In Memoriam: Anne Buttimer
Anne Buttimer Anne Buttimer (1938-2017) 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)…
In Memoriam: Masatoshi Yoshino
Masatoshi Yoshino (1928-2017) Masatoshi 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…
Civil Rights Featured Theme of 2017 Geography Awareness Week: A Call for Participation
Established by a joint resolution of the Congress in 1987, Geography Awareness Week (GAW) is observed the third week in November every year. GAW promotes what geography is, why it is important, and the relevance of a geographic education in preparing citizens to understand and debate pressing social and environmental issues and problems. This year's…
Publicize Your Department in the AAG Guide to Geography Programs
The American Association of Geographers is accepting entries from geography programs to be included in the 2017 edition of the Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas. The deadline for submitting a listing has been extended to Friday, June 2, 2017. The 2017 edition of the Guide will be available exclusively online. The Guide serves as a complete and invaluable reference for faculty, prospective students,…
Federal Research Agencies Avoid Cuts in Congressional Budget Deal
Late last week, President Trump signed into law a budget deal that will fund the federal government through September 30. The bipartisan deal has generally been viewed favorably by science advocates, as it maintains or increases funding levels for most agencies that provide research support. Under the deal, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will remain…
In Memoriam: Marvin W. Mikesell
Marvin W. Mikesell June 16, 1929–April 26, 2017 Marvin W. Mikesell, Professor of Geography in the Committee on Geographical Studies, died unexpectedly Wednesday morning, April 26, 2017, at the University of Chicago Hospital in Hyde Park, aged 88, in the midst of teaching his seminar on problems in the human geography of the Middle East…
In Memoriam: John Davey
John Charles Armstrong Davey April 19, 1945–April 21, 2017 John Davey, a prodigious figure in academic, trade and reference publishing for almost 50 years, died at home with family at his side on April 21, 2017. He had just celebrated his 72 birthday days earlier. After making his mark in publishing in the 1970s, John…
In Memoriam: Ray Henkel
Ray Henkel January 28, 1931–March 11, 2017 Ray Henkel was born Jan. 28, 1931 on a farm along the Cimarron River about 30 miles west of Tulsa. He died March 11, 2017, at age 86. Ray attended a one-room elementary school, and in 1948 graduated from Kellyville H. S. in a class of 15, earning…
AAG Accepting Nominations for New Fellows Program
The American Association of Geographers invites its members to nominate qualified geographers for the newly minted AAG Fellows program, which recognized geographers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of geography. In addition to the honorific, AAG Fellows will serve the Association as an august body to address key AAG initiatives, including creating and…
Geographers Farhana Sultana and Tim Beach Lecture at Vatican Workshops
Tim Beach, Centennial Professor of Geography and Environment at UT Austin, presented an invited lecture on “Societal Collapses from the Maya to Mesopotamia and Beyond” at the Vatican in a workshop on Biological Extinction sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. His talk included discussions of extinctions in soil…
Library of Congress Publishes New Book, “Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps”
Designed to educate, amuse, or advertise, pictorial maps were a clever and colorful component of print culture in the mid-20th century, often overlooked in studies of cartography. A new book published by the Library of Congress in association with the University of Chicago Press, “Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps,” by Stephen J.…
Job Announcement for a Geography and Spatial Sciences Program Director at NSF
The Geography and Spatial Sciences (GSS) Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks applicants for a Program Director position that will become available in Summer 2017. The job description for this new GSS program director position has been posted at While applications may be submitted as late as May 11, 2017, applicants are encouraged…