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50-Year Members Honored at AAG Annual Meeting

Recognition of 50-Year Members

The Class of 1964 receives a memento in recognition of their loyalty to the Association.  As a tangible token of appreciation, 50-year members also receive lifetime remission of annual dues and annual meeting registration fees from the AAG. 

Ronald F. Abler
James P. Allen
William R. Black
Robert O. Clark
Malcolm L. Comeaux
Gary S. Elbow
John B. Fieser
Robert R. Geppert
Lay J. Gibson
Charles Good, Jr
Janet H. Gritzner
Gilbert M. Grosvenor
Kingsley E. Haynes
John C. Hudson
John A. Jakle
Dr. Wayne E. Kiefer
Max C. Kirkeberg
Charles Kovacik
James S. Kus
Ary J. Lamme, III
Lawrence E. Maxwell
David R. Meyer
M Clare Newman
Philip R. Pryde
Gabriel A. Renzi
Thomas F. Saarinen
David E. Schwarz
George E. Sinnott
James N. Snaden
Clifford E. Tiedemann
Stephen W. Tweedie
George M. Ververides
David Ward
Stephen O. Wilson
Richard D. Wright

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President's Column

Women in Academia: It’s Not Just About Numbers

Winkler_JulieWhile I appreciate, and have even contributed to, the extensive literature on the underrepresentation of women in the professoriate and the challenges for their recruitment and retention, I am struck by the more limited literature on the well-being of women in departments that have, or are approaching, numbers of female faculty that are reflective of the percentage of women earning PhDs in a discipline or even the percentage of women in the general population. As the number of women on geography faculties continues to grow, the latter becomes an increasingly important consideration. To help explore this issue, I first present two scenarios of large PhD-granting departments located within research-intensive universities.

In Department #1, 20 percent of the tenure-track faculty are women, a proportion that is substantially below the percentage of women earning PhDs in this discipline over the past several decades. Recent hires at all levels (assistant, associate and full professor) have been disproportionately men, although a senior woman was hired to lead a research institute affiliated with the department, and another woman was hired as an endowed chair. Approximately half of the female faculty hold the rank of full professor, and the current associate chair of the department is a woman. The salaries of the female faculty fall near the median value of the salaries earned by male colleagues at a similar rank. Women collaborate with colleagues within the department at approximately the same rate as the male faculty, and they are equally likely to collaborate with men as with women. In terms of social interaction, most faculty, including the department chair, share their lunch times in the departmental conference room, where they informally discuss their current research, upcoming conferences, publication and grant opportunities and practices, and other professional topics.

In Department #2, the representation of female faculty is much higher. Here women compose 40 percent of the tenure-track faculty, which compares favorably with the proportion of women earning PhDs in this discipline over the past ten years. The current hiring rate of women exceeds that of men at the assistant professor level; however, none of the recent senior hires have been women. Proportionally, representation of women is much less at the full professor level compared to the assistant and associate ranks. Positions of prestige and/or leadership (e.g., endowed chair, distinguished professor, chair, associate chair, directors of research institutes) are all held by men. The salaries of the female faculty fall near or at the bottom of the scale for their respective ranks, even after adjusting for time in rank. The female faculty have fewer collaborators compared to the male faculty, and are more likely to collaborate with other women. Department social interactions, whether group lunches, coffee breaks, or light conversation, are gender-segregated. This extends to the chair’s social interactions with faculty.

Based on numbers alone, Department #1 might appear to someone in higher administration to have a “chillier climate” for women. Certainly, departments where the number of female faculty is considerably below disciplinary proportions need to be carefully scrutinized, and improved recruitment and retention of women must be a priority and an expectation. But administrators also need to closely monitor the developments exemplified in Department #2. The second scenario was developed to highlight the impact of what Liisa Husu at Örebro University refers to as “non-events.” In a recent interview published in Nature, Professor Husu commented that “I have found that it is not only the things that happen to women … that affect them in pursuing a career in science or that slow their career development. It is also the things that do not happen: what I call ‘non-events.’ Non-events are about not being seen, heard, supported, encouraged, taken into account, validated, invited, included, welcomed, greeted, or simply asked along … A single non-event — for example, failing to cite a relevant report from a female colleague — might seem almost harmless but the accumulation of such slights over time can have a deep impact.” Husu points out that “non-events” can be difficult to address, or in her words, “Nothing happened so why the fuss?”

