President's Column

Getting to Know Our AAG

October 1, 2024

Patricia Erhkamp introduces facts about AAG, its headquarters and council in a special video

Like many of you, my initial encounter with the AAG was through attending an Annual Meeting. Others first learn about the AAG through one of our nine regional division meetings or the set of journals that AAG publishes. It is often only after being a member for a while that we pay more attention to what the AAG is and does on a regular basis, and how it is run. This is why I want to use this column to talk a bit about governance, introduce you to the AAG’s wonderful staff, and to the association’s new headquarters in Washington, DC.

My recent visit to the AAG’s headquarters for the September AAG Council meeting reminded me how important it is for members to know what we do. AAG is governed by the AAG Council, whose members are elected to serve three-year terms. There are six national councilors and nine regional councilors, and membership on the board is staggered to make sure that not everyone rotates off at the same time. One student councilor and one international councilor round out the board. The AAG’s Executive Director, Gary Langham, serves ex officio as a non-voting member of the Council, and AAG Council activities are supported by AAG staff.

On the occasion of AAG Council’s first in-person meeting of the 2024/25 academic year I thought I’d take you behind the scenes to let you see who your elected council members are. These include, of course, our Executive Committee, which consists of Vice President Bill Moseley, immediate Past President Rebecca Lave, secretary Dydia DeLyser, treasurer Antoinette WinklerPrins and myself as president. The Executive Committee reviews and refines agendas, suggests policy, and oversees the work of standing committees and task forces.

AAG Council meets four times a year. The September meeting is the first of two in-person meetings; the second of these meetings takes place in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the AAG. We do meet virtually two more times during the year because our tasks can no longer be accomplished in just two annual meetings. For a recent perspective on AAG governance and Council meetings, see this article by past President Emily Yeh.

It was exciting for Council to meet for the first time in the AAG’s new headquarters at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue. The AAG’s move to this recently renovated building is part of our commitment to reducing GHG emissions. In addition to downsizing significantly from over 7,200 square feet to a space that is 3,900 square feet, the building is accessible and also LEED Gold certified, in contrast to the Meridian Place which was built in 1890 and in need of updates. Between divesting all of our assets from fossil fuel industries and moving into the new headquarters, AAG is committed to continue reducing emissions from our operations. Staff continue to contribute to these goals by using public transportation and through hybrid work arrangements. While we still have a ways to go and must work on further reducing our climate impacts, this progress is no small feat.

AAG’s Emily Frisan captured some of the highlights of the September Council meeting in a brief video I hope you’ll watch. If you are ever in DC, we invite you to drop by to visit the headquarters of your AAG.

Please note: The ideas expressed in the AAG President’s column are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. This column is traditionally a space in which the president may talk about their views or focus during their tenure as president of AAG, or spotlight their areas of professional work. Please feel free to email the president directly at P.Ehrkamp@uky.edu to enable a constructive discussion.

Julian Minghi

Julian Vincent Minghi passed away peacefully on July 26, 2024. A longtime professor of geography at the University of South Carolina Columbia, he had a lasting impact on the careers of his peers and succeeding generations of geographers.

Born in 1933 in London, Dr. Minghi spent his early years in Sussex and Wales. In his youth he traveled to Italy’s Piedmont and Tuscany regions, returning during his undergraduate years to climb the Italian Alps with famous mountain climber Walter Bonatti. These experiences influenced him to become a professional geographer with strong interests in boundaries and borderlands. He was also stimulated by his undergraduate professor, John House, from the University of Durham, who was held in high regard by his peers for pioneering works in political geography.

He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington, where he was advised by Douglas Jackson who was known for cutting-edge approaches to studying interstate political worlds. Minghi’s 1961 Ph.D. dissertation addressed what then were innovative themes and approaches, for example, the impacts of cross-border landscapes in the emerging worlds of television. During this time, he met his wife and life companion Lee.

