Newsletter – June 2018
PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
As the Student Goes, So Goes Geography
By Derek Alderman
This marks my last presidential column. Serving as President of the Association over the past year has been a true pleasure and honor. I have appreciated the opportunity to represent you and the discipline of geography. As someone who first began attending AAG meetings as a young graduate student, I never dreamed that one day that I would be allowed to serve in this capacity. I am a direct product of the type of significant investments that my academic programs, employers, mentors, and my Association have made in me over the years. Thank you.
For these final remarks, I would like to come back to where it started for me and for so many of us—the student experience.
Read past columns from the current AAG President on our President’s Column page.
ANNUAL MEETING
2018 AAG Annual Meeting Videos on YouTube
If you missed or want to review the high-profile sessions from AAG 2018 New Orleans, you can now watch recordings of these events on the AAG YouTube channel. Available videos include the Opening Session with welcoming remarks from Executive Director Doug Richardson and Mayor-Elect LaToya Cantrell followed by Derek Alderman’s Presidential Plenary, Glen MacDonald’s Past President’s Address, and Honorary Geographer Robert Bullard’s talk.
Save the date for #aagDC
The 2019 AAG Annual Meeting will take place from Wednesday, April 3 to Sunday, April 7, 2019. Sessions will occur in the Marriott Wardman Park and Omni Shoreham. The Annual Meeting will overlap with the celebrated National Cherry Blossom Festival, a four week festival held during the bloom of the area’s renowned Cherry Blossom Trees. The festival includes many free and family-friendly activities. In 2019, the festival will take place from March 21 – April 15!
Start planning your visit to Washington, DC.
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Meet the Editors of AAG Journals: Barney Warf and Blake Mayberry
To continue the AAG’s newest series on the editors of the AAG Journals, the editorial team from The Professional Geographer is featured this month in AAG News and through the AAG social media accounts. Barney Warf, professor of geography at University of Kansas, currently serves as the editor for The Professional Geographer and Blake Mayberry, assistant professor of geography at Red Rocks Community College, serves as the journal’s editorial assistant.
Find out more about the AAG Journals editors.
POLICY
Geography Policy Updates from AAG Policy Analysis
AAG continues to monitor and update you on key issues that have a clear impact on geography or in which our discipline can serve as a valued stakeholder in shaping viewpoints and policy outcomes. Recent activities by the AAG include support for funding for the National Agriculture Imagery Program through a sign-on letter. In addition, AAG reports on a House Appropriations Bill, which provides significant increases for the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Census Bureau. AAG also lists information on its policy page to help you take action within your communities.
Keep up to date with US policies.
MEMBER NEWS
Erin Torkelson named 2018 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow
AAG member Erin Torkelson has been named one of 21 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows for 2018 by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Erin is a Geography Ph.D. candidate at University of California, Berkeley, completing their dissertation, titled Taken for Granted: Geographies of Social Welfare in South Africa, which explores how an enormous and ambitious social welfare program has become a new means of dispossession in post-apartheid South Africa. The Newcombe Fellowship is the nation’s largest and most prestigious award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences addressing questions of ethical and religious values. Each Fellow will receive a 12-month award of $25,000 to support their final year of dissertation work.
Profiles of Professional Geographers
When it comes to landing a career in geography, Bishop and Shabram agree, the most important thing is to have experience either in the classroom to be an educator or in the field to work in international studies and research. Read more about the two working geographers interviewed this month, Kate Bishop an Evaluation Consultant at Winrock International and Visiting Assistant Lecturer at University of New England in the Department of Environmental Studies and Patrick Shabram a Professor of Geography at Front Range Community College on the Larimer Campus, in AAG’s Profiles of Professional Geographers.
Learn more about Geography careers.
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES
Contribute to the AAG Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas
While the deadline for submitting materials for the 2018 Guide has passed, the AAG will continue to accept late submissions through Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Updated each academic year, the Guide is an invaluable reference for students and faculty throughout the world and includes detailed information on hundreds of geography programs in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America, including: program specialties, degrees offered, application requirements, curricula, faculty listings and qualifications, financial assistance, degrees completed, and more! Your program will also appear alongside hundreds of other top geography programs in our Interactive Map that students can use to explore and discover geography programs, with easy-to-use search tools to find programs by degree type, region, and program specialization.
List your program and find out more.
AAG Snapshot: Grants & Awards
Curious to know more about the more than 43 annual awards the AAG administers on an annual basis? Is there a colleague that is deserving of an AAG honor? The AAG Grants and Awards program offers a variety of ways to recognize deserving geographers for their commitment to the discipline, their students, and their communities as well as application programs for students to obtain assistance for travel or research. This AAG Snapshot provides insight into getting involved in the AAG Grants and Awards program from multiple avenues.
Learn more about Grants and Awards.
AGI Wildfire Management Webinar Video Available
On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, the AAG sponsored a webinar hosted by the American Geosciences Institute entitled “Adapting Wildfire Management to 21st Century Conditions.” A full video recording of the webinar is now available on the AGI’s website. Special guests for this webinar included Tania Schoennagel, Ph.D., Research Scientist, University of Colorado-Boulder; David Godwin, Ph.D., Southern Fire Exchange / University of Florida; and Vaughan Miller, Deputy Chief, Ventura County Fire Department.
Watch a recording of the webinar.
