AAG Newsletter

Doing Geography in the Age of Coronavirus or How is Everybody Coping?

You hear it from everyone you know: these are strange and frightening times. While most of us have witnessed major disease outbreaks from afar – Ebola, SARS, Swine Flu –…

May 2020 Issue of ‘The Professional Geographer’ Now Available

The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 72, Issue 2 (May 2020) of The Professional Geographer is now available. The focus of The Professional Geographer is on short articles…

March 2020 Special Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’ on Smart Spaces and Places Now Available

Every year since 2009 our flagship journal, the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, has published a special issue that highlights geographic research around a significant global theme. The…

President's Column

Doing Geography in the Age of Coronavirus or How is Everybody Coping?

David H. KaplanMarch 31, 20202020-03-31T11:00:41-04:00

You hear it from everyone you know: these are strange and frightening times. While most of us have witnessed major disease outbreaks from afar – Ebola, SARS, Swine Flu – it is another thing to…

Going Global or How Best to Recognize the Internationalization of the AAG; Plus – an Addendum to my Previous Column

David H. Kaplan February 29, 2020 Comments Off2020-03-31T10:40:29-04:00

We have always been the “AAG” but five years ago the membership overwhelmingly decided to change the full title from the Association of American Geographers to the American Association of Geographers. I remember being part…

Beyond the Academic 1 Percent Or How to Create a More Inclusive and Equitable Academic Culture

David H. Kaplan January 30, 2020 Comments Off2020-03-03T16:44:16-05:00

Social media can be dangerous. I recently read a post on Twitter, sent by a non-geographer, which seemed to lament geography’s absence from the Ivy League and similarly selective private institutions. If I could share…

The Publishing Paradox or How the Publishing Model May be Broken

David H. Kaplan January 1, 2020 Comments Off2020-02-14T14:40:07-05:00

Among the familiar litany of New Year’s resolutions, many of you may have promised yourselves that 2020 would be the year to finally finish that book or write that article. In other words: to PUBLISH.…

Going Local or How the AAG Can Help Enhance its Regional Divisions

David H. Kaplan December 2, 2019 Comments Off2020-01-06T14:01:33-05:00

The region is one of geography’s main concepts and, true to these roots, regional divisions—mostly within the United States but many including Canadian provinces—developed as an intrinsic part of the American Association of Geographers. The…

Annual Meeting

What will be Presented at the 2020 AAG Meeting?

Jeong Chang SeongFebruary 25, 20202020-02-25T16:36:11-05:00

Jeong Chang Seong, Chul Sue Hwang, Ana Stanescue, Yubin Lee, and Youngho Lee A total of 4,893 papers and posters are scheduled to be presented at the Denver AAG Annual Meeting in April this year…

Introducing the “Climate Action Task Force”

Patricia M. Martin and Joseph Nevins October 28, 2019 Comments Off2019-12-02T17:00:43-05:00

In response to the current climate crisis, last spring we circulated a petition among various geography listservs requesting that the AAG Council take significant action “to reduce CO2 emissions related to the Annual Meeting.” The…

Social Media at #aagDC

Emily Fekete March 19, 2019 Comments Off2019-03-19T11:14:27-04:00

We’re getting closer to the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting! Whether you will be attending the meeting all week, for a few days, or looking to follow the action from afar, there are plenty of ways…

The Chesapeake Bay: Destruction and Rehabilitation in the Nation’s Largest Estuary

RDK Herman December 1, 2018 Comments Off2019-04-23T09:44:54-04:00

It’s another drizzly day on the Chesapeake, and the boat we are on bobs gently on the opaque, mud-colored water. A crusty old crabber from Tangier Island, by the nickname of Captain Cook (use of…

AAG Names Rita Colwell as the 2019 Honorary Geographer

Emily Fekete November 14, 2018 Comments Off2018-11-14T11:03:16-05:00

Rita Colwell (Photo by Sam Kittner) The American Association of Geographers has named Rita Colwell, the first woman to be director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), as its 2019 AAG Honorary Geographer. Rita Colwell…

Association News

2018 NAEP Geography Report Card Offers Crucial Insight into Geographic Literacy

StaffMarch 30, 20202020-03-30T13:52:44-04:00

April 23, 2020 marks the date for The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB)’s release of the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Geography Report Card, along with the nation’s 2018 assessments of History and…

AAG Announces 2020 AAG Award Recipients

Staff February 24, 2020 Comments Off2020-02-24T16:50:45-05:00

The American Association of Geographers congratulates the individuals and entities named to receive an AAG Award. The awardees represent outstanding contributions to and accomplishments in the geographic field. Formal recognition of the awardees will occur…

