting a safer place. The AAG Inclusion Committee will be presenting their findings and recommendations to AAG Council to consider this fall, so we can move forward with a new plan. I am grateful to the committee, led by Dr. Lorraine Dowler, for their hard work on this. Stepwise, there are other ways we can address the issue of harassment, bullying, and bias in our community and institutions. One of the informal observations by the Inclusion Committee was that science organizations seem to be ahead of the issues in several senses. For the rest of this column, I will share some of the best practices of other organizations, and set an agenda for where we may ask the AAG Council and our membership to go next.

On the topic of equity, The American Geophysical Union (AGU) President and President-elect have raised the issue of gender equity in their awards, and tasked their honors committee to study how to improve in this area, and their members to be more proactive in nominating deserving diverse members. Prompted by this published discussion, an AAG member sent me a query about gender balance in AAG Awards, and asked if AAG has undertaken a study to see where we stand, and expressed optimism that we are doing well. I would expand this to a broader examination of equity in terms of how do we honor, elevate, and retain all protected classes in our profession. This is another of our grand challenges then, to assess the equity in our recognition systems.

Also on the topic of honors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Board just passed a policy and procedure to revoke AAAS Fellowship status due to “proven scientific misconduct, serious breaches of professional ethics, or when the Fellow in the view of AAAS otherwise no longer merits the status of Fellow.“ This includes sexual misconduct. This is another grand challenge that should be considered by our organization and others as a next step, again building on our Safe Meetings, anti-harassment, and ethics policies.

Broadening out on consequences for bullying, harassment, bias, and workplace hostility, AAG needs to work in partnership with our home institutions and our sibling organizations to ensure seamless reporting, support, and action structures to deal with complicated sets of allegations and due process for all, especially when they cross multiple jurisdictions. I have heard instances where a victim was harassed at a meeting, and the perpetrator was not from their home institution, and the event was co-sponsored by two organizations. Unfortunately, the home institution had limited capacity to deal with this. Therefore, these kinds of cases can fall through institutional jurisdictional gaps when it comes to Title IX enforcement. A further complication to protect victims and witnesses from retaliation is that they are not identified and do not know the penalties handed out to perpetrators. Thus, it will often take a very long time for investigation outcomes to see the full light of day. Creating a reporting structure and clearinghouse in partnership with our home institutions is therefore another one of our grand challenges. For AAG Meetings we have made progress to build on with our Inclusion Committee, combined with our foundational anti-harassment policies, and our existing standing committee that hears meeting harassment cases.

I wish that Geography and other organizations’ “Presidential Columns” did not have to be about demanding that our memberships be more respectful and more inclusive of one another; for civility; and for basic human rights. It is the responsibility of leadership to listen to our members; to shine the light on timely and difficult professional issues that have always plagued our fields, not only recently; and to act to make our professional communities kinder, more inclusive, and in the words of Former AAG President Victoria Lawson, “caring” places, of “human and environmental well-being” (Lawson, 2009, Antipode 41(1): 210-214). I believe we geographers are all on the same page with treasuring our planet and our environment, but we still have to work on valuing and respecting each other. I salute the vast majority of geographers who do care, the women and men who write to me, who sign your names with sincerity, hope, and courage to share ideas and ask for changes, and who are already part of the positive “climate change” in Geography.

Please share your ideas with me at: slbeach (at) austin (dot) utexas (dot) edu

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, President, AAG
Professor, Geography and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0045

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Michelle Kinzer Joins AAG Staff as Government Relations Manager

October 1, 2018

The AAG is pleased to welcome Michelle Kinzer to fill the role of Government Relations Manager. She will serve as AAG’s primary advocate on public policy in Washington and will continue to grow relationships with government decision makers as well as outside organizations and stakeholders. She will track and analyze relevant issues facing the AAG and work to promote the rapidly growing geography community as a whole.