Active in the American Association of Geographers as a Council member, he also served on the International Geographical Union’s Commission on World Political Geography, where he worked in early years with John House, Ron Johnston, Bertha Becker, David Knight, John O’Loughlin, Anton Gosar, Werner Gallusser, Saul Cohen, Dennis Rumley, Vladimir Kolossov, Andre Louis Sanguin, Peter Taylor and others advancing political geography on many fronts.

Julian Minghi changed political geography through such work as his article “Boundary Studies in Political Geography,” published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers in 1963, signaling a new turn in the study of boundaries and borders. He co-edited, with Roger Kasperson, the comprehensive book The Structure of Political Geography. First published in 1969 and still in print, it changed political geography and the two mens’ careers.

“In the huge upheavals of geography in the 1960s, political geography was nowhere to be seen,” recalled Peter Taylor, emeritus professor of geography at Loughborough University. “This changed with the publication of The Structure …. It converted political geography into a social science; 40 chapters organized into five sections: Heritage, Structure, Process, Behavior, and Environment — Wow! It certainly recruited me.”

“Julian Minghi stood out in international encounters of political geographers for his kind mentoring and his fascination with borders and borderlands,” said Virginie Mamadouh, associate professor of political and cultural geography at the University of Amsterdam.

“Minghi’s contributions to the field of political geography are immense,” said Reece Jones, chair of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa. “Thankfully, his legacy will continue to be recognized through the Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award, which is given annually to the author of the best book in political geography by the Political Geography Specialty Group of the AAG.”

“There was little of note published in political geography in the 1950s before Julian’s first papers and especially his co-edited book with Kasperson, said John O’Loughlin, professor of political geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. “The book’s ambition and broad range of subjects showed the young scholars of the day what should be important research topics and had been neglected for too long.”

“Julian was a pioneer in the field of political geography [whose] major publications led many young geographers to take up political geography and study borders (at a time when it was still partially blackballed within academic and scientific circles due to erroneous associations with the Geopolitics of the Third Reich) and make it into the thriving discipline which it is today.” David Newman, professor of geography at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Herman van der Wusten, professor emeritus of political geography at the University of Amsterdam, agrees: “Julian Minghi helped kickstart a new political geography in the 1970s. Later on he was fruitfully active on political boundary problems for humans and their landscapes as they were put up, withdrawn or got a different function. He was a great colleague who will be sorely missed.”

“In his long and distinguished career, Professor Minghi played a key role and link between an earlier generation of work on border studies in political geography and the revitalization of that field over the last thirty years,” said James Sidaway, professor of political geography at the University of Singapore. “This critical legacy will long endure,”

Julian Minghi posed for a photo outdoors Colleagues have praised Minghi’s energy and joyful spirit. He was “audacious and undisciplined … and a little bit playful,” in the words of Phil Steinberg, professor of political geography and arctic studies geographer at Durham University. Richard Schofield, senior lecturer in boundary studies at King’s College London, described Minghi as “a lovely man who continued to captivate my M.A. students at KCL on Geopolitics, Resources, and Territory into his 90s, delivering a usual annual clutch of lectures with relish and good humor. No one would ever call Julian a cowboy, but he did sort of die with his spurs on!”

Alexander (Alec) Murphy: professor emeritus of geography at University of Oregon, said, “Julian was an exceptionally warm, good humored, thoughtful political geographer who made pioneering contributions to the subdiscipline. His work with Roger Kasperson, The Structure …, helped to turn me toward political geography as a graduate student, and I cherished the many times we met at academic gatherings around the world. One of the great honors of my career was the invitation to give the first inaugural Julian Minghi Lecture at the University of South Carolina in 2007.”

Minghi’s knowledge of the world was always informed by his fascination with boundaries. “As a political geographer, Julian Minghi was professionally loyal to the Alps-Adriatic region,” recalled Anton Gosar, professor of geography at the University of Ljubljana. “He wrote extensively with Milan Bufon and made several field trips to the Italo-Slovenian border and organized conferences with scholars from both countries. Julian and his wife were fascinated by the mountain and Lakeland of the Julian Alps. They spent their honeymoon there and wanted to celebrate their anniversaries every year in the same facility.”