Husu’s remarks resonated strongly with me, and I used her concept of “non-events” to develop a short checklist for evaluating the well-being of faculty that I presented at the 2013 AAG Chair’s Symposium on Promoting Diversity. I repeat three of these indicators here, ones that I personally have found to be particularly reflective of faculty well-being, and use the two scenarios above to illustrate.

Do all faculty have access to the primary social activities and the accompanying informal information exchange within the department? Hypothetical Department #1 has the edge here, as the major departmental social activity focuses explicitly on the sharing of professional experiences and is open to all faculty interested in participating. Furthermore, the daily availability of social discussions allows faculty within this department to participate frequently, yet still accommodate other responsibilities. On the other hand, female faculty in Department #2 are left out of the department’s major avenues for informal information exchange, with potential implications including a lack of informal mentoring, less opportunity to develop collaborations with departmental colleagues, less awareness by male faculty of the activities and accomplishments of their female colleagues, and, for the scenario presented here, less access to the department chair.

Are women hired for faculty positions at all ranks? Improvements in hiring practices are needed for both hypothetical departments. The few recent hires of women by Department #1 suggest that recruitment is an issue and that search committees are not aggressively identifying potential female candidates. As Mary Ann Holmes and her colleagues recently wrote in Nature Geoscience, faculty search committees too often forget that “search” is an active verb. For Department #2, the concern is that only men have been hired into senior positions. This can disrupt the gender balance at the senior ranks, even if men and women who enter the department as assistant professors are tenured and promoted at the same rate. Also, as senior positions usually come with greater research and/or administrative expectations, the faculty hired in these positions typically receive teaching reductions and substantial start-up funding which can lead to greater research success and on-campus profiles, compared to senior women who are likely balancing more traditional research and teaching expectations. Hypothetical Department #1 successfully hired two senior female faculty, but for many departments this can be difficult, as often initiatives to improve representation primarily come from the underrepresented faculty themselves. Female faculty, especially if they are not administrators, may not have the savvy to initiate a senior hire, especially one outside of normal search procedures, or the clout to make it happen.

Are male and female faculty earning comparable salaries? Many authors, including myself, have investigated the differences in faculty salary by gender, although the findings are sometimes conflicting, partly a small numbers problem. But as the number of female faculty increases, salary become more of a litmus test of well-being among female faculty. In Department #1, the small number of women makes it difficult to identify the existence (or lack) of gender differences in salary, but for Department #2, where the representation by women is greater, their lower salaries are potentially indicative of constraints that are influencing the relative productivity and success of female faculty.

Obviously, the two scenarios presented above are dramatized, and most departments actually share some characteristics with both the hypothetical departments. Also, some readers may argue for different or additional indicators of faculty well-being. My point, though, is that as the number of female faculty in geography increases, we need to closely gauge, and rectify, the influence of non-events and subtle biases on women’s success and satisfaction with their positions. After all, the strongest and most creative geography departments are those where all faculty are successful and respected.

I look forward to your comments.

Julie Winkler

DOI: 10.14433/2014.0008

[For more information on the articles referred to above see “Scientists of the world speak up for equity”, Nature, 2013, Vol. 495, p. 35-38. DOI:10.1038/495035a, and “Gender parity in the geosciences: data and geoscientists’ perceptions”, Nature Geoscience, 2008, Vol. 1, p. 79-82. DOI:10.1038/ngeo113.]

