Awardees

AAG Announces 2019 Book Awards

The AAG is pleased to announce the recipients of the three 2019 AAG Book Awards: the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize, the AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography, and the AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography. The AAG Book Awards mark distinguished and outstanding works published by geography authors during the previous year, 2019. The awardees will be formally recognized at the Awards Luncheon during the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.

The John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize

This award encourages and rewards American geographers who write books about the United States which convey the insights of professional geography in language that is both interesting and attractive to lay readers.

Robert Lemon, The Taco Truck: How Mexican Street Food Is Transforming the American City, (University of Illinois Press, 2019)

Robert Lemon’s The Taco Truck is an evocative and penetrating look at a fascinating, often underappreciated part of urban America. The book is based on extensive field work, participant observation, and in-depth interviews in Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Columbus, Ohio. The immigrant Mexican origins of the taco truck are described and the author demonstrates how these moveable features on the urban scene have become important parts of Latino identity.

In this engaging, clearly written, and well-illustrated book, Lemon also explores some of the controversial urban politics that have surrounded, shaped, and sometimes limited the taco truck’s access to parts of the city. Lemon’s book marks a creative intersection of food geography, ethnic studies, and urban political geography and the result is a readily digestible, yet meaty appreciation for how taco trucks and their informal cuisine have created new, fluid, and mobile places in the cities we live in.

Simply put, Lemon’s appealing exploration of the taco truck—crafted in a wonderfully Jacksonian narrative—demonstrates the author’s success in making these street-side eateries a more legible part of the vernacular urban landscape and in highlighting where millions of Americans meet for lunch.

The AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography

This award is given for a book written or co-authored by a geographer that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world.

Adam Moore, for his book, Empire’s Labor: The Global Army that Supports U.S. Wars (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019).

Empire’s Labor conveys powerfully the nature and importance of geography to audiences beyond  academic geography. Clearly written and accessible to readers without training in specialist theory and vocabulary, the book nevertheless shows how extensive fieldwork and a critical geographical imagination can re-map the abstract and violently inhuman logistics of war-fighting in a profoundly humanizing way. As former AAG President John Agnew noted: “[Moore’s book]… displays the very best qualities of contemporary geographical scholarship in its synthesis of first-person experiences, wide reading of specialized literature across a range of fields, and a sophisticated but clearly expressed theoretical framing, particularly with its emphasis on the transfer of risk onto the shoulders of foreigners even as the objectives pursued are defined in Washington DC.”

Further, the prominent use of maps in the book helps to document a global geography of military infrastructure that is commonly ignored or obscured. What is especially impressive is the way in which Empire’s Labor conveys the human geographies and voices of the workers who toil in ‘someone else’s war’. This is a book that geographers will be able to recommend to non-geographers with pride.

 The AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography

This award is given for a book written by a geographer that makes an unusually important contribution to advancing the science and art of geography.

Julie Guthman, Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry  Industry (University of California Press, 2019)

Julie Guthman has earned the 2019 AAG Meridian Book Award for her innovative, timely and terrific tome, Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry.  This in-depth analysis of the California strawberry assemblage is about so much more than strawberries; it is about the socioecological consequences of corporate domination of scientific practice and the limits of chemical plantation agriculture. Based on extensive research that represents the best of the art and science of geography, Guthman’s masterful examination of the co-evolution of strawberry monocultures, soils, chemicals, climate, and labor, reveals that decades of narrowly-focused one-off solutions to pathogens and pests has had the effect of breeding ever more hostile growing conditions and requiring ever more extreme measures to perpetuate a deeply destructive agricultural practice on which ever more extensive food markets depend. Thus, the work exposes the limitations privatized science.  Moreover, the book not only documents the strawberry assemblage in exquisite detail, but also proposes solutions to “repair the repair”.

With lessons that resonate far beyond strawberries to the complex of industries and institutions involved in global chemically-intensive commercial food production, this book constitutes an unusually important contribution to geography as well as an empirically-grounded clarion call to fundamentally reorganize how we produce food, conduct research, and organize land and labor markets.  Wilted, then, will seem a “Silent Spring for our present moment” to many readers.

AAG Book Awards, AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography, AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography, Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize, Globe Book Award, JB Jackson Prize, John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize, Meridian Book Award
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President's Column

Beyond the Academic 1 Percent Or How to Create a More Inclusive and Equitable Academic Culture

Social media can be dangerous. I recently read a post on Twitter, sent by a non-geographer, which seemed to lament geography’s absence from the Ivy League and similarly selective private institutions.

If I could share an unpopular opinion, I’m glad that geography does not have a large representation in the Ivy League. Not because I do not consider geography worthy of Harvard, Yale or Princeton. Nor because I don’t think geography should be available to every college student. Rather I dislike how Ivy League institutions foster elitism in American higher education, in a manner that could distort our discipline. One recent essay argued that “Ivy League mania” warps students. And articles have shown how a small group of exclusive universities produce the lion’s share of professors.

It is an academic 1% who gain influence, prestige, and resources far out of balance with the rest of the higher education workforce. Expanded beyond this super elite class, we also have a group—call them the 10%—of professors who are either tenured or tenure track at Research 1 institutions.1 This is followed by another 6% of tenured/tenure-track faculty at other research universities, 10% at bachelors/masters institutions, 5% at community colleges, and 23% of faculty listed as non–tenure track. The rest—almost half— are relegated to part-time status and may have little control over their professional lives and oftentimes suffer living standards close to poverty levels.

Well, geography does not have places like Stanford or Duke calling most of the shots. Rather we are focused at a number of large state universities, some notable private universities, and a host of smaller public institutions and community colleges. And relative to other disciplines, our balance is good. Yet we still suffer issues of inequality. Just as wealth inequality can build upon itself, providing the lion’s share of benefits to those at the top, so can academic inequality engender a privileged class of the professoriate; folks who reap disproportionate benefits of connection, abundant resources, miniscule teaching loads, and who also enjoy the benefit of the doubt because of where they are located. And so much of it depends on luck! I remember a couple of graduate school friends, both with strong and basically identical CVs. One landed a tenure-track appointment at a prestigious flagship university, while the other has been scraping by in adjunct positions. These random outcomes proliferated, affecting each of their professional lives.

The notion of precarity, often affecting those people without stable permanent employment, is worthy of an entire column. As universities shift their hiring away from full-time tenure-track faculty, adjunct labor fills the gaps. Former President Ken Foote has outlined ways that our departments and institutions can support contingent faculty, from offering some degree of stability, to better options to collaborate and contribute to the curriculum and the departmental life. Certainly from an institutional perspective we should find better ways to reward contingent faculty commensurate with their talents.