Mamadouh remembered, “One of the memorable moments was him sharing his memories of the evolution of the Italian/Slovenian border area over decades during the Cold War and after the disintegration of Yugoslavia when we were visiting Gorizia/Nova Goricia during a fieldtrip at the occasion of the Borderscapes III Conference in Trieste in summer 2012.”

Dennis Rumley, Professor of Indian Ocean Studies and Distinguished Research Fellow at Curtin University in Western Australia, called Minghi “an icon of political geography. He never got bored with borders. He was a very kind and generous man who had a wicked sense of humour. Like his favourite football team — Arsenal — Julian was always straight (talking in his case; shooting — for goal — their case). He clearly enjoyed life and had a positive and permanent impact on all who met and knew him. He will be missed by all of us.”

This memorial was prepared by Stanley Brunn, University of Kentucky, Lexington, insights and information from former colleagues and family members: Lee Minghi, Lynn Shirley, Anton Gosar, Reece Jones, David Knight, Victor Konrad, Virginie Mamadouh, Alec Murphy, David Newman, John O’Loughlin, Dennis Rumley, Richard Schofield, James Sidaway, Phil Steinberg, Peter Taylor and Herman van der Wusten.

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President's Column

A Global Gathering Place

September 4, 2024

Colorful comment bubble shapes containing a word in different languages

As I am finalizing this column, the 35^th International Geographical Congress (IGC) draws to a close in Dublin, Ireland. Organized by the International Geographical Union (IGU) and the Geographical Society of Ireland (GSI), the Congress met under the theme “Celebrating a World of Difference” and brought together over 3,000 delegates. It was a delight to see so many geographers from around the world engaging in the exchange of knowledge, collaborating across borders and language barriers, and building new networks and friendships along the way. A number of plenaries highlighted the expertise of ‘Voices from the Global South,’ for example two sessions on climate change. These sessions also made clear that so many current and pressing issues in the world—such as climate change, food security, and geopolitics—do not stop at national borders and cannot be understood in isolation.

This wonderful global and collaborative spirit stands in stark contrast to expressions of nationalism, boundary-making, and xenophobia that characterize the presidential election campaign in the United States. Nationalism, populism, and anti-immigrant rhetoric are on full display—with at least on one side of the political spectrum going as far as calling for mass deportations. These are, of course, well-known tropes of electoral politics, and they have been part and parcel of U.S. immigration policy for decades. But I will never get used to the ways that such anti-immigrant rhetoric and hostility unnecessarily instill discomfort or even fear in those of us who hail from parts of the world outside the U.S. Geographic research has long addressed these topics, including, for example, making rising ethnonationalism the theme of the 2022 presidential plenary.

Beyond our scholarship on these issues, however, I watch the election campaign and TV ads with deep concern for how this rhetoric affects the numerous international students in our undergraduate and graduate programs, and I wonder how our international colleagues feel about them. Many of our AAG members are immigrant faculty members and practitioners, as well as international students, and research shows that racism, discrimination, and anti-immigrant politics create stress and anxiety and adversely affect the health and mental health of immigrants and minoritized populations.

So, I want to take this opportunity to emphasize that the AAG’s broader commitments to inclusivity comprise a deep commitment to internationalism in education, research, and geographic practice, and that the broader production and exchange of knowledge and insights across national borders benefit all of us. As AAG Past President Eric Sheppard noted in 2013, efforts to change our name to American Association of Geographers were prompted by the realization that “the AAG has become far more than a community of American geographers. Many of our members, even among those working in the United States, are not (only) American citizens. Many more attend our annual meetings from outside the United States as our national meetings have become the gathering place for geographers from across the world.”

These trends continue. Although our membership declined during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, our international membership (as geographers with an address outside of the United States) has remained at about 25 percent. The 2022 Membership Report shows that the AAG had 9,347 members at the end of 2022, which included 2,554 international members that represented over 100 countries.