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The AAG Review of Books

New Books for Geographers

New Books: May 2014

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

May, 2014

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President's Column

What’s in a Name? The Renaming and Rebranding of Geography Departments

Winkler_JulieIn a recent issue of the Observer magazine, author Eric Jaffe explored the nature and rationale of recent changes in the names of prominent U.S. psychology departments. Jaffe interviewed faculty and administrators from several universities that had changed the departmental name from Psychology to alternative nomenclatures including Psychological Sciences, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Psychology and Neuroscience, and Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences. Some of these name changes reflect the merger of two or more departments, but others were an attempt to rebrand a department and, more generally, the discipline of psychology. For some, the rationale was to portray psychology “as a science, not an art,” whereas for others the motivation was to draw attention to new focus areas and approaches within psychological research.

Does this sound familiar? It sure does to me. A cursory comparison of current geography department listings to those of previous years suggests a recent uptick in the number of departments that have undergone name changes. Some of the more recent renamings share similarities with the name changes seen for psychology, such as Geographical Sciences, Geography and Environmental Sustainability, and Geography, Environment and Society. Also, similar to psychology, some of the name changes were mandated by departmental mergers, but others are a rebranding, intended to portray a geography department in a different light, emphasize new disciplinary developments, convey modernity and relevance, capture new audiences, and/or become more broadly appealing to graduate and undergraduate students (and their parents).

Given the broader implications of these changes for the discipline of geography, the AAG Council chose to use the “challenge question” portion of their meeting earlier this month for an open-ended discussion of the long-term benefits and consequences of renaming and rebranding geography departments. The discussion was insightful and fascinating, and the experiences of the Council members varied widely. This column conveys my impressions of that discussion with the goal to initiate broader dialog and information sharing. One message that I took away from the Council discussion is that, although the contextual and political settings in which these decisions are being made varies markedly from one university to the next, there are sufficiently common circumstances that a greater sharing of experiences would benefit those geography departments considering renaming and rebranding.

A common theme from the discussion was that the decision to rename a department cannot be taken lightly, and the motivations for such a change need to carefully examined and thoroughly debated. Many of us may be reluctant to consider a departmental name change, in part because of what one Council member referred to as the “heart tug” of the name Geography. But, depending on the context, there can be compelling reasons for renaming and/or rebranding, and for some departments, especially those involved in a merger, renaming is inevitable. It is critical that departments ask: “Who are the audiences for the renaming/rebranding?” and “Is renaming/rebranding the most effective means for reaching those audiences?” For some departments, other approaches may be as effective, or at least merit consideration. These might include additional undergraduate degree options, greater external publicity of geography as a discipline and internal publicity of the skills and accomplishments of geography faculty, and additional resources or a reallocation of current resources to ensure that geography faculty are as productive and as highly regarded as faculty from other departments. But for other departments, these measures may not be sufficient or some may not be possible within the university structure, and renaming and rebranding may help ensure that these departments are able to “survive and thrive.”

Timeliness can be important. A repeated message in the marketing literature on renaming and rebranding companies is “don’t procrastinate.” Along those lines, one councillor observed that name changes that originate organically from within a department are likely to be more creative and effective than those that are imposed from higher administration. Consequently, it can be to a department’s advantage to take the initiative on making the difficult decision of whether to rename and/or rebrand. Also, geography is not the only discipline currently undergoing departmental name changes, but rather this is occurring across academia. Consequently, there likely will be competition with other departments on campus for ownership of relevant descriptors (e.g., environment, sustainability, global, geospatial) and/or areas in which geography departments would like to expand. Thus, it behooves us to carefully monitor higher administration’s assessment and expectations of our departments along with developments in other departments, so that we can be proactive rather than reactive. Student input can also be extremely helpful when considering a name change.