Professors lucky enough to obtain full-time employment find themselves in a variety of job environments and at different types of institutions with varied research expectations, teaching loads, and opportunity to mentor graduate students. Some geographers stand alone in a department with other faculty; other geographers are part of a large unit with 20 or more faculty and an opportunity to specialize in their specific subfield.

This map displays the diversity of geography programs, based on our development of an extensive database that shows geography programs by highest degree offered.2

The contribution of the smaller departments should not be overlooked. As opposed to many large, research-oriented departments, where much of the focus may be on PhD students, geography at smaller state universities and at private colleges relies on providing a premium student experience with lots of undergraduate engagement, study-away experiences, and tight ties between students and faculty. When attending regional meetings, I often see faculty from these institutions bringing their students to their very first conference. At the same time, a great deal of research gets done by faculty here. They are all expected to publish, many get external grants, and as a bonus, they often share their research experience with undergraduates.

Community colleges are key aspects of our geography universe and they simply do not get the recognition they deserve. We have over 75 community colleges in the United States that offer an associate’s degree in geography (see map). Not only are a plurality of all undergraduate students enrolled in public two-year institutions, but if we are looking at true diversity within our discipline, this is where we start. Undergraduates from poorer backgrounds are much more likely to attend community colleges. African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos also show higher representation at two-year colleges. Beyond community colleges, we should be looking at Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as Tribal Colleges. These too are intrinsic aspects of our geography universe, and we can expand our numbers by welcoming new geographers from all demographic backgrounds.

The AAG recognizes this institutional diversity in some important ways. There are affinity groups for stand-alone geographers and for community college professors. The AAG has established a Program Excellence Award (just won this year by Lakeland Community College!) and special travel grants for community college students. In addition, we have done a good job in terms of AAG governance. Participation at the Council and on AAG Committees could be a bit more representative, but shows a commitment to institutional diversity.

One example of possible improvement within the AAG lies in the composition of our journals’ editorial boards. Geographers at all types of institutions conduct research and editorial boards ought to reflect this. Yet this is not the case. The composition of the editorial boards of four major AAG journals—The Annals, the Professional Geographer, the AAG Review of Books, and GeoHumanities—shows an overwhelming preference for professors from PhD, mostly R1, institutions. Several institutions like Berkeley and Arizona State have five or more. While professors who teach at non-PhD programs make up well over half of membership, they constitute only 20 percent of all AAG editorial boards. The distribution is lopsided enough that a colleague of mine was discouraged from applying for an editorial position because their type of institution was not represented on the editorial board. This is a persistent bias and one I am guilty of myself.

Geography in the United States does not have a 1%. We have no academic over-class gazing down from the Olympian heights of the Ivies and Ivy-adjacents. But we do have a privileged 10–15% slice of tenured faculty at PhD-granting institutions and especially at Research 1 schools. It is important that we recognize the very inequalities that exist within our field. Geography, and the AAG as its premier organization, needs to improve its record on institutional diversity. It means that the field must work harder to expand the community of geography by aggressively including faculty who work at smaller institutions, often as stand-alone geographers, at HBCUs, and at community colleges. It means departments must consider hiring PhD students who come from a variety of institutions, if their CVs warrant. It means that, as with many forms of inequality, people of good will can blindly reinforce the advantages accrued to a very few members of our discipline. It is time for us to acknowledge our privilege and truly open up our field to the widest numbers of geographers.

1 This data is derived from National Center for Education Statistics. The breakdowns by faculty workforce were provided to me by the American Association of University Professors.

2 Map created by Jessica Reese.  This is based on a database developed by myself and Fiona Allan of all departments providing some sort of geography degree. Some departments are listed as offering a PhD even if it is in a fairly specialized area. Let me know if you see any omissions and I will add these to the database.

— Dave Kaplan
AAG President

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0067

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New Books for Geographers

New Books: January 2020

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.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to current public health policies which have prompted the closing of most offices, we are unable to access incoming books at this time. We are working on a solution during this transition and will continue our new books processing as soon as we can. In the meantime, please feel free to peruse previous books from our archived lists.

January 2020

China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building along the New Silk Road (Revised and Expanded Edition) by Tom Miller (Zed Books 2019)

Conspiracy Theories: Philosophers Connect the Dots by Richard Greene and Rachel Robinson-Greene, eds (Open Court 2020)

The Digital City: Media and the Social Production of Place by Germaine R. Halegoua (New York University Press 2020)

Futureproof: Security Aesthetics and the Management of Life by D. Asher Ghertner, Hudson McFann, Daniel M. Goldstein, eds (Duke University Press 2020)

Geocultural Power: China’s Quest to Revive the Silk Roads for the Twenty-First Century by Tim Winter (University of Chicago Press 2019)

Motorbike People: Power and Politics on Rwandan Streets by Will Rollason (Rowman and Littlefield 2019)

Multispecies Households in the Saian Mountains: Ecology at the Russia-Mongolia Border by Alex Oehler and Anna Varfolomeeva, eds (Rowman and Littlefield 2020)

The Ocean Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Eric Paul Roorda, ed (Duke University Press 2020)

Propositions for Non-Fascist Living: Tentative and Urgent by Maria Hlavajova and Wietske Maas, eds (MIT Press 2019)

Stagnant Dreamers: How the Inner City Shapes the Integration of Second-Generation Latinos by María G. Rendón (Russel Sage Foundation 2019)

This Pilgrim Nation: The Making of the Portuguese Diaspora in Postwar North America by Gilberto Fernandes (University of Toronto Press 2020)

Traces of J. B. Jackson: The Man Who Taught Us to See Everyday America by Helen L. Horowitz (University of Virginia Press 2020)

Traveling With Sugar: Chronicles of a Global Epidemic by Amy Moran-Thomas (University of Califonia Press 2019)

Urban Mountain Beings: History, Indigeneity, and Geographies of Time in Quito, Ecuador by Kathleen S. Fine-Dare (Rowman and Littlefield 2019)

The Wari Civilization and Their Descendants: Imperial Transformation in Pre-Inca Cuzco by Mary Glowacki and Gordon F. McEwan, eds (Rowman and Littlefield 2020)

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Newsletters

Newsletter – January 2020

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

The Publishing Paradox or How the Publishing Model May be Broken

By David Kaplan

Among the familiar litany of New Year’s resolutions, many of you may have promised yourselves that 2020 would be the year to finally finish that book or write that article. In other words: to PUBLISH. Publishing is a huge part of academic life, the coin of the realm… Fast forward to our day. Rare is the PhD who lands a job without a CV listing several publications. And institutions of all stripes demand a quiver of accepted articles from their tenure-track hopefuls.

Contin\ue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

2020 Preliminary Program Now Available Online

The #aagDENVER preliminary program is ready to view online. Search the schedule by author name, session type, key words, author affiliation, specialty group sponsorship, and more. For those presenting posters, the poster presentations will take place April 7, 8, and 9, 2020.

