News

How the AAG Selects Its Annual Meeting Venues

From the Meridian: a column by Doug Richardson

If ever you find yourself at a loss for conversation among a group of geographers, simply ask this one question: Where do you think the AAG should hold its next Annual Meeting? Everyone has an opinion on this question, and embellished memories of past meetings to recount; the only risk of raising this question is that the conversation may well go long into the night.

How the AAG Selects Annual Meeting Sites

Selecting AAG Annual Meeting sites is a lengthy and complex process. I would like to share with you the many steps and considerations that go into Annual Meeting site selection that have been in place for many years. As with most major academic associations, we contract for meeting sites about five to eight years into the future, and in blocks of three or four meetings at a time. This gives us negotiating leverage, minimizes costs, and reduces staff time by consolidating what is a very lengthy and complicated due diligence and negotiation process.

At the outset, the process involves a great deal of AAG member and Council discussion and input, as well as extensive data gathering, past history analysis, cost comparison, staff experience, research, and consultation with our professional conference managers firm, as well as geographical balancing of our meeting sites. We then develop and issue a detailed Request for Proposals (RFP) to several prospective cities, liaison with the bidders, conduct comparative analyses of all proposals, perform physical site inspections, weigh union hotel preferences, and enforce the inclusion of numerous specific contract stipulations that I have developed over the years to protect the AAG. All of these considerations go into the process of narrowing down feasible locations for our AAG Annual Meetings for each calendar year. With a shortlist of promising bids in hand, we then enter into detailed and careful negotiations of myriad contract provisions before signing an agreement with major convention centers and/or large hotels at a proposed site. If we cannot negotiate the costs and legal terms we require and which are favorable to the AAG at an initially preferred site, we are willing to cancel negotiations and start the above process all over again with an alternate potential city.

Finally, once we have completed lengthy negotiations and entered into major contracts for convention centers and/or large hotels at a particular year’s site, we then also must develop specifications and competitively bid out dozens of ancillary contracts for meeting services such as audio-visual services; internet availability; food and beverage obligations; overflow hotels; exhibitor booth agreements and exhibit setup services; special events needs related to workshops, field trips, and supplemental meeting room space; design, construction and setup of meeting registration structures and signage; mobile app and the printed program book; and many other agreements.

Why not small cities?

I frequently am asked why the AAG doesn’t meet in smaller cities such as Ann Arbor or Portland. The fact is that most cities are far too small to host our Annual Meetings. They lack the required number or concentration of hotel rooms and meeting rooms or sufficient airline flights to accommodate our 9,000 attendees. We do have a suite of mid-sized and lower-cost cities that we have used from time to time (most recently Tampa), but ironically these smaller city meetings are among our very lowest-attended meetings despite being our lowest cost venues. So it is not clear that lower venue costs correlate with greater access or attendance (or desirability). Costs of transportation are of course primarily a function of where one lives in relation to the meeting site, rather than the meeting site itself. This is why we try to rotate our meetings among different regions the country, so that each region is involved, and also of course so that geographers can experience many different places.

What about international AAG Meetings?

The AAG has on a few occasions held an Annual Meeting in Canada (Toronto and Montreal). I would love to hold additional AAG meetings in other international locations, from Mexico City to Vancouver to elsewhere. So why not?

One obstacle is that since 9/11, the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico have become more difficult and uncertain to cross. At the same time, growing numbers of AAG members from other countries now teach or study on visas in the U.S. Many members have expressed concern that if they were to leave the U.S. to attend an Annual Meeting, they may not be able to return easily (or in some cases at all) to the United States. The AAG Council has considered the issue of international Annual Meetings on several occasions during the past decade, and each time the consensus has been it would not be fair to hold the AAG Annual Meeting in a location where a substantial number of our faculty and graduate student members would be unable to attend. It is of course always possible that domestic and international circumstances may change, or that the AAG Council’s position on this issue could change, but for now the consideration of fairness to these many members residing in the U.S. on visas remains the policy.

Controlling Costs at our Annual Meetings

Our conference manager consultants tell us every year that the AAG meetings are the best bargain of any of the dozens of meetings they help organize. We hold a full five day meeting, with elaborate and expensive A/V requirements for 80+ concurrent and fully equipped session rooms, as well A/V systems for large plenary and reception rooms, etc. Our meeting fees are very low and are well below those of nearly all other comparable geography meetings. In addition, our meeting fees have not been increased in many years, despite rising costs in almost every category of expense. The AAG also sponsors many programs which subsidize the costs of attending, including a very progressive registration fee structure for students, un- and underemployed members, and retired geographers, as well as mechanisms to subsidize travel and offset costs for students attending the meeting. Learn more about AAG Annual Meeting cost comparisons at our report, AAG Annual Meeting Fees: An Analysis.

Summary

We can always do more, but by all comparative measures, we are doing a very good job of keeping our meeting reasonably priced while providing an incomparable experience. This was illustrated by the responses to the recent McKinley Membership Survey, and also by the remarkable growth in the number of geographers and attendees from other disciplines deciding to attend our Annual Meeting every year. The reality is that thousands of geographers from around the world now choose to attend our meetings, despite the fact that they have dozens of other meeting options to choose from. So, we must be doing something right.