There is other encouraging news: Following three years of canceled or virtual conferences between 2020 and 2022, in the past two years, our annual meetings have again become global gathering places for geographers. In Denver (2023), 26.5% of our attendees came from outside the United States, representing 82 countries. Honolulu similarly attracted international attendees from 78 countries, accounting for 30.6% of our overall attendees. Hawai’i’s (relative) geographic proximity to Asia aided in bringing more colleagues from that region to this most recent conference, and I am so grateful that our organization was able to afford opportunities for 64 Indigenous students and scholars from the Pacific Ocean basin region to attend this Annual Meeting free of charge as part of our commitments to enhancing global inclusivity.

In many other ways, our lives have been globally connected, which is also what we teach in our introductory geography classes. One way of fostering such connections is through education abroad. Study abroad participation has become an important aspect of how universities and colleges are ranked, and they advertise such opportunities as they seek to recruit talented undergraduate students. Lauded as ‘high impact’ learning experiences for undergraduate students, 94 percent of United States colleges and universities offer and encourage students to participate in study abroad opportunities according to the spring 2024 Institute of International Education Snapshot. For our students, studying abroad offers exciting and important opportunities of gaining a deeper understanding of the world, through first-person experiences with different cultures, knowledges, and approaches. Of course, faculty exchanges—for example through Fulbright programs—do similarly important work.

As we continue to build global consciousness and understanding, the AAG remains committed to being a gathering place for all geographers.”

The number of international students coming to the United States has been growing, and international faculty are contributing much to growing diversity in the U.S. academy and in our home departments. But there are challenges as well. In addition to the hostile political climate I already mentioned, international faculty and students may also struggle with visa issues, have to overcome language hurdles, and may find themselves encountering microaggressions and unspoken barriers. In response to some of these challenges, AAG has been supporting the Golden Compass initiative that seeks to foster equity and inclusion for international women faculty in geography and geospatial science. This initiative, which originally focused on mentoring a relatively small group of scholars, has now received significant funding from the National Science Foundation under the new project name Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA) to scale up and shift focus toward data collection, training, and technical assistance that will help institutions transform their approach to supporting international women scholars. Led by Dr. Jieun Lee of the University of Northern Colorado, this partnership is a collaboration among UNC, AAG, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, and the College of Staten Island.

Universities in the U.S. keep recruiting international students—in part because tuition dollars matter in the neoliberalized world of higher education. But international students bring so much more: they enrich our classrooms and learning in geography programs with their experiences and insights! In our seminars and research endeavors, international students’ ideas contribute to fostering a global consciousness and understanding, and they bring significant regional expertise and insights that are critically important as geographers tackle difficult research problems in different parts of the world. So, we should celebrate that student applications from abroad for the 2024 academic year continue to grow, and that our programs attract international students. And while we’re at it, maybe we can also check in with our international colleagues and students locally to make sure that they feel supported in the current, challenging political climate. After all, a global geographic consciousness also includes our home places.

It is wonderful to see so many international members of the AAG, and to know that so many colleagues from around the world continue to find their way to our conferences. My hope is that our next Annual Meeting in Detroit, a city on the U.S. border with Canada with a long history of immigration, will not only attract similar numbers of international attendees, but will also spark conversations about immigration, borders and difference, and continue to foster intellectual engagement across borders that enriches our geographic knowledge and our lives as geographers. As we continue to build global consciousness and understanding, the AAG remains committed to being a gathering place for all geographers.

News

AAG Embarks on National Partnership to Support Foreign-Born Women Faculty

September 3, 2024

Multi-year, $1M initiative funded by the National Science Foundation

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is the recipient of a major grant as part of a three-year, $1 million dollar project entitled Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA). The project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program, which supports “increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce.”

Principal Investigater Dr. Jieun Lee, associate professor of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), will lead the project along with Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Gary Langham, Executive Director of AAG; Dr. Amy Rock, Executive Director of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), and Dr. Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Associate Provost for Faculty Success, The City University of New York, College of Staten Island (CUNY-CSI).