A name is more than the sum of its parts and needs to be selected carefully, particularly as it can benefit or disadvantage some subgroups. Often departments, especially merged departments composed of several disciplines, seek integrative names such as Geosciences or Environmental Sciences. However, these particular examples of departmental names can disadvantage the humanities and social science components of geography, such as critical human geography, especially if university administrators and others on campus perceive the department as focusing primarily on the physical environment rather than also on the built environment or the social and political environment. One departmental chair shared with their regional councillor that an interpretation of “environment” as only the physical environment can skew the local perception of geography with potentially negative consequences on hiring and teaching decisions. Similarly, a departmental name such as Global Studies, or even Environmental Studies, can disadvantage physical geography, particularly if the term “studies” is construed as less scientific than the use of the term “sciences.” Keeping “geography” as part of the departmental name can have a number of advantages, as it portrays a more holistic view of geography. It also provides an obvious linkage to the department’s past and to its alumni, and is respectful to those who helped to pioneer the department. Explicitly including “geography” in the departmental name can also provide long-term stability, as geography is an evolving discipline and the other components of the department’s name may change with time as new subfields and interests develop.

Some councillors raised the concern that the renaming and rebranding of departments has the potential to dilute geography’s identity. For example, renaming a department is often accompanied by new or modified degree offerings, and one concern is whether majors will migrate from geography to the other degree options and how resources will be allocated among the different degrees. Also, capturing and communicating geography’s strengths in GIScience can be particularly challenging for geography departments, especially if other departments on campus add terms such as “geospatial” to their names. While geography departments need to strive to be the primary on-campus source of GIScience education and research, they need to be cognizant that students also come to geography for other reasons and that a narrow focus on GIScience can de-emphasize geography as a discipline.

I admit to a particular fascination with this topic of renaming and rebranding geography departments. The position to which I was hired was offered by higher administration as a “carrot” to the geography department to agree to a merger with two other departments, and the heated debates in those early faculty meetings on the name of the merged department are etched into my memory. My impression is that the discipline is now more accepting of renaming and rebranding than in the early days of my career. But at the same time, we need to focus on how to use renaming and rebranding to our advantage, while minimizing potential negatives. Thus, we need to share experiences. We also need to be critical and closely monitor the long-term impacts of departmental name changes on the discipline. And let’s not forget that renaming/rebranding is not a substitute for high quality, high impact geographic teaching and research that makes a difference to students and stakeholders.

My thanks to the members of the AAG Council for the very thought-provoking conversation. I hope that I accurately conveyed their thoughts and remarks in stimulating further discussion of this issue.

Julie Winkler

[The reference to Eric Jaffe’s article is “Identity Shift”, Observer, Association for Psychological Science, 2011, available at http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2011/september-11/identity-shift.html.]

DOI: 10.14433/2014.0006

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AAG Celebrates Earth Day Throughout April with International Student Fellows

International Students Presented Climate Impact Studies Through My Community, Our Earth / SERVIR Fellowship Program

[/media-credit] Joel Kowsky, NASA

In April, 14 students traveled from all over the world to Washington, D.C., to discuss their efforts using satellite data and mapping technologies to address climate change issues in their regions. The efforts are part of the My Community, Our Earth (MyCOE) / SERVIR Fellowship Program. The student-led projects address a range of issues including agricultural productivity, water resources, sea level change, food safety, forest conservation, and natural disaster planning.

The MyCOE / SERVIR Capstone Event celebrated the culmination of a global program carried out over the past two years, with representative student-led projects highlighting how youth around the world are using remote sensing, GIS, GPS, and geospatial data to address climate change issues in their regions. Several outstanding MyCOE / SERVIR fellows were selected to showcase their work to demonstrate the power of spatial data and geographic thinking. They were nominated by instructors and staff of the MyCOE Program and SERVIR hubs and chosen by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and NASA from among the 120 participants of the 2012-2014 MyCOE / SERVIR Program.

These fellows hail from 10 countries and bring together four staggered regional rounds of 10-month fellowship terms. In early April, fellows met with USAID and NASA staff, scientists, and others in Washington, D.C., during symposia and exhibits convened at agency headquarters. During the presentations at the Washington, D.C. events, students answered questions asked by the public via Twitter, with the entire event broadcast live on NASA Television. A week later, they traveled to Tampa, Fla., to present their work in a featured illustrated paper session during the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting, which draws nearly 8,000 attendees from more than 60 countries. Through their stories and projects, the fellows showed the power of geographic data and technologies, showcasing the spirit and determination of young people to make a difference in their communities, our Earth.