I hope this quick overview is helpful; we welcome questions and your input and would be happy to discuss any aspects of the AAG Annual Meetings in more detail with you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me (drichardson [at] aag [dot] org), Oscar Larson (olarson [at] aag [dot] org), or Kelsey Taylor (ktaylor [at] aag [dot] org). As always we welcome your insight and ideas for improving our annual meetings, and we look forward to seeing you in New Orleans in April of 2018!

—Doug Richardson

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0014

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Doug Richardson
Doug Richardson
President's Column

Moving at Twitter Speed

The title of my column comes from a recent NPR story on the NAACP. The storied civil rights organization is undergoing a wholesale “retooling” of its structures and tactics in an effort to regain relevance among younger generations of activists and to enhance its efficacy in anti-racism advocacy and education. In adapting to a dramatically changing political and media environment, former NAACP president and CEO Cornell Brooks said: “All of us have to be prepared to respond, not with telegraph speed but with Twitter speed.”

Moving at “Twitter speed” has special meaning to the NAACP, criticized recently by social media-deploying Black Lives Matter movements. Yet, this emphasis on readiness, speed, and communication has applicability to any organization seeking to affect how public groups think about and debate today’s issues. Moving quickly is not about rushing in unprepared, but laying back too much misses important opportunities for civic engagement and public education.

The AAG as of late has been especially mindful of staying current with and taking advantage of a wide array of communication and social media platforms as it promotes the work and interests of geographers and provides virtual places for community interaction and awareness. The purpose of this column is to discuss a few of those exciting ongoing developments at Meridian Place and elsewhere.

My intent in this column is also to encourage geographers to consider the potential benefits of using social media, which includes but is not limited to Twitter. More broadly, moving at Twitter speed is my call for geographers to be nimble, responsive, and strategic public intellectuals not confined to the traditional reach and pace of academic discourse and dissemination. Effective media engagement requires, however, a sober consideration of opportunities, challenges, and strategies. This column ends by conveying the sage advice that a group of AAG members provided me on this issue.

AAG’s Expanding Social Media and Public Outreach Agenda

Many organizations are developing or expanding their social media presence. It is increasingly common to see academic journals appointing social media editors to their ranks, for promotional purposes and in recognition that social media is a fertile area of research in its own right. Academic geography departments have established active profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms to assist with student recruitment, program marketing, and maintaining a sense of community among alumni, faculty, students, and staff.

The AAG is no different and over the past few years has enhanced its social media profile and larger public outreach efforts. It has a substantial communication plan for reaching multiple audiences. The Association tailors the scale, frequency, and tone of communications relative to the intended audiences and the media platforms used. Executive Director Doug Richardson continues to make important communication staff hires, including in social media, while also developing a number of new communication channels.

The AAG joined Twitter in 2009, establishing an account (@theAAG) that serves primarily as a news and informational feed for its almost 10,000 followers. Over the past year, Meridian Place staff have hosted Twitter Chat sessions (#AAGChat) on topics such as Careers in Geography, Geography and the New Presidential Administration, the AAG Awards Program, and Geography Awareness Week. These chats, which will continue this year, are valuable opportunities to have a dialogue with the AAG and learn from each other’s questions and comments. If you have not yet participated in one of these Twitter Chats, I encourage you to do so.

The Association has recently added an Instagram account. Instagram is a photo and video sharing service, and its visual nature is a good fit for many geographers who create and analyze maps, images, and other representations. The AAG is currently using Instagram to connect with and feature the work of undergraduate and graduate students. Some of you may have noticed the Instagram call for students to share pictures and videos related to their summer research. The AAG anticipates that the new Instagram channel will engage and capture new generations of geographers, highlight the importance of mentorship and faculty-student collaboration in the discipline, and inspire students to present their research at annual meetings. Students represent 40 percent of our members, and it is important to help them make the most of their AAG membership and wider experience as geographers. In this respect, social media is critical to sustaining the discipline.

Innovations in social media development are also evident in a number of specialty and affinity groups and among some of our AAG regional divisions. In SEDAAG, the editors of Southeastern Geographer, Hilda Kurtz and Deepak Mishra of the University of Georgia, use Twitter (@SEGeographer) to publicize papers as each issue of the journal is published. Hilda and Deepak tweet announcements of articles, tagging the author’s home institution as well as public broadcasting outlets in the author’s home media market and the site of the paper’s case study or empirical focus. It is my hope that our flagship journals, Annals of the AAG and Professional Geographer, can soon participate in a similarly targeted and aggressive use of social media promotion.

Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies on Twitter

To move quickly and effectively in the area of public outreach is not simply the job of AAG, but an important responsibility for all of us individually and collectively. Engaging social media requires a thoughtfulness that we often do not see among our politicians and celebrities. Some of you might be reluctant, and rightly so, to venture out beyond traditional academic communication without an understanding of what social media may offer, its possible pitfalls, and how best to navigate the new(ish) medium. I asked several Twitter-active AAG members to share their impressions with me. Below is a summary of those impressions, which I have limited to their professional use of social media.

When asked about the benefits of participating in Twitter, our colleagues consistently emphasize how social media allows them to expand their scholarly networks and thus facilitate research and teaching. One can follow and engage established and emerging major thinkers in the field, although not all are social media active. Some of my respondents note that contacts made in the Twittersphere have led to “real world” introductions at conferences and later even collaborations. Social media allows many geographers to hear about new publications, ongoing projects, forthcoming meetings, fluid national and international political crises, and natural disasters (e.g. recent flooding from Hurricane Harvey).