The GAIA partnership reflects years of work on the issue of supporting women who teach geography and all geospatial sciences in the United States but were born in different countries, many of whom are women of color. Drawn from lessons learned during the first-ever 2022 Golden Compass convening, which focused on mentoring foreign-born women faculty (FBWF) and gathering insights for faculty equity and inclusion, GAIA aims to enhance and scale the insight and curriculum from the Golden Compass. Both programs were developed by Dr. Lee, in collaboration with fellow alumni of UCGIS’s TRELIS program for advancement of women, and through support from UCGIS, AAG, UNC, and the Korea-America Association for Geospatial and Environmental Sciences.

“This grant gives us an excellent platform from which we can continue the collaboration of Golden Compass, gather data about the experiences of women scholars from other countries, and develop implementation plans that lead to systemic change within university geography departments,” said Dr. Lee.

“This project is exactly the sort of partnership we want to invest in,” said Gary Langham, Executive Director of AAG. “Academia needs to create spaces where all faculty can thrive, bringing their talents to institutions, students, and research. I take pride in our part toward helping foreign-born women faculty succeed, persist in their careers, and find satisfaction in being geographers at U.S. institutions.”

Over the next three years, working in partnership with the CUNY-CSI and UCGIS, UNC and AAG will engage with foreign-born women faculty (FBWF) and their institutions to gather information on the experiences of FBWF in American institutions.

The GAIA findings and analysis will be made available to the public and will include recommendations for how departments can become more welcoming spaces.

In the final phase of the project, GAIA will work directly with departments that create an implementation plan for supporting their foreign-born women faculty, guiding each department and its leadership to ensure the effective adoption of the GAIA curriculum, successful programming, and measurable outcomes.

The Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA) is supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Nos. 2404263 and 2404264. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For additional information, contact AAG.

News

Challenging “It’s Always Been This Way” with an Ethos of Care

August 23, 2024

Person holding their hands in the shape of a heart with sunlight in background

By Risha RaQuelle, Chief Strategy Officer

The AAG will host the Convening of Care, September 19-20, 2024, funded by the National Science Foundation in partnership with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP).

Thirty participants, drawn from among early career scholars, department leaders, and representatives from the research enterprise (ex. funding officers at colleges and universities), will meet at the AAG offices in Washington, DC, to explore how belief systems such as the ones we live within today still carry the heat signature of systems created hundreds of years ago.

Many behaviors and practices that we take for granted in current institutions are in fact the legacy of these older systems, undermining the lives and often the careers of many of us:

prioritization of timeliness and urgency at the expense of developing trusting and collegial partnerships,
Individualism, competitiveness, and perfectionism, and
hierarchies of power that reinforce one-way belief systems.

The exploration of how these entrenched systems and attitudes lead to protecting or reinforcing the “it’s always been this way” tradition, is paramount in creating an “Ethos of Care.” An ethos of care seeks to enhance practices and processes within the research enterprise and enable collaborators to confront and address the accepted norms of power and bias, and “resolve to disrupt and transform those norms in a mutually beneficial, evolving and inspiring manner,” according to Principal Investigator Emily Skop of UCCS.

The goal of the convening is to enable practitioners in the research enterprise to probe the origins of knowledge discovery and inspire critical reflection on the ethical, political, economic, and emotional aspects of research practice and knowledge production. Participants will complete an Ethos of Care Credential and a foundational paper to inform implications for care in practice.

Our work is ever-evolving, and optimistic that even the most permanent-seeming system of beliefs or policies once invented, can be transcended. Did you know that we have a TLC GRAM toolkit? You can start today by evaluating and tracking your progress in this community engaged care movement. I’m rooting for you.

The Convening of Care project is supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2324401 and Award No. 2324402. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The AAG Culture of Care column is an outreach initiative by the AAG JEDI Committee. Don’t forget to sign up for JEDI Office Hours. The current theme of Office Hours is An Ethos of Care in the Research Enterprise.

Angel David Cruz Báez

Students, teachers and the community mourn the departure of Dr. Angel David Cruz Báez (1948-2024). His career was marked by a deep commitment to teaching and research, leaving a lasting impact on his students and colleagues.

Professor Cruz Báez was one of the first professors of Geography in Puerto Rico and served as a professor and director for more than 30 years in the Department of Geography of the University of Puerto Rico. Before this, he began his academic career as a professor at the Interamerican University in San Germán.