“It is indeed an enriching experiences. I have always heard about research being so scholarly and professional field and somehow, I was skeptic about my attempt into doing a research. Nonetheless, after being invited and having done with the presentation or having met with those great persons and also after having met a lot of other people from around the globe, I am now a convert! I am encouraged, inspired and energized through this very program. It is been so great, indeed, one of the most fulfilling achievements of my life.” said Lhakpa, a student at the Royal University of Bhutan.

Prasamsa Thapa, a student at Kathmandu University in Nepal said, “The entire event was wonderful and I feel so glad that people appreciated my work. I feel like my hard work really paid off. … I am very much thankful to AAG, NASA, USAID, MyCOE/SERVIR who made us a star and always encourage us to do more good things.”

And, Lateefah Oyinlola, a student at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, declared, “The ball has successfully been set in motion.”

The MyCOE / SERVIR program supports long-term training of young, emerging scholars in the use of Earth observations, geography, and geospatial technologies to address climate change issues in developing regions. The public-private partnered program provides the mentorship, networking, and professional development necessary to transform innovators into scholars, with the skills to connect their research results to the public and decision makers. It is sponsored by NASA, USAID, and AAG, with the AAG also administering the program. SERVIR, an acronym meaning “to serve” in Spanish, is a joint venture between NASA and USAID. SERVIR works in partnership with leading regional organizations around the globe to help developing countries use information provided by Earth-observing satellites and geospatial technologies to better manage climate risks and sustainability of natural resources.

To learn more about the full My Community, Our Earth / SERVIR program, contact Project Director Dr. Patricia Solís at psolis [at] aag [dot] org. Or, visit https://www.aag.org/mycoe.servir. Read more detailed information on the NASA event.

AAG Continues Its Commitment to Geography Throughout the Year with Youth TechCamps Program

Later this summer, outstanding U.S. high school students will be selected to form teams with their scholastic counterparts in Bolivia, Panama, or South Africa to collaborate online and in person at one of three rounds of training events in these countries to address the theme of GeoTechnologies for Climate Change & Environment. Students will be given academic preparation, orientation, cultural exchange activities, mentoring and training in use of geotechnologies such as online mapping, community GIS, mobile GPS, and crowdmapping. Their work will be featured in an online project fair and showcased at national venues.

For more information, go to https://www.aag.org/cs/techcamps.