In addition to what Twitter can provide in information and networking, it has proven especially powerful in spurring discussion and debate and gaining access to a wide range of perspectives on issues important to one’s work. The capacity of Twitter to assist people to view a situation or issue from an alternate perspective depends upon the diversity of people and organizations one follows. As one colleague points out, a “confirmation bias” is prevalent among users, meaning that we tend to follow Twitter accounts that conform with our interests and point of view. To assist in understanding an array of perspectives, another colleague suggests that we follow a variety of people and organizations on Twitter, including those with whom we disagree.

There is an important subjectivity at work in Twitter as users fashion and project a public identity as well as critical voice. Advocacy work is increasingly important to geographers from many sub-fields, especially in these disruptive times. Social media is also an important vehicle for greater visibility and recognition of one’s work, leading to inquiries from journalists or catching the attention of non-geographers who we hope will cite and build upon our ideas and research findings. Self-promotion, although open to narcissistic abuse, is not negative if deployed for advancing larger academic and public conversations and ensuring that geography is included rather than excluded from those debates. Some geographers use Twitter to promote the achievements of their colleagues, students, and programs—a nice counterpoint to the zero sum politics found in many universities.

Twitter certainly brings certain professional opportunities, but a strategic approach is required to manage the platform’s challenges. One is limited in how much one can say in a tweet (140 characters), although links to longer comments can be included. The brevity of communication can make it difficult to get the intonation of posted comments right and tweets are open to misinterpretation as with any form of communication. Some of this is unavoidable, such as when another user appropriates or “re-tweets” your comment out of context, but constantly being reflexive and reflective of what one says online should take precedence over knee jerk reactions.

The openness of social media facilitates a culture of outrage and academicians are easy targets for people and organizations not only interested in disagreeing with us but also seeking to damage our reputations. Some employers can be quite sensitive to social media posts. One of my colleagues suggests a “10 minute rule” when one sees something that is disagreeable. If you have to react, then draft an angry tweet, save it, and then come back in 10 minutes. The issue of time is also salient in that Twitter is just one of many of our other duties. Some of the more successful users limit time on Twitter to certain times of the day or only so many minutes a day.

Finally, gaining followers can be a slow and at times disheartening process that requires frequent tweeting, searching for and following others, tagging highly regarded people and organizations in tweets, using hashtags # that are trending, including Twitter handles on presentations and publications, and generating meaningful content and opinion. According to one consulting colleague, “people who share good information and provide thoughtful perspectives do tend to build a following over time.” It is also easier to create compelling content and build a following when you think strategically about what you want to accomplish through social media. Simply joining the Twitter or any social media bandwagon without a goal will probably leave you unsatisfied and the discipline poorly served. Yet, with meaningful direction and a spirit of engagement, investments of time and energy in social media can be a productive and natural extension of one’s traditional academic and professional work as a geographer rather than a distraction from it.

If you, your program, or your workplace currently “move at Twitter speed,” then let me know about your experiences, positive and negative, through email (dalderma [at] utk [dot] edu) or on Twitter using #PresidentAAG.

— Derek Alderman
Professor Geography, University of Tennessee
President, American Association of Geographers
@MLKStreet

Special thanks to Sarah Bednarz, Jordan Brasher, Jason Dittmer, Latoya Eaves, Kelsey Ellis, Sara Koopman, Bill Moseley, Becky Pendergast, Kris Olds, James Tyner for contributing information and perspectives to this column.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0012

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Derek Alderman
Post

Coline Dony Joins AAG as Senior Geography Researcher

Coline Dony, Senior Geography Researcher, for the American Association of Geographers

The AAG welcomes Coline Dony as a Senior Geography Researcher. Before joining the AAG staff in Washington, D.C., Coline served as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County where she taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in GIS, geovisualization and programming for spatial data analysis. Coline also taught an undergraduate course in medical geography, her area of expertise.

Coline holds four degrees in geography: a bachelor’s degree and a master of science degree from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and a master of arts degree and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Coline moved from Brussels to Charlotte, N.C., in 2011 to join an interdisciplinary team doing research on spatial access to healthcare. For her dissertation research, Coline looked at ways to improve people’s health by using better urban planning instead of primarily relying on medical services through a study of access to parks in Charlotte and associated environmental injustices. Other than health geography, Coline cares about bringing programming skills to geographers, especially to female geographers and to social geography programs. In the summer of 2015 she taught for Girls Who Code, a non-profit that aims to see more women pursue their education in a STEM field.

In her role at AAG she is working on a new AAG initiative, “Coding for Girls in GIS and Geography,” helping to develop GIS coding curricular materials, such as python programming for spatio-temporal analysis and many other topics, and is helping to plan a series of workshops on coding for girls and women beginning at the AAG Annual Meeting in New Orleans in 2018. In addition, she is working with the AAG team on a series of webinars and podcasts for the Secondary Cities project.

When not working, Coline likes to watch TV, especially her favorite show: Rectify (on Sundance). Coline also likes to swim and is learning Japanese.

Coline Dony, Senior Geography Researcher
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Staff
Staff
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AAG Statement on Charlottesville Tragedy and White Supremacy

The American Association of Geographers is deeply saddened and disturbed by the recent deadly and violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Rallies supported by white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members led to the killing of one counter-protester, the wounding of at least 19 other protesters, and the deaths of two law enforcement officers doing surveillance of the rallies by air. On behalf of its almost 12,000 members, the AAG expresses heartfelt sympathy to the victims of the Charlottesville tragedy and their loved ones.