Browse the program.

There’s Plenty to Explore in the Denver Area

 

Focus-on-Denver-graphicFrom kid-friendly activities to multicultural attractions, there is a wide variety of spaces and places to investigate in Denver, Colorado during your downtime at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting. Denver Convention Services has curated a website for #aagDENVER attendees with a list of innovative restaurants, local culture and arts sites, and transportation information to get AAG members excited for a trip to the Mile High City!

Plan your trip.

Career Mentors Needed for #aagDENVER

The advice of a mentor can be instrumental in preparing young geographers for success in today’s competitive job market. The AAG seeks professional geographers representing the business, government, nonprofit and academic sectors to serve as volunteer Career Mentors during the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. During sessions held each morning of the conference, mentors will answer questions and provide general career advice to students and job seekers interested in learning more about industries that employ geographers, the work geographers perform and strategies for getting into the field. For additional questions and to volunteer, please contact Mark Revell at the AAG.

More information about the Jobs & Careers Center.

Poster abstracts for #aagDENVER due January 31!

Present a poster at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting. As soon as your poster is ready, upload the electronic file to our Poster Portal so it can be viewed online well before and beyond your presentation session. In addition, the AAG has set up printing partnerships for discounts on paper poster printing to help you save.

PUBLICATIONS

NEW GeoHumanities Issue Alert:
Articles with topics ranging from climate change to anti-colonialism to embodied field research

GeoHumanities-coverThe most recent issue of GeoHumanities has been published online (Volume 5, Issue 2, December 2019) with 18 new research articles and creative pieces on subjects within geography including a Forum on Auto-Methods in Feminist Geography. Article topics in this issue include auto-methods, homelessness, sexism, Brexit, Nepali identity, religion and hazards, and human-water interactions. Articles also explore mediums such as stage plays, story telling, collective walking, memes, scents, and photography. Authors are from a variety of research institutions including University of Victoria, Kent State University, King’s College London, University of New South Wales, and Keele University.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of GeoHumanities through the Members Only page. In every issue, the editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Adding Spatial Context to the April 17, 1975 Evacuation of Phnom Penh: How Spatial Video Geonarratives Can Geographically Enrich Genocide Testimony by Andrew Curtis, James Tyner, Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar, Sokvisal Kimsroy & Kok-Chhay Ly for free.

Questions about GeoHumanities? Contact geohumanities [at] aag [dot] org.

NEW Annals Alert: Articles with topics ranging from resource frontiers to low-carbon landscape, time geography to primary health care

Annals of the AAG Cover OptimizedThe most recent issue of the Annals of the AAG has been published online (Volume 110, Issue 1, January 2020) with 17 new research articles on contemporary geographic research. Topics in this issue include alpine treelines, offshore wind farms, visual storytelling, oak savannas, sustainable development, the spatial fix, transboundary commons, and cartographically visualizing tornadoes. Locational areas of interest include Israel and Palestine, New York City, the Sonoran Desert, Kenya, and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Authors are from a variety of research institutions including University of Georgia, University of Gothenburg, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of the Annals through the Members Only page. Each issue, the Editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Assessing Social Vulnerability through a Local Lens: An Integrated Geovisual Approach by David S. Rickless, Xiaobai A. Yao, Brian Orland & Meredith Welch-Devine for free for the next two months.

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

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

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

New Books in Geography — November Available

New-books1-1-3Read the latest titles in geography and related disciplines as found on the New Books in Geography list. Some of these books will be reviewed in The AAG Review of Books. The editors of The AAG Review of Books are happy to receive suggestions for potential reviews and potential reviewers. Reviews are commissioned by the editors, based on the appropriateness and qualifications of the reviewer, observing the usual avoidances of conflict of interest. Persons wishing to volunteer their reviewing services should have the requisite qualifications and demonstrable prior knowledge and engagement with the subject area, preferably through publications. Please contact the editors at aagrb [at] lsu [dot] edu.

Browse the full list of new books.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

AAG is Proud to Announce the First Round of 2020 AAG Awards

honors and awardsThe American Association of Geographers congratulates the individuals and entities named to receive an AAG Award. The awardees represent outstanding contributions to and accomplishments in the geographic field. Formal recognition of the awardees will occur at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting in Denver, CO during the AAG Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 10, 2020.

See the awardees.

AAG Welcomes New Annals Editors, Thanks Leaving Editors

The AAG announces two new editors to the Annals of the American Association of Geographers – Kendra Strauss who will be taking over for Human Geography Editor Nik Heynen and Katie Meehan who will assume the role of Nature & Society Editor as James McCarthy’s term ends. The AAG would like to thank Nik Heynen and James McCarthy for their years of service while congratulating Kendra Strauss and Katie Meehan.

Learn more about the editors.

Get ready for the 2020 AAG Election

Election-button

The AAG election will be conducted online again, and voting will take place January 8-30, 2020. Each member who has an email address on record with the AAG will receive a special email with a code that will allow them to sign in to our AAG SimplyVoting website and vote. It’s important to update your email address in your AAG account to ensure you receive the email ballot. The 2020 election slate is published online.

Read about the candidates.

Environmental Governance in a Populist/Authoritarian Era Published

The 2019 Special Issue of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers has been published as an edited volume by Routledge Taylor and Francis. The volume, edited by Annals Nature & Society editor James McCarthy, is divided into six parts that explore the interconnections between the recent rise of authoritarian governments worldwide and government relations to the environment and environmental policy. Originally published in March 2019 as volume 109, issue 2 of the Annals, it can now be purchased online.

Find out more.

POLICY CORNER

ESSA Turns Four Years Old

US_CapitolLast month marked the four year anniversary of President Obama signing into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Replacing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, the ESSA overhauled the nation’s K-12 education system and required much compromise from lawmakers in order to improve the many shortcomings of the previous law. The final product was a bill that delegated a lot of power and decision-making back to the states. The ESSA defined the parameters and expectations under which states and their local education agencies (LEAs) could implement education processes that best fit their needs. Thanks to the hard work of the AAG and other stakeholders at that time, geography was specifically identified in several sections of the law including as a topic eligible for several grant programs and as a “core academic subject.”

Given the extensive effort that went into crafting the ESSA, another overhaul of the federal K-12 education structure will be unlikely in the near future. At present, Congress is more focused on putting forth a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and reforming the current system with a focus on college affordability. However, with the ESSA’s implementation well underway we are beginning to glean useful information from the policy’s results. As outlined in the law’s text, these results are collected by way of student assessments which serve as our strongest and most consistent indicator of success. The AAG hopes to engage further in utilizing these results to take a more critical look at improving K-12 geography education. In addition to the work currently being done within the National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE), the AAG will encourage the proliferation of research using student assessment results and continue to serve as a leader in the K-12 geography education research space.