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New Books for Geographers

New Books: April 2014

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

April, 2014

  • The Age of Ecology by Radkau, Joachim (Polity Books 2014)
  • At Pyramid Lake by Mergen, Bernard  (University of Nevada Press 2014)
  • Beyond Discrimination: Racial Inequality in a Postracist Era by Harris, Fredrick C. and Robert C. Lieberman (Russell Sage Foundation 2013)
  • Clear Skies, Deep Water: A Chautauqua Memoir by  Peyton, Beth (State University of New York Press 2014)
  • Contested Spaces of Early America by Barr, Juliana and Edward Countryman (University of Pennsylvania Press 2014)
  • Dealing with Darwin: Place, Politics, and Rhetoric in Religious Engagements with Evolution by Livingstone, David N. (John Hopkins University Press 2014)
  • Development, Security, and Aid: Geopolitics and Geoeconomics at the U.S. Agency for International Development by Essex, Jamey (University of Georgia Press 2014)
  • DeWitt Clinton and Amos Eaton: Geology and Power in Early New York by Spanagel, David I. (University of John Hopkins Press 2014)
  • Encountering Ellis Island: How European Immigrants Entered America by Bayor, Ronald H. (John Hopkins University Press 2014)
  • Eurasian Corridors of Interconnection: From the South China to the Caspian Sea by Walcott, Susan M. and Corey Johnson (Routledge 2013)
  • Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy by  Sassen, Saskia (Harvard University Press 2014)
  • Green Consumption:The Global Rise of Eco-Chic by  Barendregt, Bart and Rivke Jaffe (Bloomsbury 2014)
  • The Greenest Nation?: A New History of German Environmentalism by Uekötter, Frank  (MIT Press 2014)
  • Green Utopianism: Perspectives, Politics and Micro-Practices by Bradley, Karin and Johan Hedrén (Routledge 2014)
  • Haiti: From Revolutionary Slaves to Powerless Citizens Essays on the Politics and Economics of Underdevelopment, 1804-2013 by Dupuy, Alex (Routledge 2014)
  • Indigenous Discourses on Knowledge and Development in Africa by Shizha, Edward and Ali A. Abdi (Routledge 2013)
  • Jamestown, New York: A Guide to the City and Its Urban Landscape by  Lombardi, Peter A. (State University of New York Press 2014)
  • Land and Wine: The French Terroir by Frankel, Charles (University of Chicago Press 2014)
  • Malthus: The Life and Legacies of an Untimely Prophet by Mayhew, Robert J.  (Harvard University Press 2014)
  • Mapping in the Cloud by Peterson, Michael P. (Guilford Press, 2014)
  • Modern Geopolitics and Security: Strategies for Unwinnable Conflicts by Guiora, Amos N. (CRC Press 2013)
  • North American Odyssey: Historical Geographies for the Twenty-first Century by Colten, Craig E. and Geoffrey L. Buckley (Rowman and Littlefield 2014)
  • The People, Place, and Space Reader by Gieseking, Jen Jack, William Mangold, Cindi Katz, Setha Low, Susan Saegert (Routledge 2014)
  • The Politics of the Encounter: Urban Theory and Protest under Planetary Urbanization by Merrifield, Andy (University of Georgia Press 2014)
  • The Politics of Narcotic Drugs: A Survey by Buxton, Julia (Routledge 2014)
  • Properties of Violence: Law and Land Grant Struggle in Northern New Mexico by David Correia  (University of Georgia Press 2014)
  • Rethinking the South African Crisis: Nationalism, Populism, Hegemony by Hart, Gillian (University of Georgia Press 2014)
  • Successful Adaptation to Climate Change by Moser, Susanne C. and Maxwell T. Boykoff (Routledge 2013)
  • The Sub-Saharan Africa Map Book by Esri (ESRI Press 2013)
  • Toward Spatial Humanities: Historical GIS and Spatial History by Gregory, Ian N., and Alistair Geddes (Indiana University Press 2014)
  • Travel Writing by Thompson, Carl (Routledge, 2014)
  • Water Worlds: Human Geographies of the Ocean by Anderson, Jon and Kimberly Peters (Ashgate 2014)
  • Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by Sterling, David (University of Texas Press 2014)
  • The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography by Johnson, Nuala C., Richard H. Schein, and Jamie Winders  (Wiley-Blackwell 2014)
  • A World After Climate Change and Culture-Shift by Norwine, Jim (Springer 2014)
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Larry Alan Brown

Larry was born in 1935 and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania to immigrant parents. His life and work reflects in many ways the classic American immigrant story of success. His father and other relatives fled the pogroms in Ukraine; and the family name was changed from Browarnik to Brown when they immigrated to the U.S. via Ellis Island. His parents instilled in him deep values about the importance of education and achievement.

A self-described “dead-end kid,” Larry initially aspired to be an auto mechanic which may explain his affinity for late-model BMWs. Instead of technical school, Larry went to college after high school because it meant something to his immigrant parents. He received his undergraduate degree in 1958 from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, with a B.S. degree in Economics/Business . He first worked as an accountant in Philadelphia and then tried law school before discovering his true passion for geography, enrolling in the graduate program at Northwestern University in Chicago in the early 1960s.

The roots of Larry’s interest in geography were set much earlier, however, when he and his brother Ed travelled through Latin America, driving down the Pan American Highway in the late-1950s. There he encountered an international development worker who shared Preston James’ book – Latin America (1950) with him—an event that Larry often recounted in stories of his early discovery of geography. His formal training began at Northwestern where he earned an MA in geography in 1963 and PhD in 1966. The renowned Swedish geographer, Torsten Hägerstrand, supervised his dissertation fieldwork on innovation and diffusion processes.