The AAG also wishes to use this statement to offer the strongest possible condemnation of white supremacy and the perpetrators of this recent violence. The AAG calls upon US federal, state, and local government officials to be unequivocally anti-racist in their denouncement and investigation of white supremacy—not only in Charlottesville but also in the many US communities long harmed by racism in both highly publicized and everyday ways.

Enhancing diversity, promoting inclusion, and advocating for historically marginalized social groups are central to the AAG and its mission. Recent events in Virginia strike at the heart of these values. Moreover, geographers are making important contributions to studying the social and spatial foundations and consequences of racism, violence, and inequality. Yet more can and should be done in the discipline of geography and by academicians and professionals in other fields to address these critical issues.

Members of the AAG are encouraged to use their research, teaching, professional practice, community outreach, and channels of public communication to oppose racism and violence and advocate for a constructive national dialogue about white supremacy and race relations in general. This advocacy can come in many forms based on the abilities and sensitivities of AAG members, but it is vital that the discipline’s informed and committed voices are heard, whether that is through the media, at government and policy meetings, in classrooms, teach-ins and educational forums, or among grass roots community organizing.

See AAG’s Policy page

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Staff
Staff
New Books for Geographers

New Books: August 2017

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.

August 2017

Beyond Control:The Mississippi River’s New Channel to the Gulf of Mexicoby James F. Barnett Jr. (University Press of Mississippi 2017)

The City is the Factory: New Solidarities and Spatial Strategies In An Urban Age by Miriam Greenberg and Penny Lewis (Cornell University Press 2017

Climate Change in Practice: Topics for Discussion with Group Exercises by Robert L. Wilby (Cambridge University Press 2017)

The Creative Destruction of New York City: Engineering the City for the Elite by Alessandro Busà (Oxford University Press 2017)

Documents That Changed the Way We Live by Joseph Janes (Rowman and Littlefield 2017)

The Driftless Reader by Curt Meine Keefe Keeley (eds.) (University of Wisconsin Press 2017)

Energy and Civilization: A History by Vaclav Smil (MIT Press 2017)

Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change by Ashley Dawson (Verso Books 2017)

Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures on the New Climatic Regime by Bruno Latour (Polity Press 2017)

Flame and Fortune in the American West: Urban Development, Environmental Change, and the Great Oakland Hills Fire by Gregory L. Simon (University of California Press 2017)

Florida Weather and Climate: More Than Just Sunshine by Jennifer M. Collins, Robert V. Rohli, and Charles H. Paxton (University Press of Florida 2017)

From California’s Gold Fields to the Mendocino Coast A Settlement History Across Time and Place by Samuel M. Otterstrom (University of Nevada Press 2017)

Hamilton and Philosophy: Revolutionary Thinking by Aaron Rabinowitz and Robert Arp (eds.) (Open Court Publishing Company 2017)

Indigeneity and the Sacred: Indigenous Revival and the Conservation of Sacred Natural Sites in the Americasby Fausto Sarmiento and Sarah Hitchner(eds.) (Berghahn Books 2017)

Key Thinkers on Cities by Regan Koch and Alan Latham (eds.) (Sage 2017)

Los Zetas Inc: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico by Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera (University of Texas Press 2017)

Making Spatial Decisions Using ArcGIS Pro: A Workbook by Kathryn Keranen and Robert Kolvoord (eds.) (ESRI Press 2017)

Mr. Robot and Philosophy: Beyond Good and Evil Corp by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene (Open Court Publishing Company 2017)

The Nature of Spectacle: On Images, Money, and Conserving Capitalism by Jim Igoe (University of Arizona Press 2017)

New Zealand Landscape: Behind the Scene by Paul Williams (Elsevier 2017)

The New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action by Alison Hope Alkon and Julie Guthman (eds.) (University of California Press 2017)

Newspaper City: Toronto’s Street Surfaces and the Liberal Press, 1860-1935 by Phillip Gordon Mackintosh (University of Toronto Press 2017)

A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World by Alexander Jones (Oxford University Press 2017)

Postcards From the Sonora Border: Visualizing Place Through a Popular Lens, 1900s-1950s by Daniel D. Arreola (University of Arizona Press 2017)

Science and Sensibility: Negotiating an Ecology of Place by Michael Vincent McGinnis (University of California Press 2017)

Slavery in the City: Architecture and Landscapes of Urban Slavery in North America by Clifton Ellis and Rebecca Ginsburg (eds.)  (University of Virginia Press 2017)

Springer Handbook of Global Navigation Satellite Systems by Peter Teunissen and Oliver Montenbruck (eds.) (Springer International Publishing 2017)

Turbulent and Mighty Continent: What Future for Europe?by Anthony Giddens (Polity Press 2017)

Unlikely Alliances: Native Nations and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands by Zoltan Grossman (University of Washington Press 2017)

Where the Land Meets the Sea: Fourteen Millennia of Human History at Huaca Prieta, Peru by Tom D. Dillehay (ed.) (University of Texas Press 2017)

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AAG Staff
AAG Staff
Newsletters

Newsletter – August 2017

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

The Serious Business of Public Communication 

By Derek Alderman

If you have not yet examined the AAG Long Range Plan, 2015-2025, then I encourage you to do so. It provides a useful update on the Association’s progress since its 2002 strategic plan and offers 20 specific recommendations important for the future of AAG and the discipline of geography. One of those recommendations calls on us to “promote outreach and engagement,” which includes encouraging and training AAG members to write and speak for general audiences to maximize the contributions of geography to public debates, policy initiatives, and the broader civic society.