In the News:

  • At the end of December Congress completed its previously delayed appropriations bills for the 2020 fiscal year and avoided the threat of a government shutdown. This final appropriations package included funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, and many other agencies that support crucial programs.
  • The AAG will continue to track geography relevant funding measures as a new appropriations cycle is set to begin shortly. With the introduction of the President’s budget, typically released in February, the several-month negotiation process officially kicks off.
RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

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 21-27, 2020, at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The shorter four-day workshop for department leaders (June 24-27) will overlap with the week-long conference for early career attendees providing a full career spectrum of exercises and activities.

Register today!

ICPSR Provides Access to Geography-Related Data

 

image1-1-300x200-1Geographers may find the data archive from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) of interest. ICPSR maintains an archive of more than 250,000 research data files in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts specialized collections related to education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, arts, and more. The ninety-percent that are public-use data files can be accessed and downloaded from individual study home pages.

Learn more about this curated data source.

Visiting Geographical Scientist Program Accepting Applications from Departments

GtulogoThe Visiting Geographical Scientist Program (VGSP) sponsors visits by prominent geographers to small departments or institutions that do not have the resources to bring in well-known speakers. The purpose of this program is to stimulate interest in geography, targeted for students, faculty members, and administrative officers. Participating institutions select and make arrangements with the visiting geographer. A list of pre-approved speakers is available on the website. VGSP is funded by Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the international honors society for geographers.

Learn more about the program and how to apply.

IN MEMORIAM

Doug M. Amedeo

The AAG is saddened to hear of the death of Doug Amedeo, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. A prolific writer, Amedeo was a mainstay at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln since 1973, advising nearly 20 PhD students during his tenure. A veteran of the Korean War, he went on to earn a bachelor’s in economics and a master’s and doctorate in geography, focusing his research on environmental perception and behavioral geography.

Continue reading.

The AAG is saddened to hear of the passing of several colleagues this past month with written tributes forthcoming.

  • Bob Sinclair of Wayne State University
  • William Graf of University of South Carolina
  • Dick Lewis of Kent State University

FEATURED ARTICLES

The Value in Knowing What’s Missing

You may be aware of a couple of facts about entrepreneurship already…

  1. The rate of new businesses that create jobs each year is in a long-term decline.
  2. Entrepreneurship opportunities, resources, and outcomes vary widely by race and gender.

Collectively, these trends are concerning.

It’s difficult, but not impossible to picture a “missing generation” of businesses that were not created due to lower startup rates and the lack of accessibility to entrepreneurial resources for women and entrepreneurs of color… This is why the Entrepreneurship Research team at Kauffman is focused on answering questions based on real-world problems facing entrepreneurs and their communities.

Continue Reading.

Geospatial Brain Power

A group of researchers from six American universities are studying what effect spatial education has on the development of the spatial thinking and reasoning skills of high school students. The research team wants to find out how the students, who use GIS technology for class projects, go about solving complex reasoning problems and whether their brains are physically changing in response to spatial learning.

Continue Reading.

GEOGRAPHERS IN THE NEWS
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David Schwarz

David Schwarz (1936-2019) was a professor of geography at San Jose State University. He passed away in Gilroy, CA, aged 82, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

He was born in Mattoon, Illinois, the 2nd of 7 children raised in a two-bedroom home with a coal stove for heat, and no indoor plumbing. After graduating from Mattoon H.S. he had a series of part-time jobs. The one that became the most significant was as a disk-jockey at a local radio station playing country and western music. To his friends, he seemed to know every country and western song ever recorded (both lyrics and melody). A random word or phrase in conversation would sometimes launch him into a song.
He continued with part-time jobs while attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, a few miles east of Mattoon. He graduated in 1963 with a double major, art and geography. One part-time job using his art skills, was to paint colorful signs in grocery store windows advertising weekly sales. It was during this era that he served six years in the National Guard.
David then attended Southern Illinois University (1963-1965), but left to pursue a Ph.D. degree at the University of Kansas under David Simonett, a world-renowned scholar in the field of remote sensing. Dr. Schwarz completed his Ph.D. in 1975, with a dissertation titled “Variability of the Accuracy of Delineating Agricultural Field Boundaries from Satellite Images of the United States.” He accepted a position in geography at San Jose State University in 1971, and rose through the ranks to become a full professor. David’s publications were in the general area of remote sensing, and he taught many courses on this subject. He spent his entire career at SJSU, and was an excellent teacher, attracting many students to his regional classes. He had small classes of dedicated students when teaching technical courses (as remote sensing, digital image processing, geographic information systems, cartography, and the like).
SJSU was in financial difficulty in the early 1980s, and social science layoffs were threatened. David helped alleviate this situation by accepting a position as a Visiting Professor at the Air Force Academy for two years (1980-82). He later taught courses on statistics in the College of Business in order to strengthen their doctoral program (in areas for which he was not trained, business or statistics, but he did an excellent job). Throughout his career David served on university committees and gained much knowledge of the university and how it operated. He was a very likeable and competent person, known for his integrity, and thoughtful and reserved demeanor. One of his colleagues called him “the Gary Cooper of the university.” Through committee work he developed many friendships with fellow professors in different disciplines. This deep background was a great help when he accepted administrative positions at SJSU.
Dave began his administrative work as Chair of Geography and Environmental Studies (1991-1995). He had the difficult and challenging task attempting to unite the two disciplines. David later began a five-year term (1996-2001) as Associate Dean in the College of Social Studies. These were the happiest years in his career, as he received wonderful support from the college staff, and from friends and staff in various departmental offices. David retired from SJSU in 2001, but continued to teach a course most semesters until the sudden departure of a dean. He once again helped SJSU, as he served as a dean for another year, and retired for the last time in 2005.
He is survived by his wife Deborah Walker Schwarz, two children, Sarah Nilsson and Noah Schwarz, and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by his parents, Raymond Noah and Gladys Elizabeth Schwarz, and two brothers James and Joseph Schwarz.
By Malcolm Comeaux and Deborah Schwarz
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William L. Graf

William L. Graf one of the nation’s leading geomorphologists and riverine policy scholars passed away on December 27, 2019 at the age of 72. At the time of his death, he was working on a book length manuscript on American Rivers using multiple lenses—arts, history, science, engineering, public policy, and philosophy.