Michelle brings with her several years of government relations experience from both the public and private sectors. She began her career answering constituent phone calls in the office of Senator Tim Kaine and eventually went on to manage the Senator’s constituent correspondence database. She employed her budding passion for geospatial data by compiling targeted email lists for press releases and town halls in the Commonwealth, and mapping internal correspondence metrics. After some crash courses in ArcGIS Online, she created an interactive Virginia map for the National Park Service’s 2016 Centennial that was featured on Senator Kaine’s website. Michelle later went on to join the government relations firm Public Strategies Washington as a Senior Legislative Assistant. Her client work focused on the issues of renewable energy, small business & seasonal visas, agriculture, and transportation.

Michelle is a graduate of Virginia Tech where she earned her B.A. in Urban Planning with a concentration in Global Development and minors in Political Science and Spanish. She developed a working proficiency in Spanish while studying abroad in Valparaíso, Chile.

In her free time, Michelle enjoys DC theater, bluegrass music, Hokie football, and arguing with friends and family over the quickest way to get somewhere.

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AAG Welcomes Fall 2018 Interns

October 1, 2018

Three new interns have joined the AAG staff this fall semester! The AAG would like to welcome Daliha, Mike, and Siri to the organization.

Daliha Jimenez is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a B.S in Geographic Information Systems and a minor in Remote Sensing. Daliha hopes to use her skills to collect data and create maps to analyze the effects of land and climate change along the East Coast. She is also interested in urban planning and analyzing growth in densely populated areas. After graduating this December, she wishes to work as a GIS analyst in the District / Maryland / Virginia area. In her spare time, she likes to watch movies, explore new museums & restaurants, and embroider different designs.

Mike Kelly is currently a junior at the George Washington University studying Geography and Finance. Prior to joining AAG, Mike served as a Membership and Marketing Intern at the Council on Foundations in Arlington, VA. At the COF, he was heavily involved with database management and creating content to be distributed on social media and mailing lists. Born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Mike spent most of his childhood in Bucks County rooting for the Eagles, Sixers, and Phillies. In his spare time, Mike enjoys producing and listening to music, running, following college basketball and reading up on the latest trends in new urbanism.

Siri Knudsen is a senior at the George Washington University pursuing a B.A in Geography and International Affairs and minors in Spanish and GIS. Over the summer she worked at the Port of Seattle in Washington State as a data management intern in their environmental department. Siri got to participate in many of their habitat restoration projects including monitoring and mapping kelp growth in Elliott Bay. Aside from her interest in environmental issues, she is an active participant in open source mapping and hope to one day bridge her disciplines and continue working in this field. Siri’s love for geography came from childhood boating trips in British Columbia where her family explored the intricate groups of islands, navigating them using nautical charts. In her spare time, Siri likes to read, travel, ski, and be at the beach with her dog!

If you or someone you know is interested in applying for an internship at the AAG, the AAG seeks interns on a year-round basis for the spring, summer, and fall semesters. More information on internships at the AAG is also available on the Jobs & Careers section of the AAG website at: https://www.aag.org/internships.

Marilyn Sue O’Hara

Marilyn Sue O’Hara, also known as Marilyn Ruiz, died September 30, 2018, following a collision between her car and a semi-truck at an intersection near her home in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. She was 58 years old. She is survived by her parents, four children, and six siblings.

Marilyn received her Ph.D. in Geography at University of Florida in 1995. Her dissertation was titled “A Model of Error Propagation From Digital Elevation Models To Viewsheds.” Her dissertation advisor was Grant Ian Thrall. Her Bachelors and Masters degrees were from University of Illinois. Her selection of UF for her doctorate degree came about because of communications with Grant about Spatial Diffusion, Grant at the time was resident scholar at the Homer Hoyt Institute, doing research on spatial diffusion of urban development, and he had recently co-authored a monograph titled Spatial Diffusion. She then applied for the graduate program at UF and received an offer of a UF Presidential Scholarship awarded to the University’s top entering graduate students. Marilyn never drew funds from that award because her graduate program at UF was generously and fully funded by contract grants on DEM from the US Military. Her advancements on the topic of DEM were expedient; but, her passion was Epidemiology, Spatial Diffusion of Disease.