Continue Reading. 

Recent columns from the President

ANNUAL MEETING

The Call for Papers is Open!

Registration for the 2018 Annual Meeting is now open. Registration fees increase on November 8, 2017, so be sure to register early to get the best rate. AAG accepts all submissions for presentation. In addition to paper and poster submissions, all attendees are welcome to organize sessions, propose field trips, and hold workshops.

Learn more.

Some Hispanic and Latino Landscapes of New Orleans

FocusOnNewOrleansLogoIf you have a penchant for landscape, be warned: you will be tempted to spend more time outside of the hotels than in the paper sessions of the upcoming AAG conference in New Orleans. Many aspects of the New Orleans landscape might seem generically American, especially within the compact Central Business District upriver from Canal Street, where the conference hotels are located. But venture downriver, across Canal Street into the French Quarter, and you will enter an urban landscape that remains more attuned to the Mediterranean and Caribbean than the North Atlantic. Those interested in the Hispanic and Latino aspects of this compelling landscape might consider the following sampling of spots to visit, mainly oriented toward the city’s historic status as a Spanish colonial capital and U.S. neo-colonial entrepôt for Latin America.

Learn more.

Focus on New Orleans is an ongoing series curated by the Local Arrangements Committee to provide insight on and understanding of the geographies of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

New Orleans: Place Portraits

Over the next nine months, AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” will feature a series of articles on New Orleans by Richard Campanella. Campanella teaches in Tulane’s School of Architecture. His geography training includes a M.S. degree from LSU where he specialized in mapping sciences. Campanella, New Orleans’ unofficial “geographer laureate,” is the author of 10 books and nearly 200 articles on New Orleans. He has received numerous awards for his highly creative integration of mapping and spatial analyses with architecture, social science and the humanities. Most recently, he received France’s highest academic honor – Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Palmes — for his geographical explications of New Orleans, past and present.

AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast” series serves to highlight some of the unique places and spaces attendees will be able to visit during the 2018 Annual Meeting being held in New Orleans from April 10-14, 2018.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Nominations Extended for 2018 Vice President, National Councilors, Student Councilor – Aug. 15!

The AAG Nominating Committee seeks nominations for Vice President (one to be elected), for National Councilor (two vacancies) and Student Councilor (one to be elected) for the 2018 election. Those elected will take office on July 1, 2018. Members should submit the names and addresses of each nominee and their reasons for supporting nomination to any member of the committee no later than August 15, 2017. As part of your nomination statement, please confirm that the person is willing to be considered for the position for which you are recommending her or him. Nominations by email are strongly preferred.

Learn more.

AAG Staff Participate in Esri Education GIS & User Conferences in San Diego

AAG Staff participated in and exhibited at the annual Esri Education GIS and User Conferences July 8th-14th in San Diego, California. The conferences are a great opportunity for the AAG to conduct outreach to the GIS community, engaging with current AAG members, signing up new AAG members, advertising the Annual Meeting for both attendees and potential exhibitors, and communicating our program efforts in the areas of geography and GIS education.

Learn more.

Call for Photos/Videos from Undergraduate and Graduate Students of Geography

http://news.aag.org/2017/08/aag-staff-participate-in-esri-education-gis-user-conferences-in-san-diego/AAG just recently launched an Instagram account. Help us to raise awareness of geography and increase the visibility of your research! How can you help? You can start by submitting photos and/or videos of your summer research projects to feature on @theAAG Instagram account! We ask that you make sure to acknowledge if the submission is an independent research project or if it’s part of a larger team effort.

Learn more.

MEMBER NEWS

AAG Snapshot: How to Make the Most of your Student Membership

AAG-Snapshots-logo-1Over 40% of AAG members are students and it is this 40%+ that I want to speak to and encourage to make the most of your membership to the AAG. While I am currently an AAG employee, I started with the organization just like you, as a student member. It’s how I got started in the geography community beyond my university and it is from that personal experience as a student member (combined with additional AAG insider knowledge gained since then) that I want to talk to you.

Learn more.

AAG Members Publish New Book on Florida Weather and Climate

AAG members Jennifer M. Collins, associate professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida; Robert V. Rohli, professor of geography at Louisiana State University; and colleague Charles H. Paxton, an American Meteorological Society certified consulting meteorologist, just published, Florida Weather and Climate: More Than Just Sunshine. The book explores the conditions, forces, and processes behind Florida’s varied and remarkable weather. The authors explain the influence of atmospheric circulation patterns such as the Hadley cell, the Coriolis force, and the Bermuda-Azores high. It also covers major weather incidents from Florida’s history and looks ahead to what climate change will mean for the state’s future. The book is aimed for the general public to read, but also as a scholarly resource.

Learn more.

Preparing NSF Data Management Plans

NSF_logo2sSince 2011 the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has required that all submitted proposals include a Data Management Plan (DMP). A DMP is a plan for the management and sharing of any data and other kinds of products resulting from the activities in a proposal. Why did NSF start to require DMPs? NSF is a U.S. federal agency supported by taxpayer dollars. As such, data and other products generated by NSF-supported research need to be made available in a format for others to use. Investigators need to be sure that their project meets the expectation that data gathered using public funding will be preserved in ways to facilitate long-term public accessibility and use. Making data publicly available in this way will also permit future meta-analysis, which adds value to the original data collection.