Graf was a Foundation University Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina. Before coming to the University of South Carolina in 2001, he was the Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University. Graf received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1974 with his first academic appointment at the University of Iowa after a brief stint as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Dr. Graf published 14 books, his most notable are Fluvial Processes in Dryland Rivers, Wilderness Preservation and Sagebrush Rebellions, Plutonium and the Rio Grande (which won the Kirk Bryan Award from the Geological Society of America), and Dam Removal: Science and Decision Making. Among his more than 150 publications are his seminal articles on the hydrologic and geomorphic effects of hydroelectric dams on American rivers (“Dam nation: A geographic census of American dams and their large-scale hydrologic impacts” in Water Resources Research (1999) and “Downstream hydrologic and geomorphic effects of large dams on American rivers” appearing in Geomorphology (2006)).

Dr. Graf received numerous awards throughout his distinguished career from the AAG (G.K. Gilbert Award, Research Honors, Meredith F. Burrill Award, Mel Marcus Career Achievement Award, Water Resources Distinguished Career Award), the Geological Society of America (Kirk Bryan Award), and the British Geomorphological Research Group (David Linton Research Award). He also received the Founder’s Metal of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, the John Wesley Powell Award from the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for his contributions to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This was in addition to his receipt of the National Associate award from the National Academy of Sciences and his election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Equally impressive is Dr. Graf’s service record to the AAG and the Geological Society of America’s, Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division. For the former he served as Vice-President and President, a Council member, and on numerous committees. For the GSA he was also Vice-President and President as well as serving on additional committees. During his career, Graf served as an associate editor for the Annals, PG, GSA Bulletin, and Environmental and Engineering Geosciences.

Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Graf never lost sight of his intellectual home in Geography. He supervised 38 PhD and master’s students and served on many more graduate committees. While trained in physical geography with a minor in water resources management, Graf’s perspective and interest in the intersection of science and policy for public land and water made him one of the country’s most sought after science advisors and expert witness in resolving conflicts between environmental preservation and economic development, and the interaction between science and natural resources decision-making.  Most of these policy consultations engaged his expertise on human impacts on river morphology, processes of contaminant transport and storage in river sediments, downstream impacts of large dams, and riparian habitat changes in rivers. He advised local, state, and federal agencies (including the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Energy, and the National Park Service), as well as non-profits. He served as a consultant and expert witness in 30 legal cases on wetland and river processes and the effects of hydroelectric dams on downstream rivers. President Clinton appointed him to the Presidential Commission on American Heritage Rivers, and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel confirmed him as Chair of the Environmental Advisory Board of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Dr. Graf felt that professional service to the non-governmental entities such as the Heinz Center and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was critical in fostering the intersection between science and public policy. Not only was he a member of many different Boards but also standing committees including chairing the Geographical Sciences Committee, four committees overseeing science for the restoration of Florida Everglades, the committee on sediment issues in the Missouri River. His longstanding advocacy for geographical science to support public policy decision making on rivers and land management have left their mark and opened doors for other geographers to carry his prospective forward.

While his core was geography, the discipline never bounded his identity and scholarship. His willingness to seek knowledge, ideas, and approaches and integrate these into his study of rivers, public lands, and policy has enriched our discipline in a myriad of ways both large and small. Dr. Graf was among the staunchest supporters of geography and never shied away from his identification as a geographer, especially in his public policy and advocacy work. He was the leading light of his generation of geographical scholars and the consummate professional. We will miss his wise counsel, his sense of humor, and most of all his all-encompassing selfless spirit and encouragement to press on.

 

—Members of the University of South Carolina Geography Department

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ICPSR provides access to carefully curated geography-related data

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is an international, member-based association of more than 780 academic institutions and research organizations. ICPSR maintains an archive of more than 250,000 research data files in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts specialized collections related to education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, arts, and more. ICPSR members include academic, nonprofit, government, and commercial organizations. Members have full access to ICPSR’s data archive and other scholarly services. ICPSR’s website contains a list of member institutions, as well as information about how organizations can join ICPSR (1).

Geographers may find ICPSR’s data archive of interest. Its data resources often contain spatial information, opening the potential for mapping, geocoding, and spatial analysis. About ten percent of the ICPSR collection is restricted to protect data confidentiality. The ninety-percent that are public-use data files can be accessed and downloaded from individual study home pages. Restricted data files can be accessed by researchers using ICPSR’s virtual data enclave (VDE) system or other safe computing environments.

ICPSR offers a geospatial VDE infrastructure with geospatial tools to facilitate spatial data analysis and discovery. This geospatial VDE is supported by current and prior NSF-funded collaborations between ICPSR and AAG (2). In addition, ICPSR is developing infrastructure for depositing geographic data and tools that facilitate spatial data analysis and discovery. ICPSR encourages geography researchers to use these services, deposit their own data, and in doing so, collaboratively build a spatial data infrastructure for interdisciplinary studies.

Five ways to find Geography-related data in ICPSR’s archive

There are many ways to find data that are of interest to geography researchers. Start your search at ICPSR’s online study catalog and refine your search using the five approaches below.

Figure 1. ICPSR NACJD Study 2895: Examination of Crime Guns and Homicide in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1987-1998

First, users can refine their searches by typing geography-related keywords. The geography search filter is controlled by a curated list of place names (3) and allows users to type a place name such as “Pittsburgh,” (4) which will return over 2,000 studies related to the city. By clicking on a study title, such as “Examination of Crime Guns and Homicide in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1987-1998” (study number 2895), users can find more details about the study, its associated data files, and descriptive metadata, as shown in Figure 1. This particular study is for public use and users can download the study data in formats that include shapefiles, Stata, SPSS, SAS, and more.

Second, the subject terms filter provides a way to narrow search results. For example, one of the studies available by filtering with the term “transportation” is the study titled “Historical Transportation of Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railroads in the United States” (5) (study number 36353). This study contains GIS materials covering the spread of different modes of transportation in the lower 48 states from America’s founding to 1911. Geographers may be interested in the spatial patterns contained in this study that describe historical transportation networks.

Third, users can search by geography-related concepts. Searching for “land cover,” for example, returns more than 3,900 studies, as shown in Figure 2. One of the top results is the “National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Land Use and Land Cover by Census Tract, United States, 2001-2016,” which contains measures of land cover (e.g., low-, medium-, or high-density development, forest, wetland, open water) derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD). These data are aggregated by U.S. census tract.

Figure 2. ICPSR search results with keyword “land cover”

Fourth, the data type filter (on the left side of the page in Figure 2) allows users to narrow search results to GIS formats. The study titled “Exploratory Spatial Data Approach to Identify the Context of Unemployment-Crime Linkages in Virginia, 1995-2000” (study number 4546) contains ESRI shapefiles that can be used for mapping and spatial analysis.

Finally, users can narrow their search by exploring individual topical archives. The study in Figure 1, for example, is part of ICPSR’s National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) (6). NACJD is a grouping of studies that relate to criminal justice and many associated data files contain geographic information. A list of topical archives is available on the ICPSR website.