Dr. Ángel David Cruz Báez was a distinguished professor and director in the Department of Geography at the University of Puerto Rico, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Dr. Cruz Báez’s research focused on various aspects of geography, including residential segregation by socioeconomic class, particularly in metropolitan areas like Miami. His work contributed significantly to the understanding of geographic and social dynamics in urban settings.

His achievements, beyond his publications, were to create a solid geographical community dedicated to teaching, research and the creation of a holistic local environmental awareness. Published books, articles and essays, since his dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, show great love, commitment and respect for Puerto Rico.

Throughout his career, he was known for his passion for geography, his dedication to academic excellence, and his efforts to promote knowledge about the geographic and social environment. Additionally, he was a leader in the management of geographical information systems, statistical applications, computer management and digital mapping in Puerto Rico.

He also forged several generations of geographers as an advisor, counselor, friend, teacher and mentor. His legacy continues to inspire those who had the privilege of learning from and working with him.

The loss of Dr. Ángel David Cruz Báez is deeply felt by all who had the privilege of knowing him. His passing is deeply felt in the academic community, but as we reflect on his life and contributions, we are reminded of the power of education to change lives and the importance of passionate educators like Dr. Cruz Báez who devote their lives to this cause.

Adapted from an online memorial on Facebook.

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James Gordon Nelson

In May 2024, Canada lost one of its most distinguished and honored geographers, Dr. James Gordon Nelson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of University of Waterloo in Canada.

Dr. Nelson was an internationally respected and renowned expert in conservation, protected areas, and policy, having worked all over the world, and was a leader as advocate for parks and protected areas all over Canada during a professional academic career that spanned decades. He received his B.A. from McMaster University, his M.A. from Colorado, and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. Before accepting a position with the University of Waterloo in 1975, Dr. Nelson held academic and administrative positions at the University of Calgary and the University of Western Ontario.

During his time in academia, he was a prolific scholar with hundreds of publications including dozens of peer-reviewed articles and several major authored or edited books — many with students and colleagues as co-authors. In addition, during his academic career at University of Calgary, Western University, and the University of Waterloo, Dr. Nelson advised and mentored dozens of graduate students — many of whom are today leaders in governmental agencies, NGOS, or in academia, continuing the legacy of his work. Although he retired from the University of Waterloo Department of Geography and Environmental Studies in 1998, he remained active working on book projects, with his colleagues including former graduate students. Notable publications include Protected Areas and the Regional Planning Imperative in North America: Integrating Nature, Conservation, and Sustainable Development (2003, Michigan State University Press); Places: Linking Nature and Culture for Understanding and Planning (2009, University of Calgary Press); and Amid Shifting Sands: Ancient History, Explosive Growth, Climate Change and the Uncertain Future of the United Arab (2022, Austin Macauley Publishers).

Dr. Nelson has been a member of the College of Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, a committee member of the World Commission on Protected Areas of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness, and Ontario’s Representative on the National Board of Governors of Heritage Canada. He has received many awards, including the first Natural Heritage Award in 1978, the Canadian Association of Geographers Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography in 1983, the Massey Medal for the Royal Canadian Geographic Society in 1983, a Certificate of Achievement from the Grand River Conservation Authority in 1994, and the 1994 Environment Award for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.

His loss is deeply felt by all who knew him. His legacy is one of intellectual curiosity, rigorous scholarship, and a deep commitment to the principles of ecology, geography, planning, and policy making.

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Robert “Bob” Moline

The daily work rhythms Robert “Bob” Moline observed for nearly 40 years reflected a passion for landscape, weather, culture, and thinking about the human place in the environment. After teaching his 8:00 am meteorology class, Bob took his daily run through the prairie and forested landscapes of the campus arboretum. Then, it was time to print and post the daily upper air and surface weather charts, teach another class or two, followed by late afternoons spent listening to jazz at high volume while organizing his slide carousels for the next day. Bob Moline was a beloved professor and colleague and the guiding force in building both the geography and environmental studies programs at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Although he passed away in January 2024, his influence continues to be felt through the thousands of people he inspired to pay careful attention to the skies, to the landscape, and to their place in the region and river basin.