Learn more.

PUBLIC POLICY

Washington Policy Updates

By Daniel Schwen

The August Congressional recess is in full swing in the nation’s capital, and while we’re hard at work at the AAG, President Trump and lawmakers have left Washington for most of this month.  Here are a few updates on key policy issues:

  • OSTP Appointments: As AAG members may recall, we led scientific community efforts in developing a sign-on letter to the Trump Administration urging appointment of a presidential science advisor and other top officials in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).   
  • Census Bureau Director: Ron Jarmin, a career staffer serving as Associate Director for Economic Programs, has been appointed as the Bureau’s acting head.
  • Science Agency Appropriations: The fall will be a critical time for government funding issues.  Administration officials have signaled that the government is approaching the statutory debt ceiling and that an increase will be needed to prevent a catastrophic default.

Learn more.

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES

NCRGE Announces New Grants for Transformative Research 

NCRGE_logoThe National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE), a research consortium headquartered at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) and Texas State University, has approved awards for three new projects under its Transformative Research grant program. This investment by NCRGE continues a long-term and broad-based effort to develop a research coordination network supporting implementation of the Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education project’s landmark report on geography education research.

Learn more.

Visiting Geographical Scientist Program Accepting Applications for 2017-18

The Visiting Geographical Scientist program (VGSP) is accepting applications for the 2017-18 academic year. VGSP sponsors Gamma Theta Upsilon 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.

Learn more.

NSF Is Recruiting Geographers for its Graduate Research Fellowship Program

national science foundation nsfGrad students in geography and related spatial sciences will have an opportunity to compete in NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees in science or engineering at accredited US institutions. NSF seeks GRFP panels composed of researchers and educators from a wide range of institutions, geographic locations, and disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds.

Learn more.

The Department of Education Calls for Applications for New Awards–Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply is Aug. 10

The Department of Education is issuing a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year 2017 for the American History and Civics Education—National Activities Grants Program. The National Activities Grants Program promotes innovative instruction, learning strategies, and professional development in American history, civics and government, and geography, with an emphasis on activities and programs that benefit low-income students and underserved populations.

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IN MEMORIAM

Anne Buttimer

Anne Buttimer

Anne Buttimer, emeritus professor of geography at University College Dublin, died July 15, 2017.Buttimer was Fellow of Royal Irish Academy, Royal Geographical Society (UK) and Academia Europaea. She served as Council Member of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) from 1974 to 1977; of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) from 1996 to 1999; and as President of the International Geographical Union (IGU) from 2000 to 2004, the first female and first Irish person to be elected to that role.

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Masatoshi Yoshino

Masatoshi YoshinoMasatoshi Yoshino, a distinguished Japanese physical geographer who served the IGU as the founder and the Chair of the Commission on Climatology (1988-1992) and as a Vice President (1992-1996), died on July 4, 2017, at the age of 89. He was a devoted scholar and kept writing and publishing quality articles till the very last moment of his life. Many people might remember him not only as a respectable scientist but also as an able and reliable organizer or leader, as can be seen in the success of the International Geographical Congress in Tokyo in 1980 which he conducted as the Secretary General.

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PUBLICATIONS

AAG Releases New Edition of Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas

AAG Guide to Geography ProgramsThe AAG’s Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas, or The Guide, includes detailed information on undergraduate and graduate geography programs in the United States, Canada, and Latin America, including degree requirements, curricula, faculty qualifications, program specialties, financial assistance, and degrees completed, and more. The 2016-2017 edition of The Guide is now available for free online. The AAG has also published an interactive, companion map where users can search for programs by location, degree type, field of interest, and regional focus.

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New Books in Geography — June 2017

New Books in Geography illustration of stack of booksEvery month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related fields. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books. Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should contact the Editor-in-Chief, Kent Mathewson.

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September 2017 Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’ Now Available 

Annals-cvr-2017

The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 107, Issue 5 (September 2017) of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is now available. A full list of contents is below. The Annals contains original, timely, and innovative articles that advance knowledge in all facets of the discipline. Articles are divided into four major areas: Methods, Models, and Geographic Information Science; Nature and Society; People, Place, and Region; and Physical Geography and Environmental Sciences.

Summer 2017 Issue of ‘The AAG Review of Books’ Now Available

Volume 5, Issue 3 of The AAG Review of Books has now been published online. This quarterly online journal publishes scholarly reviews of recent books related to geography, public policy and international affairs. It also features review essays reflecting on several books on a particular theme, and book review with multiple contributors discussing a title.

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Methods, Models, and GIS Section Editor Sought for ‘Annals of the AAG’

Annals-cvr-2017The American Association of Geographers seeks applications and nominations for the Methods, Models, and Geographic Information Sciences editor for the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. This new editor will be appointed for a four-year editorial term that will commence on January 1, 2018. The appointment will be made in the Fall of 2017. Nominations and applications should be submitted by Friday, September 29, 2017.

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AAG Cartography Editor Sought for ‘Annals of the AAG,’ ‘Professional Geographer,’ and ‘GeoHumanities’

The American Association of Geographers seeks applications and nominations for a Cartography Editor for the AAG journals Annals of the American Association of Geographers, The Professional Geographer, and GeoHumanities. The new editor will be appointed for a four-year editorial term that will commence on January 1, 2018. The appointment will be made in the Fall of 2017.