After receiving her Ph.D. she was offered several academic appointments and accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Florida State University. After completion of her third year at FSU, she was offered positions at University of Illinois where she advanced to Clinical Professor of Pathobiology.

At University of Illinois she became a cherished teacher, advisor, and mentor. The comments on her FacebookPage from her former students in the USA, India, and Africa, stand as a testament to the high regard she was held by her students, the university, and her biological family. She was a brilliant student; a wonderful person.

I am honored to have been her Ph.D. advisor and her friend

– Grant Ian Thrall

Marilyn O’Hara’s facebook page is at https://m.facebook.com/marilyn.o.ruiz

A selected list of her publications at https://experts.illinois.edu/en/persons/marilyn-ohara-ruiz/publications/

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Joe Schwartzberg

I am now in my ninety-first year and am writing this from my home in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Presently I am in a home hospice care program in which I expect to spend whatever time remains to me. I am writing this in lieu of a much more extensive memoir in which I had hoped to present, as a major part of my legacy, a detailed account of my richly spent lifetime. But, even in this greatly abbreviated narrative my life story will, I believe, be of interest to numerous potential readers. Many of them knew/know me in respect to one or another aspect of my diverse career, but have little or no knowledge of the others. I also hope that this account will impart useful lessons to groups with whom I identify and, perhaps, induce them to work harder in support of causes – workable world government, human rights, global education (especially in geography), and others — that we jointly support.

To enhance its readability, this account is written in the third person to make it less open to the criticism that I, the writer, am guilty of undue self-promotion. It goes without saying that, like all other human beings, I have my share of shortcomings, but I have chosen here to focus on the positive.

Joseph E. Schwartzberg

Born in Brooklyn, New York on February 5, 1928, Joseph Schwartzberg was the second of four children of Philip and Frances Schwartzberg. He and his siblings were born within a span of less than six years. All six members of the family participated in the operation of their small clothing store. They lived in two rooms behind the store during the bad years of the depression and in an apartment immediately above it when times were good. Joe graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1945 and in 1949 from Brooklyn College (cum laude), where he majored in geology.

During World War II Joe spent parts of three summers working on farms to support the war effort: a poultry farm on a then defunct New Deal cooperative homestead project in New Jersey; a poultry and tobacco family farm in the Connecticut River Valley; and a large cattle ranch near Houston, Texas. When it became apparent that the war in the Pacific would shortly end, Joe quit his job and hitchhiked to various cities in Mexico, all the way to Acapulco on the Pacific coast. This was, arguably, the most noteworthy of his numerous hitchhiking trips – in North America, Europe and Asia — that Joe made during the course of a life marked by extensive travel.

During his years in college Joe was active in a number of student organizations. He was president of Beta Delta Mu, an interracial fraternity (quite rare in those days); and was the manager and a (not particularly good) member of the collegiate wrestling team.

Shortly after earning his B.A, Joe accepted a position as a geographer with the Map Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army Map Service near Washington, D.C. Simultaneously he worked for his M.A. at the University of Maryland. His master’s thesis (1951), “Old Order Amish and Stauffer Mennonite Communities in Southern Maryland,” was based on field research among the communities named. This work instilled in him a love of fieldwork and an abiding interest in “plain people” and, more generally, in communities with life styles deviating from established norms. During this period, Joe frequently attended Washington’s First Unitarian Church. There, he became familiar with the then burgeoning World Federalist movement. He has maintained his allegiance to the “one world” ideal ever since.

Shortly after the outbreak of war in Korea, Joe was drafted into the U.S. Army. Although he anticipated that he would be sent to Korea immediately on conclusion of his infantry basic training, he was assigned instead to a topographic engineering battalion headquartered in the Presidio of San Francisco. After nine months in that unit he accepted a commission as a 2nd lieutenant and was transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia. There he trained for work in a newly created terrain intelligence unit, which was dispatched to Heidelberg, Germany in December 1952. His duties entailed extensive travel in Germany; and his leave time provided additional opportunities for international travel.