Larry’s seminal book, Innovation Diffusion: A New Perspective (1981, Methuen), provided the definitive account of the ongoing adoption and spread of new products and techniques. Earlier research had emphasized the adopters themselves, but Larry refocused attention to the social and geographic processes that supported transformative technologies, products, and behaviors. Later, his research on mobility and migration offered new insights into why and where people move. His pioneering theory of intra-urban migration (with Eric Moore) in 1970 separated residential mobility process into two stages: dissatisfaction with the current home and the search for a new one. This influential work inspired several generations of demographers and urban geographers who went on to clarify the mobility behavior of young adults just leaving the family home, the role of residential change in the upward mobility of new immigrants, and the way local housing markets affect homeownership—all compelling and socially significant issues today. More recently, up to and following the publication of another important book, Place, Migration and Development in the Third World (1990, Routledge), Larry’s research sought to show how context shapes the relations among urbanization, economic growth, and population change in Latin America, Third World development, and in US metropolitan areas.

In addition to these groundbreaking intellectual achievements, Larry’s legacy to OSU and the field of geography lies in his generous, strategic, and unstinting mentorship of graduate students. As a faculty member at OSU, he advised thirty PhD students in all, many of whom are intellectual leaders themselves today. He made a lifetime commitment to those who chose to work with him: following their careers, offering advice when asked, writing hundreds of timely, and pointed letters of recommendation; taking an interest in their personal lives, and being the go-to person in times of need. He had a special relationship with a large cluster of doctoral graduates from Korea, and the story goes that his sociable participation in karaoke sessions won him lasting admiration and gratitude. His hallmark departmental “pointer” was a very simple yet effective item to have people remember their visits, and of course, also came in handy in the classroom.

In a lifetime of professional effort he deservedly earned high honors himself. He was President of the Association of American Geographers, Department Chair (at the same time!), a Guggenheim Fellow, President of the North America Regional Science Council (NARSC) , and a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State. In recognition of his extraordinary vision and leadership in the field of geography, the AAG presented its Lifetime Achievement Honors Award to Larry in 2008. Larry also worked assiduously to advance the many causes he championed. As department chair, he nominated countless colleagues for teaching, service, and research honors, as well as honorary doctorates. He nominated former students for similar positions at their home universities.

There were also sides to him of which few were aware. Larry had been a consummate golfer in earlier years. He was a very good tennis player and an excellent swimmer. He had an extensive collection of blues and American roots music. He was widely read outside the social sciences.. He felt things deeply and cared for people. And yet, those of you who know Larry will not be surprised that he spent the final days at his place of work: a corner office in Derby Hall with a window facing Bricker Hall where his light often burned late into the night. The hallways and hearts of OSU geography faculty, staff, and students are filled with reminders of Larry’s devotion to the discipline, to his friends, colleagues, and students. His style and dedication to service has shaped the way we are today, and this lives on in the Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellowship.

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” The first floor of Derby Hall and the discipline of geography will be different without Larry. He will be forever missed.

–OSU Geography Dept.

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International Student-Fellows to Present Climate Impact Studies at NASA

Fourteen students from Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas have learned to use satellite data and mapping technologies to address climate change issues in their regions. On Thursday, April 3, 2014, those students will present and discuss their efforts at NASA Headquarters.

The public event will begin at 9 a.m. in the James E. Webb Auditorium at 300 E St. SW, Washington. NASA Television will simulcast the event live.

The students and their resulting work are a part of the My Community, Our Earth/SERVIR program, a global fellowship program sponsored by NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Students participating in the MyCOE/SERVIR program receive long-term training to use Earth observations, geography, and geospatial technologies to address climate change issues in developing regions.

The My Community, Our Earth program is a public-private partnership administered by the Association of American Geographers to provide the mentorship, networking, and professional development necessary to transform innovators into scholars with the skills to connect their science results to the public and decision makers.