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ADDENDA
IN THE NEWS

Popular stories from the AAG SmartBrief

EVENTS CALENDAR

Submit News to the AAG Newsletter. To share your news, submit announcements to newsletter [at] aag [dot] org.

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Emily Fekete joins AAG as Communications, Education, and Media Specialist

The AAG welcomes Emily Fekete in the new position of Communications, Education, and Media specialist. Prior to the AAG, she was employed as a clinical assistant professor and undergraduate coordinator for the geography department at Oklahoma State University. While at the university, she taught courses in cultural geography, economic geography, and geographies of new media as well as served as the undergraduate advisor and coordinator of the undergraduate geography, geospatial information science, and global studies programs.

In her new position at the AAG office in D.C. Emily will lend her expertise in communications and media geographies to the communications team through new content curation, social media and program development.

Emily holds bachelor’s degrees in history and geography as well as a minor in deaf studies from the University of New Hampshire, a Master’s degree in geography from Kent State University, and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Kansas. Her research projects have been varied within communications geographies including a major focus on offline consumption patterns driven by social media sites as well as activism and social media, cyberwar and cyberterrorism, and deaf/American sign language geographies.

In her free time, Emily and her husband, Kevin, enjoy exploring new breweries and restaurants. She also makes time for ballet dancing, downhill skiing, and hanging out with her black cat, Mulligan.

Communications Education and Media Specialist, Emily Fekete
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Washington Policy Updates

The August Congressional recess is in full swing in the nation’s capital, and while we’re hard at work at the AAG, President Trump and lawmakers have left Washington for most of this month.  Here are a few updates on key policy issues:

OSTP Appointments

As AAG members may recall, we led scientific community efforts in developing a sign-on letter to the Trump Administration urging appointment of a presidential science advisor and other top officials in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  The letter was endorsed by 58 organizations and universities, including AAAS and AAU.  As of this writing, the president still has not filled the top jobs in OSTP and there are no signs of pending appointments.  There has been speculation in Washington that the lack of nominations to key positions across the government is part of an effort by the Administration to downsize the government.

Census Bureau Director

Meanwhile, there also continues to be a vacancy in the leadership of the U.S. Census Bureau.  Former Director John Thompson left the Agency in June to take a job as Executive Director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics.  Ron Jarmin, a career staffer serving as Associate Director for Economic Programs, has been appointed as the Bureau’s acting head, but the Administration has yet to nominate a permanent director as we head into the critical ramp up for the 2020 Census.

Science Agency Appropriations

The fall will be a critical time for government funding issues.  Administration officials have signaled that the government is approaching the statutory debt ceiling and that an increase will be needed to prevent a catastrophic default.  Congressional leaders will seek to pass a “clean bill” without any policy riders or related budget cuts, but it is likely that House and Senate conservatives will oppose these efforts.  Accordingly, the final bill will probably have to be bipartisan, as happened towards the end of the Obama Administration.

Congressional appropriators have also been hard at work on the bills that will fund federal agencies for Fiscal Year 2018, which begins October 1.  The House Appropriations Committee has approved legislation funding the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and both agencies fared significantly better than they did in the Trump Administration’s budget request.

The Foundation would receive $7.3 billion under the House bill, which is a decrease of 1.8 percent from last year’s enacted level, but 10.3 percent above the President’s request.  Meanwhile, NIH would be funded at $35.2 billion as part of the House proposal, an increase of 3 percent over last year and a whopping 32 percent above the Administration’s budget.  We will continue to keep you up to date on key developments related to federal science funding.

Census Bureau Director, OSTP Appointments, Policy updates, Science Appropriations
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AAG Snapshot: How to Make the Most of your Student Membership

Over 40% of AAG members are students and it is this 40%+ that I want to speak to and encourage to make the most of your membership to the AAG. While I am currently an AAG employee, I started with the organization just like you, as a student member. It’s how I got started in the geography community beyond my university and it is from that personal experience as a student member (combined with additional AAG insider knowledge gained since then) that I want to talk to you.

If you become an AAG member just for the savings of attending the Annual Meeting, financially it’s already worth it for you. Joining saves you $70 for a student member versus a student non-member Annual Meeting registration. Given that the cost of membership itself is only $38 to $49 for undergrad or grad students, it’s a bit of a no-brainer! But don’t stop there in terms of benefiting from your membership. Use your membership to find financial and educational resources as well as social and professional connections to help you advance towards your goals.

The following are just a few ways to take advantage of your student membership:

1. ATTEND THE ANNUAL MEETING: If you do join the AAG in order to get the Annual Meeting discount, let’s start here in terms of making the most of your experience and membership.

