Newsletter – September 2018

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

A New Academic Year

By Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach

Beach_Sheryl-500This Labor Day weekend marks the return to University instruction for many geography faculty and students, and as an educator, I welcome you all back to our academic community and wish you a successful new academic year. Many of us are returning from field and lab research, writing, and conferences, wondering where the summer went and why we are considered nine-month-employees! … For our non-academic professional Geography community, I pause to thank you for your research partnerships, your innovation and entrepreneurship, and for the internship opportunities and inspiration you offer to our students.

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Read past columns from the current AAG President on our President’s Column page.


ANNUAL MEETING

Carla Hayden, 2019 AAG Atlas Awardee, to Speak in D.C.

Carla HaydenThe AAG will be awarding Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress, the Atlas Award during the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting, on Friday, April 5, 2019. Hayden will deliver a keynote address after presentation of the Atlas Award, the association’s highest honor.

Learn more about Hayden.

Focus on new

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

Stories of Change Hidden in Washington, D.C.’s Alley

Tucked into residential areas of Washington, DC exists a maze of alley homes and retail establishments dating back to the Reconstruction era of the mid-1800s. Today, urban hikers may find a mixture of homes, art, and food scattered in various masked locales. Rebecca Summer elaborates on the disappearing feature of the gentrifying city in this latest Focus article.

Read more.

Get Involved with the AAG Jobs and Careers Center!

The AAG seeks panelists, mentors, and workshop leaders for careers and professional development events for its annual meeting, April 3–7, 2019, in Washington, DC. Individuals representing a broad range of employment sectors, organizations, academic and professional backgrounds, and racial/ethnic/gender perspectives are encouraged to apply. If interested, email careers [at] aag [dot] org, specifying topic(s) and activity(s) of interest, and attach a current C.V. or resume. For best consideration, please submit your information by October 25, 2018.

Learn about the AAG Jobs & Careers Center.

Registration for #aagDC Now Open! Start Planning your Trip!

The new early bird registration rate for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting expires on September 27, 2018. Register early to ensure the best rates!


ASSOCIATION NEWS

Meet the Editors of AAG Journals: Tim Cresswell, Deborah Dixon, and Philip J. Nicholson

This month, get to know the editorial team of AAG’s newest journal, GeoHumanities. Two editors, Tim Cresswell and Deborah Dixon, and one assistant editor, Philip J. Nicholson, work on the journal, which includes scholarly articles at the intersection of geography and the humanities, shorter creative pieces, and an accompanying online art exhibition of author’s works.

Find out more about the AAG Journals editors.

Visiting Geographical Scientist Program Accepting Applications for 2018-19

The 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 online. VGSP is funded by Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the international honors society for geographers.

Apply to and learn more about the VGSP.


MEMBER NEWS

Profiles of Professional Geographers

Caitlin KontgisThis month, learn about the career path of Caitlin Kontgis who works as an Applied Scientist Lead (Solutions) at Descartes Labs in New Mexico. Kontgis discusses her passion for geography, how it has led to her giving back to her local community, and the undergraduate courses that inspired her eventual professional goals.

Learn more about geography careers.

Summer Member Updates

Many AAG members were active throughout the summer with research and other geography related activities and honors.

50 year AAG Member Martin J. Pasqualetti was named the University of California, Riverside Alumni Association’s 2018 Distinguished Alumnus. His work has largely focused on energy, including his UC, Riverside dissertation, Energy in an OasisLearn more.

Marla R. Emery, a Research Geographer with the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Research and Development, has been appointed co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the assessment of the sustainable use of wild species. Read more.

AAG Councilmember Wendy Jepson was awarded an NSF grant to lead a new water security research network. She was also selected as one of eight Texas A&M Faculty for their inaugural X-Grant program in which she will lead a team examining desalination and water reuse.

Julie Loisel, an assistant professor of geography at Texas A&M, was awarded one of eight inaugural grants in the Texas A&M X-Grant program that awards research funding for interdisciplinary projects. Her team will be assessing CO2 levels in arctic permafrost. Learn more.

The keynote speaker for the 4th Annual International Geography Youth Summit in Bengaluru, India was Sue Roberts of the University of Kentucky. The summit, founded by Chandra Shekhar Balachandran, attracted 170 young adults aged 11 to 17. Read more.

Jacqueline M. Vadjunec has been appointed to serve as a Program Director for Geography and Spatial Sciences at the National Science Foundation. Jacqueline will work with two other GSS program directors, Antoinette WinklerPrins and Thomas Baerwald. She replaces Sunil Narumalani, who has returned to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Learn more.

Victoria Trucksess took part in graduate studies in Belize this past summer through Miami University’s Project Dragonfly. Trucksess of Hackettstown, N.J., studied approaches to environmental stewardship. Inspired by her work in Belize, Trucksess is now conducting a semester-long research project.


OP-ED

Researchers with disabilities in the academic system

By Aleksandra (Sasha) Kosanic, Nancy Hansen, Susanne Zimmermann-Janschitz, and Vera Chouinard

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“Although researchers with disabilities are an exceptional category, they are a still very much underrepresented group in Academia worldwide. With 1.5 billion people with disabilities worldwide, the percentage of academic positions filled in by academics with disabilities is surprisingly low… The low number/percentage of Academics with disabilities in top class universities and other research institutions is alarming, and we have to ask why this is the case and what are possible solutions to change this situation for the better.”

Continue reading.


IN MEMORIAM

Robert H. Stoddard

Robert StoddardRobert Stoddard passed away on May 21, 2018 at the age of 89. Stoddard, one of the first geographers to focus on pilgrimage, was also an Asia specialist who combined his interests throughout his distinguished teaching career in the U.S. at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and abroad in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Read more.


PUBLICATIONS

New Books in Geography — July 2018 Available

New Books in Geography illustration of stack of books

Recent books published in geography and related topics span the discipline from Bolivia and Chile to Asia and Manila to Russia and the Arctic. Some of these new titles will be selected to be reviewed for the AAG Review of Books. Individuals interested in reviewing these or other titles should contact the Editor-in-Chief, Kent Mathewson.

Browse the list of new books.

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

Annals-cvr-2017

Volume 108, Issue 5 of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is now available! Articles spanning the breadth of geography from the four major areas of Methods, Models, and Geographic Information Science; Nature and Society; People, Place, and Region; and Physical Geography and Environmental Sciences are featured in each issue. Access to the journal is included in your AAG membership.

Full article listing available.

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

Volume 6, Issue 3 of The AAG Review of Books has now been published online. In addition to featuring individual book reviews and discussions, the quarterly publication also includes longer essays on several books dealing with a particular theme. This quarter, the essay by Joseph S. Wood looks at the white, rural poor in the US.

Read the reviews.


GEOGRAPHERS IN THE NEWS

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