SERVIR, an acronym meaning “to serve” in Spanish, is a joint venture between NASA and USAID. SERVIR works in partnership with leading regional organizations around the globe to help developing countries use information provided by Earth-observing satellites and geospatial technologies to better manage climate risks and sustainability of natural resources.

The student-led projects address a range of issues including agricultural productivity, water resources, sea level change, food safety, forest conservation, and natural disaster planning. During the hour of short presentations, students will be taking questions via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA. Presentations also will be streamed live online.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

After the presentations, students and program sponsors will be available from 10-11 a.m. in the auditorium lobby to discuss their projects.

For more information on the fellowship program, visit www.aag.org/mycoe.servir.

Additional information about the SERVIR program is available at www.servirglobal.net and www.nasa.gov/servir.

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Changing Human Populations Networks and Connections Planning and Development
AAG Staff
AAG Staff

Harm Jan de Blij

Harm de Blij of Sarasota, Florida and Chatham, Massachusetts died on March 25, 2014, at The Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

Born in the Netherlands, de Blij received his early schooling in Europe, his undergraduate education in Africa from the University of the Witwatersrand and his graduate degrees in the United States from Northwestern University. Dr. de Blij taught at Michigan State University as a Professor from 1960 to 1969 and then moved to the University of Miami where he served as Chairperson of the Department of Geography.  He served on the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration for more than 20 years, was founding editor of its journal National Geographic Research and was awarded National Geographic’s Distinguished Geography Educator Award and lifetime membership for his advocacy of geography.  He received the highest recognitions from the Association of American Geographers, the American Geographical Society and the National Council for Geographic Education. Dr. de Blij has also held the George Landegger Chair in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the John Deaver Drinko Chair of Geography at Marshall University and was Presidential Scholar at the Colorado School of Mines.  Dr. de Blij returned to MSU in 2000 as a Distinguished Professor and was subsequently named the John A. Hannah Professor of Geography. His scholarly work has been recognized through honorary degrees awarded by Marshall University, Rhode Island College, Grand Valley State University, North Carolina State University and Michigan State University.

Dr. de Blij specialized in geopolitical and environmental issues and has published more than 30 books including scientific, educational, and trade titles, and over 100 articles.  His textbook Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts (Wiley) has exceeded 1.3 million copies in 15 editions since 1970.  Another book, Wine: a Geographic Appreciation (Rowman & Allanheld) was awarded a medal by the French wine organization, OIV, in Paris.  His books have been translated into several foreign languages. Over the past 40 years, de Blij was also one of the few academic geographers of his generation to make a major and lasting impact in the public arena. He was the popular Geography Editor on ABC’s “Good Morning America” from 1989 to 1996. In 1996, he joined NBC News as Geography Analyst, appearing mostly on MSNBC.   He was writer of and commentator for the original PBS Series “The Power of Place”.  Dr. de Blij was much in demand on the lecture circuit and his extraordinary communication skills were widely recognized. He gave over 400 presentations since 2001 with lecture titles such as; Confronting Militant Islam: the  changing Geography of Terrorism, Why Geography Matters: the Cost of Geographic Illiteracy, and  Climate Change Forever: Truth and Consequences.

Harm de Blij ‘s parents were both distinguished musicians and he remained a violinist and chamber-music participant through the end of his life.  He was an avid wine collector, lifelong soccer (Holland) and baseball (Cubs) fan.  His second love after geography was animals, all animals but a special place in his heart was always kept for his own.

Harm is survived by his wife of 37 years, Bonnie of Chatham and his only son Hugh James of Maryland and beloved sister in law Patti Mc Culley of North Chatham.  He was predeceased by his Mother Nelly and Father Hendrik and his daughter Tanya Powers de Blij.

Memorial contributions may be made to The de Blij Geography Scholars, Department of Geography, Michigan State University, 673 Auditorium Road, Room 116, East Lansing, MI 48824 or to The Wildlife Center of Venice, Inc. 3252 Border Road, Venice, FL 34292

—Bonnie de Blij

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