  • Talk to people. Sounds simple? Sure. Sounds scary? Yes, that’s true. Worth it? Definitely. Attend sessions with the ‘stars’ in your field, the people whose research you read and cite, whose lab facilities or activities you drool over. But don’t just observe their presentations, go up and talk to them! The meeting is a great atmosphere and opportunity to talk as colleagues. We all love geography and we love talking about it. Make a connection. Attach a real person, a voice to the research you are interested in. You never know when you’ll get a new idea, make a new connection, or encounter a new opportunity by simply making the effort to talk to people.
  • Get your presentation mojo. There are a wide range of talks and presentations at any meeting. I promise you that at some point during the Annual Meeting you’re going to walk away from a session and think, “I can totally do that…”, or even “I think I can do BETTER than that”. So do it! Realize that you have the potential to present, you have the knowledge to present, and then do so the next chance you get! The Annual Meeting can make you feel like a little fish in a big pond, so if that is overwhelming, consider attending and presenting at AAG regional division meetings. These meetings are smaller and can be a great first dip into the pool of presenting your research.
  • Scout out and apply to competition sessions. If you are going to present, why not present in a session where you would WIN something? Not only an award, but also sometimes money as well! Specialty groups sponsor various student competition sessions every year, and honestly, sometimes they don’t get a lot of applicants. That means better odds for you to win! It’s also a great setting to meet fellow students. I once walked away with $500 to offset my travel costs plus some great new contacts and research feedback! Check out the lengthy list of winners from specialty group accolades in previous years and note just how many ‘Student’ awards there are. Also, keep in mind that there are student award opportunities both in presentation competitions at the Annual Meeting and through application processes throughout the year. You often need to be a member of the Specialty or Affinity Group to participate in their competitions or win one of their other awards, which leads me to my next point…..

2. FIND YOUR PEOPLE. SHARE YOUR VOICE.

  • Join AAG Specialty and Affinity Groups. The AAG has 70 specialty and affinity groups (SAGs) for different sub-disciplines and communities, including affinity groups for undergrad and grad students. I’m confident one or more will be in an interest area of yours or a community of kindred spirits and experiences. You can join many of these for a discounted student price. NONE of them cost more than $5 for you! It’s a low cost/high return opportunity because amidst our membership of nearly 12,000, you can find YOUR people, others who share your interests, your research approaches, and/or your career aspirations. Not only can you connect with others via the SAGs’ online Knowledge Communities, but you can get even more involved – be on boards, committees, assist with newsletters. Add some service to your CV while making more connections to help your career. Also, SAGs give out about $50,000 to students every year! Most often you need to be a member of the group to receive their award, but again, membership is $5 or less. In other words, the cost of your go-to coffee shop beverage order (I’m partial to London Fogs myself) gets you YEAR long access to YOUR people and the ability to win financial support.
  • Be a part of AAG leadership. In addition to serving in positions for SAGs, a recent amendment to our AAG constitution means there will be a student member on our AAG Council, and a voting member at that! This is an opportunity to get really involved in the future direction of our organization and make connections with the leaders of the AAG.

3. UTILIZE STUDENT RESOURCES. There are so many resources available now that weren’t when I was a student. No, I’m not that terribly old; it’s that the AAG is constantly developing new things for you!

  • Guide to Geography Programs. Researching geography programs? Check out the AAG’s Guide to Geography Programs – available online as an interactive PDF and web map. When I was researching graduate schools, I ordered this in bulky book form and tackled it with a highlighter, which was quite gratifying, but costly and cumbersome. In this now free digital resource, you can find lots of information to compare schools and programs for geography, rather than searching for geography amidst the full array of programs available at schools. The Guide includes most geography programs, but if you find your school isn’t listed, please encourage your department leadership to do so. The AAG does annual outreach to departments for inclusion in the Guide.
  • Student Opportunities Site (SOS). At some point, you are probably going to be looking for a job. Consider the Student Opportunities Site (with the memorable and suitable acronym of SOS) as a specialized job board just for you, student geographers. It lists internships, grad assistantships, and post-doc opportunities pulled from postings from specialty groups, department chairs, organizations, etc. There is no cost for positions to be advertised on the SOS. If you are considering graduate school, seek out assistantships and get school paid for!

Honestly, it PAYS to be a Student Member of the AAG in many different ways. Be sure to take advantage of it and utilize your membership to reach your educational and professional aspirations.

Questions? Contact me (Candice) at cluebbering [at] aag [dot] org.

The AAG Snapshots series, first launched at the 2017 Annual Meeting, provides insight on and information about different aspects of the projects, programs, and resources of the association. Do you have suggestions for future Snapshots content from AAG staff? Email cluebbering [at] aag [dot] org.

 

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Candice Luebbering
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AAG Staff Participate in Esri Education GIS & User Conferences in San Diego

AAG Staff participated in and exhibited at the annual Esri Education GIS and User Conferences July 8th-14th in San Diego, California. The conferences are a great opportunity for the AAG to conduct outreach to the GIS community, engaging with current AAG members, signing up new AAG members, advertising the Annual Meeting for both attendees and potential exhibitors, and communicating our program efforts in the areas of geography and GIS education.

The AAG-led GeoMentors program, a partnership with Esri, is particularly featured every year in an effort to grow the program with the audience of 16,000+ GIS users. Program Coordinator Candice Luebbering presented as part of the opening plenary for the Esri Education GIS Conference and GeoMentors program materials were featured throughout the week at both the Education GIS and User Conference AAG spaces.

The GeoMentors program was mentioned in the well-attended opening User Conference plenaries, including promotion of the program by Esri’s Chief Scientist Dawn Wright (6:33 mark of video; followed by 4-H students presenting their work done with the help of GeoMentors) and multiple mentions by Esri President Jack Dangermond. Through the week, 68 new GeoMentors registered to be part of the volunteer community, many signing up on-site. These new participants put the GeoMentor community over the 1,500 mark! The conferences also allow AAG staff to interact in person with current GeoMentor volunteers, improving our engagement and connection with this important community.
                          

 

Esri, Esri ConnectED, GeoMentor

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Candice Luebbering
Candice Luebbering