After almost three years of military service, Joe, then a 1^st lieutenant, took his discharge in Germany. Thus began an extensive period of foreign travel and residence, including four months in Seville, Spain (then still under the rule of Franco) in early 1953; eight months in Paris in 1953-54, studying French language and civilization at the Sorbonne (courtesy of the G.I. Bill of Rights); a month in Israel; brief sojourns in many Islamic nations in North Africa and the Middle East; a half-year touring India and other countries of South Asia; several months in Southeast Asia; and a month in Japan.

During his stay in Paris, Joe drew up a rough draft of a World Constitution, many of whose ideas were incorporated in articles and books published later in his career. Joe’s federalist thinking was later reinforced by his experience in India, the world’s most populous federal polity. Considering that, despite its many serious problems, meager resources and incredibly diverse population, India was able to maintain a viable democracy, convinced Joe that a federalized world, with vastly greater resources, could do so as well.

Joe’s sojourn in India was marked by visits to a number of Gandhian ashrams and government-managed community development projects (some guided by the Ford Foundation); and by the formulation of numerous friendships: with government officials, holy men [sadhus], artists and writers, other travelers, etc. Several of these friendships endured for decades.

In September 1956 Joe embarked on study for a doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin. He had by then decided to specialize in either South or Southeast Asia, and chose as his advisor the renowned geographer, Richard Hartshorne, notwithstanding the fact that Hartshorne had no Asian experience. That somehow didn’t matter. In 1958 Joe was awarded the first of two year-long fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, the first for field work in India, the second for support while writing his dissertation His field work entailed thousands of miles of travel by bicycle (accompanied by Indian interpreters) to more than 200 villages throughout India. His dissertation, Occupational Structure and Level of Economic Development in India: A Regional Analysis, completed in 1960, was later published as monograph no. 4 of the 1961 Census of India. Working with the Census Commissioner, Joe provided detailed recommendations for the schedule of questions for the 1961 census, as well as a template for decadal census atlases at both the national and state levels.

In 1960, Joe accepted a dual appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, joining the Wharton School’s Department of Geography and Industry and the Department of South Asia Regional Studies, the first such regionally specialized program in the United States. His contacts in the latter department greatly expanded his multi-disciplinary understanding, not only of South Asia, but also of regional studies in general. Several relevant papers on regionalism ensued, as did two seminal papers on the geography of the Indian caste system.

In 1962 Joe was in charge of training, at the University of Pennsylvania, of the first group of Peace Corps volunteers to be sent to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He accompanied the PC volunteers to Ceylon for a final month of training, following which he spent almost a year in India as a Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies. For most of this period he expanded his previous research.

During this year he met Monique Ribaux, a Swiss medical lab technician working for the malaria eradication program of the World Health Organization. The two were wed in Geneva in December 1963, and subsequently had two sons, Philip (b. 1964) and Paul (b. 1966). They were divorced in 1998.

In the spring of 1964, Joe learned from a colleague at Pennsylvania of a proposal to create a Historical Atlas of South Asia at the University of Minnesota, following the bequest to that institution of the magnificent Ames Library of South Asia. Excited by that challenging initiative, Joe wrote a lengthy memorandum to its two principal faculty supporters specifying what he thought such an atlas should contain. This resulted in an unanticipated invitation for him to come to Minnesota to join the Geography Department and edit the work. He accepted the offer, and moved to Minneapolis with his family that December.

The atlas project took much longer than anticipated. It entailed procurement of numerous research grants, and required roughly 85 person-years of work from a multi-disciplinary team of specialists at Minnesota and the American Geographical Society. First published by the University of Chicago Press in 1978, the work was reissued in an updated edition by the Oxford University Press in 1992, and in a digitized edition by the University of Chicago in 2006. It won the Watumull Prize of the American Historical Association, as the best work on Indian history of the 1978-79 biennium, and an outstanding achievement award from the Association of American Geographers. In 1981 David Watumull observed: “Over the years, since 1946 when this Prize was instituted, I can … say, without a doubt, that this is the finest and most worthwhile book to be selected.” What makes the work unique is its presentation, not only of the findings of modern historians of South Asia, but also its recreations of the ways in which aspects of that region were made known by numerous actors – both South Asian and outsiders –over more than three millennia.