The five methods above are good ways to refine your search for data in ICPSR’s study archive. In the results page, users can further refine their search by time period, data collection method, release date, and other filters (see filters on the left side in Figure 2).

To track the thousands of works that build on the data from ICPSR’s archive, a “Bibliography of Data-related Literature” is continuously updated. Listed works include journal articles, books, book chapters, government and agency reports, working papers, dissertations, conference papers, meeting presentations, unpublished manuscripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and audiovisual materials.

Other scholarly services at ICPSR

ICPSR provides leadership and training for the social science research community in data access, curation, and methods of research data analysis. ICPSR advances and expands social and behavioral research, acting as a global leader in data stewardship, while providing rich data resources and responsive educational opportunities for present and future generations.

In addition, ICPSR stores, curates, and provides access to scientific data so others can reuse it and validate research findings. Curation, from the Latin “to care,” is the process ICPSR uses to add value to data, maximize access, and ensure long-term data preservation. ICPSR provides guidance to members about managing their data responsibly and ethically to support transparent and reproducible research.

Since 1963, ICPSR has offered the ICPSR Summer Program as a complement to its data services, and members receive discounted tuition rates for these courses. This program provides rigorous, hands-on training in statistical techniques, research methodologies, and data analysis. Courses such as “Regression Analysis for Spatial Data” and “Spatial Econometrics” are specifically designed for spatial studies in the social sciences. The AAG is now also exploring new offerings with ICPSR to deliver courses about geographic research methods and best practices to allow scholars to leverage geospatial information in ICPSR’s collections.

References:

(1)https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/membership/administration/institutions

(2)https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1832465&HistoricalAwards=false and https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1244691&HistoricalAwards=false

(3)https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/browse/facet/studies/geographies

(4)https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/search/studies?q=Pittsburgh

(5)https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/36353

(6)https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACJD/discover-data.jsp

(7)https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/

ICPSR, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Cuchlaine King

Geomorphologist Cuchlaine King died on December 17, 2019 at the age of 97. As a member of the geography department at Nottingham University since 1951, King’s studies addressed many landforms and landscapes, particularly beaches and glaciers.

At a time when scientific expeditions to remote locations were often closed to women, in 1953 she embarked on a university expedition to Iceland to study and survey glaciers. Later in the 1950s,and 1960s, she took part in the Cambridge expeditions on the Austerdalsbreen glacier in Norway and the Baffin Island, in Canada. 

Cuchlaine was born in Cambridge,where she later went on to study geography at Newnham College, graduating in 1943. Cuchlaine’s publications include Beaches and Coasts (1959), Techniques in Geomorphology (1966), and Glacial and Periglacial Geomorphology (1968). She was an early proponent of “quantitative geography”, the use of numerical and statistical techniques to describe and explain landform development. In 1961, Cuchlaine became one of only two women in the founding group of academics that became the British Society for Geomorphology. In 1981 she was awarded the Linton prize from the BSG for her contributions to the subject.

Cuchlaine is survived by a niece, Jane, and three nephews, Nicholas, Timothy and John.

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Awardees

AAG Announces 2020 AAG Award Recipients

The American Association of Geographers congratulates the individuals and entities named to receive an AAG Award. The awardees represent outstanding contributions to and accomplishments in the geographic field. Formal recognition of the awardees will occur at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting in Denver, CO during the AAG Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 10, 2020.

2020 Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award

The AAG bestows an annual award recognizing an individual geographer, group, or department, who demonstrates extraordinary leadership in building supportive academic and professional environments and in guiding the academic or professional growth of their students and junior colleagues. The late Susan Hardwick was the inaugural Excellence in Mentoring awardee. The Award was renamed in her honor and memory, soon after her passing.

Jeffery Roth, Stephen F. Austin State University

The AAG Enhancing Diversity Committee, and the Committee on the Status of Women in Geography have selected Dr. Jeffery Roth of Stephen F. Austin State University to receive the 2020 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award.

Dr. Roth’s nomination materials speak to his excellent mentoring abilities in advising students from a variety of backgrounds and his commitment to supporting students both professionally and personally. He truly embodies the exemplary legacy of the late Susan Hardwick. Dr. Roth has served as Geography Club advisor, he continues to create lifelong learners, has received teaching awards, and actively participates, and encourages students to participate in community activities. It is clear that Dr. Roth has shaped the lives of faculty, students, and members of the community in remarkable ways.

The AAG is proud and pleased to present the 2020 AAG Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award to Dr. Jeffery Roth.

2020 Enhancing Diversity Award

The AAG Enhancing Diversity Award honors those geographers who have pioneered efforts toward, or actively participate in efforts towards encouraging a more diverse discipline.

Demetrice Jordan, Michigan State University

Demetrice (Dee) Jordan, has been a true change agent for diversity in our discipline.

Among Ms. Jordan’s many notable accomplishments, she founded and co-leads the Michigan State University Geography Department’s graduate student diversity recruitment initiative “Advancing Geography through Diversity,” which actively recruits and increases application submissions and acceptance among underrepresented minorities. Dee is a tireless mentor and advocate for creating an institutional climate that encourages the development of under-represented minorities as leaders in our discipline.

Ms. Jordan was named MSU’s 2018 Excellence in Diversity, Individual Emerging Progress recipient, as well as the 2018 Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association’s Graduate Student Emerging Leader recipient, becoming the first Geographer at MSU to hold these honors.

The AAG is proud and pleased to award Ms. Demetrice Jordan its 2020 AAG Enhancing Diversity Award.

2020 AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography

The AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography is given annually to an individual geographer or team of geographers that has demonstrated originality, creativity and significant intellectual breakthroughs in geography. The award includes a prize of $1,000.

2020 AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography

The AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography is given annually to an individual geographer or team of geographers that has demonstrated originality, creativity and significant intellectual breakthroughs in geography. The award includes a prize of $1,000.

Brian J. L. Berry, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor and Dean of the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas

Professor Berry is one of the most influential figures in the disciplines of geography, urban studies, and regional planning. Berry’s early urban and regional research helped spark the quantitative revolution that occurred in geography and urban research in the early 1960s, making him the world’s most frequently cited geographer for more than 25 years. Throughout Professor Berry’s distinguished career he has successfully bridged theory and practice and has been heavily involved in urban and regional planning in both developed and developing countries.

In addition, the AAG recognizes Dr. Berry’s service to the discipline, including as AAG President (1978-1979) and as dean of the former University of Texas at Dallas School of Social Sciences, transforming it during a period of rapid growth into the (now) School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. Professor Berry’s over 500 books and countless significant awards speak volumes on the impact of his research in geography, and its recognition in other scientific fields.

2020 AAG Honorary Geographer

The AAG annually selects an individual as the year’s Honorary Geographer. The award recognizes excellence in research, teaching, or writing on geographic topics by non-geographers. Past recipients include Stephen Jay Gould, Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Krugman, Barry Lopez, Saskia Sassen and Maya Lin.

Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan, geologist, former NASA astronaut, NOAA Scientist, and 2017 Charles A. Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History

The AAG Executive Committee recognizes Kathryn Sullivan’s distinguished career, including being the first American woman to walk in space, serving as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and as a NOAA Administrator. The direction in which Sullivan steered Administration and NOAA priority work in the areas of weather and water services, climate science, integrated mapping services and Earth-observing capabilities is immediately recognized and welcomed by geographers. Sullivan also led NOAA with regard to satellites, space weather, water, and ocean observations and forecasts to best serve American communities and businesses. As a woman scientist and role model, Kathryn Sullivan mirrors many of the values the AAG also actively pursues in our discipline and our association.

2020 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice

The Rose Award was created to honor Harold M. Rose, who was a pioneer in conducting research on the condition faced by African Americans. The award honors geographers who have a demonstrated record of this type of research and active contributions to society, and is awarded to individuals who have served to advance the discipline through their research, and who have also had an impact on anti-racist practice.

Dr. Audrey Kobayashi, Queen’s University

Dr. Kobayashi exemplifies the ideals of the AAG Harold Rose Award, with a decades-long commitment to anti-racist research that has reshaped the discipline with impact far beyond university walls. In terms of research, Kobayashi has published on anti-racist practice in top field journals and in her Presidential addresses to the AAG “The Idea of Race in Geography,” and to CAG “What’s Race Got to Do with it? The Geography of Racialization in Canada.”

Kobayashi’s writing is frequently taught in graduate courses, thus impacting the next generation of geographers in the project of building an anti-racist geography. She is an impressive model of anti-racist praxis, from her work advocating for employment equity in Canada to her involvement authoring commissioned reports on anti-racist practice, to her mentoring of early career underrepresented scholars and efforts to consult with university administrators. We will end with the words of one of the letters of support, “Rose’s effort to confront the “Geography of Despair” remains unfinished. However, as exemplified by the steadfast work of scholar-activists such as Professor Kobayashi, this work continues.

The 2020 Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Award in Geographic Science
The Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Award recognizes excellence in academic performance by undergraduate students from the U.S. and Canada who are putting forth a strong effort to bridge geographic science and computer science as well as to encourage other students to embark upon similar programs. The award is an activity of the Marble Fund for Geographic Science of the AAG.

Jacob Bostick, University of Colorado – Colorado Springs

Nathan Fiscus, University of North Alabama

Chelsie Perkins, East Tennessee State University

2020 Community College Travel Grants
Provides financial support for students from community colleges, junior colleges, city colleges, or two-year educational institutions to attend the Annual Meeting.

Martha (Kennedy) Masanzi, Santa Barbara City College

Ozer Ozturk, Lone Star College

Brenna Strawn, Lone Star College

Stuart Watts, Montgomery College

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Newsletters

Newsletter – December 2019

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

The Publishing Paradox or How the Publishing Model May be Broken

By David Kaplan

Among the familiar litany of New Year’s resolutions, many of you may have promised yourselves that 2020 would be the year to finally finish that book or write that article. In other words: to PUBLISH. Publishing is a huge part of academic life, the coin of the realm… Fast forward to our day. Rare is the PhD who lands a job without a CV listing several publications. And institutions of all stripes demand a quiver of accepted articles from their tenure-track hopefuls.

Contin\ue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

2020 Preliminary Program Now Available Online

The #aagDENVER preliminary program is ready to view online. Search the schedule by author name, session type, key words, author affiliation, specialty group sponsorship, and more. For those presenting posters, the poster presentations will take place April 7, 8, and 9, 2020.

Browse the program.

There’s Plenty to Explore in the Denver Area

 

Focus-on-Denver-graphicFrom kid-friendly activities to multicultural attractions, there is a wide variety of spaces and places to investigate in Denver, Colorado during your downtime at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting. Denver Convention Services has curated a website for #aagDENVER attendees with a list of innovative restaurants, local culture and arts sites, and transportation information to get AAG members excited for a trip to the Mile High City!

Plan your trip.

Career Mentors Needed for #aagDENVER

The advice of a mentor can be instrumental in preparing young geographers for success in today’s competitive job market. The AAG seeks professional geographers representing the business, government, nonprofit and academic sectors to serve as volunteer Career Mentors during the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. During sessions held each morning of the conference, mentors will answer questions and provide general career advice to students and job seekers interested in learning more about industries that employ geographers, the work geographers perform and strategies for getting into the field. For additional questions and to volunteer, please contact Mark Revell at the AAG.

More information about the Jobs & Careers Center.

Poster abstracts for #aagDENVER due January 31!

Present a poster at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting. As soon as your poster is ready, upload the electronic file to our Poster Portal so it can be viewed online well before and beyond your presentation session. In addition, the AAG has set up printing partnerships for discounts on paper poster printing to help you save.

PUBLICATIONS

NEW GeoHumanities Issue Alert:
Articles with topics ranging from climate change to anti-colonialism to embodied field research

GeoHumanities-coverThe most recent issue of GeoHumanities has been published online (Volume 5, Issue 2, December 2019) with 18 new research articles and creative pieces on subjects within geography including a Forum on Auto-Methods in Feminist Geography. Article topics in this issue include auto-methods, homelessness, sexism, Brexit, Nepali identity, religion and hazards, and human-water interactions. Articles also explore mediums such as stage plays, story telling, collective walking, memes, scents, and photography. Authors are from a variety of research institutions including University of Victoria, Kent State University, King’s College London, University of New South Wales, and Keele University.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of GeoHumanities through the Members Only page. In every issue, the editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Adding Spatial Context to the April 17, 1975 Evacuation of Phnom Penh: How Spatial Video Geonarratives Can Geographically Enrich Genocide Testimony by Andrew Curtis, James Tyner, Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar, Sokvisal Kimsroy & Kok-Chhay Ly for free.

Questions about GeoHumanities? Contact geohumanities [at] aag [dot] org.

NEW Annals Alert: Articles with topics ranging from resource frontiers to low-carbon landscape, time geography to primary health care

Annals of the AAG Cover OptimizedThe most recent issue of the Annals of the AAG has been published online (Volume 110, Issue 1, January 2020) with 17 new research articles on contemporary geographic research. Topics in this issue include alpine treelines, offshore wind farms, visual storytelling, oak savannas, sustainable development, the spatial fix, transboundary commons, and cartographically visualizing tornadoes. Locational areas of interest include Israel and Palestine, New York City, the Sonoran Desert, Kenya, and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Authors are from a variety of research institutions including University of Georgia, University of Gothenburg, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of the Annals through the Members Only page. Each issue, the Editors choose one article to make freely available. In this issue you can read Assessing Social Vulnerability through a Local Lens: An Integrated Geovisual Approach by David S. Rickless, Xiaobai A. Yao, Brian Orland & Meredith Welch-Devine for free for the next two months.