Bob Moline, was born in Gary, Indiana and grew up on the Southside of Chicago where his dad was pastor of Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church. Bob graduated from Chicago’s Hirsch High School in 1951 and entered Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he majored in science and met his future wife, Janet Reedquist. After college he served in the Air Force from 1955-1959 as an instructor in the weather training program at Chanute Air Base in Illinois and then at Etain, France, where he taught meteorology and held the post of Chief Weather Observer. The experiences in the Air Force prompted Bob to pursue a career in teaching. When he and Janet returned to the United States, he began graduate work in geography at the University of Illinois.

As Bob was finishing his master’s degree in 1961, Gustavus Adolphus College was in the process of establishing a geography program. Bob’s alma mater, Augustana College, had established its geography program in 1949. Like Gustavus, it was affiliated with the Swedish-American Lutheran Church. A telephone call between the deans at Gustavus and Augustana identified Bob as a likely candidate, and an interview at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago led to a job offer. Soon Bob and Janet Moline were on their way to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he would spend the next 37 years teaching full-time, raising two children (Jeff Moline and Karen Wallin) and living out the remainder of their lives until Janet died in 1999. For most of the years since that time Bob remained in St. Peter with his new wife Kay.

Sharing the basement of Old Main and later the Nobel Hall of Science with the lone geologist, Bob Moline set about building the geography department while working on his Ph.D. in geography at the University of Minnesota. Under the supervision of University of California-Berkeley-trained Ward Barrett, Bob completed his dissertation in 1969 on agricultural drainage of wetlands and shallow lakes entitled, “The Modification of the Wet Prairie in Southern Minnesota.” This work led to two published monographs on public attitudes in water resources management. Bob’s long-term research passion was to update Jan Broek’s classic 1932 study of landscape evolution in California’s Santa Clara Valley to document the transition from prunes and cherries to microprocessors and computer software.

Bob’s teaching portfolio reflected his diverse interests: Meteorology, Water Resources, Cultural Geography, The American West, and a course whose title reflected the questions he cared most about: Environmental Attitudes and Landscape Change. Bob knew well the value of maps and the importance of field experiences. He curated the map collection at Gustavus Adolphus College, one of the largest map libraries in the country at a liberal arts college. Between 1974 and 1998 he led an annual January Term field course titled San Francisco: The City and Its Region. To bring the expansive western landscape into the classroom, Bob shot his photographs in side-by-side mode and equipped his classroom with side-by-side slide projectors operated in tandem. In recognition of his excellence in the classroom, Gustavus awarded Bob with the college’s Distinguished Teacher Award in 1987. In presenting the teaching award, a faculty colleague described Bob as evincing “enthusiasm from the heart, commitment to the land, and deep care for students.”

Bob Moline put his geographic expertise into practice by running a regional rain gauge network with local farmers and serving on the Minnesota state power plant siting committee, the River Bend regional planning organization, the Minnesota Water Resources Board, and the City of St. Peter Planning Commission. In the preamble to the city’s 1995 comprehensive plan Bob managed to quote Lewis Mumford, Michael Sorkin, and James Howard Kunstler.

Bob’s geographical fascination never wavered. He seemed to never not be a practicing geographer. His love of places and his deeply ingrained sense of the world as landscape were constants throughout his life. His family vacations, often road trips to the American West, were geographical field trips. Visitors to his house were met with walls covered in maps, each with beloved stories. Who could have much patience for faculty meetings when, out there, the landscape, even the most mundane, was waiting to be explored? Bob Moline’s legacy of service and endless geographic curiosity lives on through his many former students who have found positions in university geography departments, high school geography classrooms, city planning departments, and water resources agencies across the country. Bob is survived by his brother Norm Moline, professor emeritus of geography at Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois), his spouse Kay, and children Jeff, Karen, and their families.

This memorial was prepared by former colleagues and family members Mark Bjelland, Robert Douglas, Jeff Moline, Norm Moline, and Anna Versluis.

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