Publication of the atlas led to Joe’s being recruited into what was to become an even larger (and still on-going) project, the preparation of a multi-volume History of Cartography. Apart from offering advice in planning the work (headquartered at the University of Wisconsin), Joe was asked to write an article on the indigenous cartography of South Asia, a subject on which there was then virtually no extant literature. However, years of research in South Asia and neighboring regions – in libraries, museums and private art collections, as well as in the field – uncovered a vastly larger corpus of cartographic and cosmographic artifacts than one might have anticipated. Joe was the associate editor and principal author, by far, of two volumes of the history, one on South Asia and the Islamic World, the other on East Asia, Southeast Asia and Greater Tibet (University of Chicago Press, 1992 and 1994 respectively). In all, he contributed more than 550 pages of text and illustrations for the work. (Particularly remarkable were his 76 pages dealing with the cosmography and cartography of “Greater Tibet,” a subject on which there had been virtually no prior cartographic scholarship.)

Joe’s additional writing in his years at Minnesota (1964-2000) took numerous forms: scores of book reviews, essays in political geography, editorials on contemporary issues and events, numerous articles on the Kashmir dispute, work on folk regions in South Asia, a short monograph relating to the history of exploration, various spin-offs from his work on the history of cartography, and major contributions to several encyclopedias, including the lengthy article on the “Physical and Human Geography [of India]” for the 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica on whose advisory board he subsequently served.

Joe’s writings on Kashmir were focused on promoting a peaceful resolution of the multi-partite disputes over that region. They were based largely on his visits – in 1993, 1994 and 1997 – to all parts of that contested, ethnically diverse state. He conducted interviews, on both sides of the Indo-Pakistani line of control, with a wide range of political actors (UN personnel, civil administrators, military officers, party leaders, dissidents [some in hiding],businessmen, journalists, victims of violence, and others). While his tours in 1993 and 1994 were largely self-financed, that of 1997 was as part of a fact-finding team sponsored by and drawn from the Kashmir Study Group (KSG). This think tank, of which Joe was a founding member, was established in 1996 by Farooq Kathwari (a wealthy Kashmir-American businessman), and was made up mainly of scholars and retired diplomats. Though the published findings and recommendations of the KSG (to which Joe was a principal – but anonymous – contributor), were widely discussed in diplomatic circles in South Asia, North America and Europe, hawkish nationalistic spoilers ultimately prevented their adoption. The KSG still exists; but it is less active than in its early years.

Along with writing, Joe taught thousands of students in a variety of courses and seminars. His most popular courses were introductory human geography (a sweeping overview of how the world is constituted) and political geography (wherein one is challenged – as in the real world – by the necessity of striking a credible balance between idealism and realpolitik). More specialized were his offerings on South and Southeast Asia and on historical cartography. Of particular relevance for his work on global governance were his seminars on “The Geography of Federalism,” “The Law of the Sea” and “A Charter for the New Millennium.” In 1979-80, Joe held a visiting Fulbright professorship at the Center for the Study of Regional Development at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, during which he offered a course in population geography and a seminar on field methods.

Attendance at conferences provided Joe with abundant opportunities for travel, either en route to or returning from the conference venue. His participation at the 1992 Rio Summit Conference on the Environment and Development, for example, was followed by extensive travel in South America; and his atlas presentation at the Canberra meeting of the International Congress of Orientalists in 1971 was combined with visits to a number of Pacific Island nations. In all, Joe has traveled to approximately a hundred countries.