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

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

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

New Books in Geography — November Available

New-books1-1-3Read the latest titles in geography and related disciplines as found on the New Books in Geography list. Some of these books will be reviewed in The AAG Review of Books. The editors of The AAG Review of Books are happy to receive suggestions for potential reviews and potential reviewers. Reviews are commissioned by the editors, based on the appropriateness and qualifications of the reviewer, observing the usual avoidances of conflict of interest. Persons wishing to volunteer their reviewing services should have the requisite qualifications and demonstrable prior knowledge and engagement with the subject area, preferably through publications. Please contact the editors at aagrb [at] lsu [dot] edu.

Browse the full list of new books.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

AAG is Proud to Announce the First Round of 2020 AAG Awards

honors and awardsThe American Association of Geographers congratulates the individuals and entities named to receive an AAG Award. The awardees represent outstanding contributions to and accomplishments in the geographic field. Formal recognition of the awardees will occur at the 2020 AAG Annual Meeting in Denver, CO during the AAG Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 10, 2020.

See the awardees.

AAG Welcomes New Annals Editors, Thanks Leaving Editors

The AAG announces two new editors to the Annals of the American Association of Geographers – Kendra Strauss who will be taking over for Human Geography Editor Nik Heynen and Katie Meehan who will assume the role of Nature & Society Editor as James McCarthy’s term ends. The AAG would like to thank Nik Heynen and James McCarthy for their years of service while congratulating Kendra Strauss and Katie Meehan.

Learn more about the editors.

Get ready for the 2020 AAG Election

Election-button

The AAG election will be conducted online again, and voting will take place January 8-30, 2020. Each member who has an email address on record with the AAG will receive a special email with a code that will allow them to sign in to our AAG SimplyVoting website and vote. It’s important to update your email address in your AAG account to ensure you receive the email ballot. The 2020 election slate is published online.

Read about the candidates.

Environmental Governance in a Populist/Authoritarian Era Published

The 2019 Special Issue of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers has been published as an edited volume by Routledge Taylor and Francis. The volume, edited by Annals Nature & Society editor James McCarthy, is divided into six parts that explore the interconnections between the recent rise of authoritarian governments worldwide and government relations to the environment and environmental policy. Originally published in March 2019 as volume 109, issue 2 of the Annals, it can now be purchased online.

Find out more.

POLICY CORNER

ESSA Turns Four Years Old

US_CapitolLast month marked the four year anniversary of President Obama signing into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Replacing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, the ESSA overhauled the nation’s K-12 education system and required much compromise from lawmakers in order to improve the many shortcomings of the previous law. The final product was a bill that delegated a lot of power and decision-making back to the states. The ESSA defined the parameters and expectations under which states and their local education agencies (LEAs) could implement education processes that best fit their needs. Thanks to the hard work of the AAG and other stakeholders at that time, geography was specifically identified in several sections of the law including as a topic eligible for several grant programs and as a “core academic subject.”

Given the extensive effort that went into crafting the ESSA, another overhaul of the federal K-12 education structure will be unlikely in the near future. At present, Congress is more focused on putting forth a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and reforming the current system with a focus on college affordability. However, with the ESSA’s implementation well underway we are beginning to glean useful information from the policy’s results. As outlined in the law’s text, these results are collected by way of student assessments which serve as our strongest and most consistent indicator of success. The AAG hopes to engage further in utilizing these results to take a more critical look at improving K-12 geography education. In addition to the work currently being done within the National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE), the AAG will encourage the proliferation of research using student assessment results and continue to serve as a leader in the K-12 geography education research space.

In the News:

  • At the end of December Congress completed its previously delayed appropriations bills for the 2020 fiscal year and avoided the threat of a government shutdown. This final appropriations package included funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, and many other agencies that support crucial programs.
  • The AAG will continue to track geography relevant funding measures as a new appropriations cycle is set to begin shortly. With the introduction of the President’s budget, typically released in February, the several-month negotiation process officially kicks off.
RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

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 21-27, 2020, at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The shorter four-day workshop for department leaders (June 24-27) will overlap with the week-long conference for early career attendees providing a full career spectrum of exercises and activities.

Register today!

ICPSR Provides Access to Geography-Related Data

 

image1-1-300x200-1Geographers may find the data archive from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) of interest. ICPSR maintains an archive of more than 250,000 research data files in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts specialized collections related to education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, arts, and more. The ninety-percent that are public-use data files can be accessed and downloaded from individual study home pages.

Learn more about this curated data source.

Visiting Geographical Scientist Program Accepting Applications from Departments

GtulogoThe Visiting Geographical Scientist Program (VGSP) sponsors visits by prominent geographers to small departments or institutions that do not have the resources to bring in well-known speakers. The purpose of this program is to stimulate interest in geography, targeted for students, faculty members, and administrative officers. Participating institutions select and make arrangements with the visiting geographer. A list of pre-approved speakers is available on the website. VGSP is funded by Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the international honors society for geographers.

Learn more about the program and how to apply.

IN MEMORIAM

Doug M. Amedeo

The AAG is saddened to hear of the death of Doug Amedeo, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. A prolific writer, Amedeo was a mainstay at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln since 1973, advising nearly 20 PhD students during his tenure. A veteran of the Korean War, he went on to earn a bachelor’s in economics and a master’s and doctorate in geography, focusing his research on environmental perception and behavioral geography.

Continue reading.

The AAG is saddened to hear of the passing of several colleagues this past month with written tributes forthcoming.

  • Bob Sinclair of Wayne State University
  • William Graf of University of South Carolina
  • Dick Lewis of Kent State University

FEATURED ARTICLES

The Value in Knowing What’s Missing

You may be aware of a couple of facts about entrepreneurship already…

  1. The rate of new businesses that create jobs each year is in a long-term decline.
  2. Entrepreneurship opportunities, resources, and outcomes vary widely by race and gender.

Collectively, these trends are concerning.

It’s difficult, but not impossible to picture a “missing generation” of businesses that were not created due to lower startup rates and the lack of accessibility to entrepreneurial resources for women and entrepreneurs of color… This is why the Entrepreneurship Research team at Kauffman is focused on answering questions based on real-world problems facing entrepreneurs and their communities.

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Geospatial Brain Power

A group of researchers from six American universities are studying what effect spatial education has on the development of the spatial thinking and reasoning skills of high school students. The research team wants to find out how the students, who use GIS technology for class projects, go about solving complex reasoning problems and whether their brains are physically changing in response to spatial learning.

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AAG Staff
AAG Staff