The Mental Health Challenge or Relieving Anxiety and Depression for Students and Faculty
About 18 years ago, one of my Masters students calmly mentioned that she had been undergoing a tremendous amount of anxiety, and had seen a doctor about it. I was floored! This particular student exemplified “no drama.” She was motoring through her Master’s thesis research and writing while effectively assisting me on one of my…
Changes in our Annual Meeting: Fees, Structure and an Unfortunate Oversight
In this brief letter, I describe some changes to our registration fees and meeting structure. I would also like to address the unfortunate overlap of our spring meeting with Passover and Good Friday. Fees: Many members have complained to me and others about registration fees for the annual meeting. Setting registration costs is always a…
September 2019 Issue of the ‘African Geographical Review’ Now Available
The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 38, Issue 3 (September 2019) of the African Geographical Review is now available. The full table of contents for this issue is below and can also be accessed here. The African Geographical Review is the journal of the Africa Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. It provides a…
Introducing the Themes for the 2020 AAG Annual Conference
Each year the AAG president helps to identify a few themes for the AAG Annual Conference. While any topic is accepted for presentation at the annual meeting and participants are encouraged to develop their own special sessions, themes encompass a few specific points of interest for our Annual Conference and are used to organize a…
Who’s sorting who? Or the explosion of metrics and how we can take back control
For those of us still working with paper student evaluations, we receive our spring semester results during the summer. It is a time of mixed emotions for many of us. While I heard one lucky young professor describe opening up her student evaluations as tantamount to Christmas, I am probably not alone in likening it…
September 2019 Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’ Now Available
The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 109, Issue 5 (September 2019) 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: Geographic…
Welcome to our new Executive Director
I have said before that as an organization, the AAG punches well above its weight. It is among the healthiest of the academic membership associations and it has done wonders in reflecting and guiding geography. Much of the credit goes to the quality of the AAG staff, incredible people who churn out helpful materials, engage…
Summer 2019 Issue of ‘The AAG Review of Books’ Now Available
Volume 7, 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. In the first four years of…
Apply for Nomination Process for the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The American Association of Geographers has been granted Observer Organization status to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. With this formal designation, the AAG is permitted to submit to the UNFCCC Secretariat its nominations for representatives to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-25) that will take place from December 2 – 13, 2019 in…
‘The Professional Geographer’ Welcomes New Editor
Heejun Chang. Photo credit: PSU-ISS. This summer, the AAG journal The Professional Geographer will see a change in editorial leadership. Barney Warf has completed two terms as editor of The Professional Geographer and is succeeded by Heejun Chang, who assumed editorship of the journal on July 1, 2019. Heejun Chang is a professor and outgoing…
Should we be worried? Or how to maintain and expand the number of geographers in our schools.
As geographers, we all know the value of geography. Right? It is a field that provides a unique perspective, an appreciation for particularity, an opportunity to synthesize. But as much as we affirm geography’s value to each other, we also need to look at how geography is perceived outside of our community. In this regard,…
August 2019 Issue of ‘The Professional Geographer’ Now Available
The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 71, Issue 3 (August 2019) of The Professional Geographer is now available. The focus of The Professional Geographer is on short articles in academic or applied geography, emphasizing empirical studies and methodologies. These features may range in content and approach from rigorously analytic to broadly philosophical or prescriptive.…