Intermittently, Joe served as a consultant to numerous governmental and scholarly agencies in the United States, Canada and India, and as a member of selection committees for various academic awards. For three years (1985-88) Joe was the elected Secretary of the US National Commission of the International Geographic Union. His previously noted work for the Indian census was instrumental in his consulting with the Mandal Commission, tasked with devising a quota system (arguably unwise) for allocating jobs and educational seats for members of so-called “other backward castes.” On October 23, 1959 Asok Mitra, the then Registrar General and Ex-Officio Census Commissioner of India, wrote to Joe as follows: “I am indeed very grateful to you for your letter of 25th September and your very well thought out recommendations for the improvement of the 1961 Census of India. I feel very grateful to you indeed, as these recommendations are by far the most detailed, practicable and important that I have ever received. All of them bear the imprint of a sense of reality.”

In recognition of his scholarly achievements the Department of Geography nominated Joe in 1995 and in 1996 for a highly competitive Regents Professorship, the highest academic honor that the University of Minnesota can bestow. However, neither nomination resulted in success.

Apart from scholarship, Joe was also heavily engaged in service activities on and off campus. On campus, he served (albeit briefly) as Chair of the Department of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, as an elected representative in the University Senate and in the Assembly of the College of Liberal Arts, and as a member of numerous committees. For three years (1984-87) he directed the Minnesota Studies in International Development program (MSID), providing unpaid student internships in a number of countries of the global South. He established several MSID programs in India and headed a delegation to Colombia, which led to a program with that nation’s Fundación Social, a business conglomerate guided by the Jesuit teachings of “liberation theology”. For several years following the Colombia visit, Joe was among a group of activists that tried (unsuccessfully) to establish an inner-city cooperative bank based on the Fundación model. In 2009 the University bestowed on Joe its annual “Award for Global Engagement” and the title “Distinguished International Professor Emeritus.”

In the public arena, Joe was also quite active. He served in various capacities in the Minnesota Chapter of the World Federalist Association (later Citizens for Global Solutions), including 14 years as its President. He was also active in several roles in the governance of WFA/CGS at the national level. He chaired WFA’s Policy and Recommendations Committee for several years prior to the establishment of CGS in 2004, and for the following decade was especially active in the World Federalist Institute, a CGS-affiliated think tank. For several decades he served as a member either of the Board, or of the Advisory Council, of the Minnesota Chapter of the United Nations Association.

In 1996 Joe was one of the handful of activists who founded the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, which subsequently grew into an umbrella institution with roughly eighty peace and justice organizational members. In the following year he was a co-founder of the aforementioned Kashmir Study Group. In 1999, Joe was the annual honoree of the Vincent J. Hawkinson Foundation, an entity promoting peace and justice activism in five states of the Upper Midwest of the United States.

In a non-academic vein, Joe gained a touch of notoriety for his remarkable doodles, hundreds of which were created during tedious staff meetings and conferences in Minnesota and elsewhere. One of these appears to the left.

Additionally, Joe derived much pleasure from writing and illustrating whimsical stories for his children and grandchildren. Among these were Emanuel and Elvis, the story of a forgetful old man’s dependency on his pet elephant. Another favorite was There’s a Frog up Your Nose, a path-breaking four-part trilogy, the contents of which are less disgusting than the title.

Following his formal retirement from the University of Minnesota in 2000, Joe focused more heavily on issues of global governance, working largely with several organizations already named – writing scores of op-ed essays for their respective journals – and with the Academic Council on the United Nations System in whose journal, Global Governance, he published papers on UN peacekeeping and weighted voting. He expanded his advocacy of the latter idea in a monograph published in 2004 by the World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy, Revitalizing the United Nations System: Reform through Weighted Voting. A related monograph, Creating a World Parliamentary Assembly: An Evolutionary Journey, was published by the Berlin-based Committee for a Democratic United Nations in 2012.