Call for Nominations for AAG Honors, AAG Fellows, and Committees
Please consider nominating outstanding colleagues for the AAG Honors, the highest awards offered by the American Association of Geographers, and the AAG Fellows, a program to recognize geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography. Individual AAG members, specialty groups, affinity groups, departments, and other interested parties are encouraged to nominate outstanding colleagues by June 30. Openings are also available to serve on either the AAG Honors Committee or the AAG Nominating Committee. Nominations of members who wish to serve on these committees are also due June 30.
More information about AAG Committees and Awards.
REP Conference and Mentorship Workshop for Early Career Scholars
The Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference invites early career scholars from underrepresented groups to apply for the 2018 REP Mentorship Workshop. The one-day workshop will take place on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, in Austin, Texas the day prior to the conference. This workshop is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide early career faculty and advanced PhD students with the opportunity to receive practical advice, strategies, information, and resources from experienced senior scholars. Workshop participants will continue their professional development by presenting their own research during the subsequent IX REP Conference, held from Wednesday October 24 – October 25, 2018. Accepted participants will have registration, meals and hotel expenses covered for both the workshop and the subsequent REP Conference. Eligible early career participants are PhD students with ABD status, recent PhD graduates, and assistant or adjunct faculty at US institutions.
Learn more about the REP and Mentorship Workshop.
IN MEMORIAM
Roger Barry
Former Director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center and Distinguished Professor at University of Colorado, Roger Barry, passed away on March 19, 2018. Barry was 82 years old. Known for his work in polar and mountain climates, Barry received numerous academic accolades throughout his lifetime and contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments in 1990, 1995, and 2001 as well as served as a review editor for IPCC Working Groups 1 and 2 in 2007, an effort that earned the IPCC the Nobel Peace Prize.
Emilio Casetti
Ohio State Department of Geography Emeratis Professor, Emilio Casetti, passed away on January 11, 2018. Casetti was a professor at Ohio State from 1963 until his retirement in 1993. Holding a doctorate from Northwestern University in Mathematical Modeling, Casetti contributed to the growth of geographical analysis techniques.
Robert W. Kates
Geographer and sustainability scientist, Robert W. Kates, died the day before Earth Day, on April 21, 2018, at the age of 89. Though Kates had a varied career, most recently as Presidential Professor of Sustainability Science at the University of Maine, his work was grounded in big picture questions of sustainability and the question of “What is, and ought to be, the human use of the earth?” Kates has been honored with a variety of awards throughout his life including being the recipient in the first annual MacArthur Fellowship in 1981.
PUBLICATIONS
Volume 4, Issue 1 of ‘GeoHumanities’ Online Now
GeoHumanities features articles that span conceptual and methodological debates in geography and the humanities; critical reflections on analog and digital artistic productions; and new scholarly interactions occurring at the intersections of geography and multiple humanities disciplines. There are full length scholarly articles in the Articles section and shorter creative pieces that cross over between the academy and creative practice in the Practices and Curations section.
New Books in Geography — April 2018 Available
Looking to expand your summer reading list with some of the latest geography related research? The April list of newly published books in geography is here! Browse titles covering a variety of topics such as the rebirth and rebuilding of New Orleans, extinction and evolution of plants and animals, climate change, and the expansion of the United States.
Read the May 2018 Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’
The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 108, Issue 3 (May 2018) of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is now available. While the Annals features original, timely, and innovative articles that advance knowledge in all facets of the discipline, each issue highlights one article chosen by the editors. This month’s editors’ choice is Governing Dispossession: Relational Land Grabbing in Laos by Miles Kenney-Lazar.
Full article listing available.
May 2018 Issue of the ‘Professional Geographer’ Published
The Professional Geographer, Volume 70, Issue 2, has been published. Of note to geographers interested in the Public Engagement theme for #AAG2018, the focus section in this issue is Out in the World: Geography’s Complex Relationship with Civic Engagement. The issue also includes short articles in academic or applied geography, emphasizing empirical studies and methodologies.
Spring 2018 Issue of ‘The AAG Review of Books’ Now Available
Volume 6, Issue 2 of the quarterly The AAG Review of Books has now been published online. In addition to scholarly reviews of recent books related to geography, public policy and international affairs, this issue features longer book review fora of Refugees in Extended Exile: Living on the Edge, The Rise of the Hybrid Domain: Collaborative Governance for Social Innovation, and The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League.
OF NOTE
AAG Speaker Charles Ray Becomes Coast Guard’s Vice Commandant
On May 24, Admiral Charles Ray was sworn in as the 31st Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. The Vice Commandant is the second-in-command of the Coast Guard’s 88,000-member workforce. Admiral Ray was nominated to the position in early March and confirmed by the Senate on May 16. In 2016, he was a panelist during the AAG Annual Meeting in San Francisco in a session entitled, “The American Arctic: The United States as an Arctic Power in Science, Technology, and Security.” At the time, Ray was serving as Commander of the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area, which oversees maritime and research support activities in the Arctic. The session was sponsored by the Polar Geography Specialty Group and also featured remarks from Fran Ulmer, Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.
GEOGRAPHERS IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
Popular stories from the AAG SmartBrief
EVENTS CALENDAR
- June 10-16, 2018 – Geography Faculty Development Alliance Workshop for Early Career Faculty
- June 13-16, 2018 – Department Leadership Workshop
- August 6-10, 2018 – International Geographical Union Conference
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