The ideas in these two monographs and in many previous articles – along with many others – were compiled in a book, Transforming the United Nations System: Designs for a Workable World (TUNS), published by the United Nations University Press in 2013. That work provides a comprehensive set of proposals for moving away from the Westphalian paradigm of unfettered state sovereignty on which the present system of global governance is predicated. Despite – or perhaps because of – its radical nature, Joe’s most recent book has been warmly endorsed by leading global thinkers, including Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Thomas Pickering, Brian Urquhart, Thomas Weiss, Johan Galtung, Alfred de Zayas, Stephen Schlesinger and many others. Joe’s editor at the United Nations University Press wrote to him shortly before publication: “I don’t think we’ve ever had a book with so much praise and backing from such a prestigious group of endorsers.” The Press then made Joe its first nominee ever for the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. (He did not win, however.)

Of all that Joe has written, the most important, potentially, is the following credo, which he composed in 1976:

An Affirmation of Human Oneness

I am a member of the human family, a citizen of the world.

The achievements of men and women throughout the ages are my heritage.

My destiny is bound to that of all my fellow human beings.

What we jointly create forms our bequest to future generations.

May my life serve the good of my family.

May our use of the earth preserve it for those yet to come.

Joe hopes that this statement will be routinely recited at the outset of civic events, school ceremonies and other noteworthy occasions throughout the world, either along with the respective national anthems or independently. Toward that end Joe had the Affirmation translated into 12 major world languages for distribution at the summit Conference on the Environment and Development, which he attended in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The total number of translations now stands at 43.

In 2001, Joe and his fellow peace and justice activist, Louise Pardee, entered into a domestic partnership and Joe moved from his cramped apartment in Minneapolis to Louise’s spacious lakeside home in suburban White Bear Lake. Since then, Louise has contributed to Joe’s work, editorially and in other ways.

In December 2014, Joe legally established The Workable World Trust, the principal purpose of which is to disseminate and promote the many global governance proposals in his most recent book. The work of the Trust has been carried out with the remarkably efficient and competent support of Ms. Nancy Dunlavy, who legally succeeded Joe as Director of the Trust in 2017. Joe then formally assumed the title of Director Emeritus. In practice, however, the two continue to cooperate on a wide variety of projects; and Joe intends to remain active as long as his health permits.

The Trust has negotiated translations of TUNS into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish, thereby facilitating virtually worldwide discussion of its reform recommendations. Additionally, a much shorter, less academic Study and Discussion Guide has been prepared for each translation.

The Trust has supported (or is supporting) many projects in addition to those noted above, with beneficiaries in every continent. It has sponsored major conferences, such as the “Creating a Workable World” conference (University of Minnesota, 2015), the “Seminar on Security Council Reform” (UN Church Center, New York, 2016), and the “Commonwealth of Nations as a Vehicle for Sustainable Peace & Development” conference (Brisbane, Australia, 2018). It has also contributed substantial funds in support of conferences and reform advocacy by like-minded groups (e.g. The World Federalist Movement, the Berlin-based Democracy Without Borders, the Brussels-based Center for United Nations Constitutional Research), and provided travel support for youth participation at the Ventotene International Seminar in Italy and a Model UN program in Mexico City. It is also the principal financial backer of the “UN2020” initiative for a General Assembly-backed effort to institute a major reform process to mark the 75th anniversary of the UN’s founding. The Trust has also endowed a Workable World lecture series through the year 2025 in conjunction with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Forum, held each year at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. Further, Joe has bequeathed to Augsburg his personal global governance book collection, along with a fund for the enlargement of his bequest. Since its creation, the Trust distributed over $2 million (estimate as of March 2018) in support of numerous undertakings.

In summary, Joe has enjoyed a remarkably rich and rewarding life. He has sought to conduct himself as a World Citizen, in both word and deed. He has demonstrated his willingness to tackle big projects and his ability to bring many of them to successful conclusions, at times independently and at times as part of a team. He has been recognized for the rigor, originality, and social value of his scholarship. He has put forward detailed and practicable proposals for improving global governance through peaceful evolutionary processes. He recognizes the fallibility of human beings and the institutions that they create, and knows that utopia is not attainable. But a workable world is. Joe hopes that his work and that of the Workable Word Trust – which will outlive him – will contribute significantly toward the achievement of that goal and encourage others to join in the struggle to bring it to fruition.

White Bear Lake, Minnesota, August 2018

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