AAG Announces 2019 Book Awards

Staff February 20, 2020 Comments Off2020-02-20T17:22:56-05:00

The AAG is pleased to announce the recipients of the three 2019 AAG Book Awards: the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize, the AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography, and the AAG Meridian Book…

AAG Welcomes Spring 2020 Interns

Staff January 24, 2020 Comments Off2020-01-24T17:17:39-05:00

Two new interns have joined the AAG staff this spring semester! The AAG would like to welcome Ariel and Hannah to the organization. Ariel Golightly is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park,…

AAG Announces 2020 AAG Award Recipients

Staff January 24, 2020 Comments Off2020-01-24T13:25:34-05:00

Featured Articles

Geospatial Brain Power

StaffDecember 23, 20192019-12-23T16:27:36-05:00

Does learning GIS improve spatial reasoning capabilities in high schoolers? A team from six universities is studying the students—and their brains—to find out. A group of researchers from six American universities are studying what effect…

The Geography of Access to Health Services

Estella M. Geraghty August 2, 2019 Comments Off2019-08-02T09:44:50-04:00

According to a 1993 Institute of Medicine report, access to health services means "the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best health outcomes." Geographic access is listed as one of three distinct components…

Beyond Compactness: A New Measure to Evaluate Congressional Districts

Diana C. Lavery May 2, 2019 Comments Off2019-05-02T16:08:38-04:00

Redrawing congressional district boundaries, an activity that happens every ten years following the decennial census, may be the most consequential application of geography in the United States. As congressional elections have become less competitive, many…

AI and GIS: Finally Delivering on the promise

Esri Staff March 28, 2019 Comments Off2019-03-28T13:06:35-04:00

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) isn't new, and neither are its grand promises. AI as an academic pursuit has its roots in the 1950s. Early AI researchers were filled with optimism, but—despite some initial…

Rights of Nature: The New Paradigm

Cameron La Follette March 6, 2019 Comments Off2019-03-06T09:24:02-05:00

Rights of Nature is a short-hand term for a form of ecological governance that both provides for and prioritizes Nature’s right to flourish. It also provides for various subsidiary rights, such as the right to…

Resources & Opportunities

ICPSR provides access to carefully curated geography-related data

Bing She, Coline DonyDecember 23, 20192020-01-06T13:28:31-05:00

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is an international, member-based association of more than 780 academic institutions and research organizations. ICPSR maintains an archive of more than 250,000 research data files in…

AAG Holds Workshops on Student Recruitment at Regional Division Meetings

Coline Dony, Emily Fekete, Mark Revell December 2, 2019 Comments Off2020-03-25T18:10:00-04:00

AAG President David Kaplan recently outlined the need among geography programs to actively recruit students and to develop further community connections to AP Human Geography teachers. Geography faculty and chairs at colleges and universities, however,…

Get Involved in Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day

Staff October 30, 2019 Comments Off2019-10-30T11:00:26-04:00

Geography Awareness Week is quickly approaching, November 10th - 16th, with GIS Day on November 13th. Below you’ll find GeoWeek and GIS Day resources, announcements, and ways to get involved, big and small. Do what…

Taking Steps to Create a Welcoming Discipline for ALL Geographers: A New Resource for Indigenous Students

Jolene Keen May 23, 2019 Comments Off2019-05-23T13:48:02-04:00

The AAG is pleased to announce the release of a new interactive web map of colleges and universities that offer both Geography Programs and Indigenous Studies Programs. Developed in consultation with members of the AAG’s…

Social Media at #aagDC

Emily Fekete March 19, 2019 Comments Off2019-03-19T11:14:27-04:00

We’re getting closer to the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting! Whether you will be attending the meeting all week, for a few days, or looking to follow the action from afar, there are plenty of ways…

Of Note

Geographers Act on COVID19

StaffMarch 30, 20202020-03-30T16:58:42-04:00

GeoDS Lab at University of Wisconsin, Madison. County-level Spring 2020 travel data from March shows thousands of trips generated in the , which may help explain the rapid growth of infection cases across the country.…

What “real world problems” do our applied geography members help solve?

Hannah Torres October 28, 2019 Comments Off2019-12-02T16:56:02-05:00

This word cloud was generated from 134 responses to the question:'What kinds of real world problems do you solve (or aspire to solve) using geographic approaches?' The AAG counts 74 Specialty and Affinity groups for…

Discovering Geography – The International Geography Youth Summit

Sue Roberts August 28, 2018 Comments Off2018-09-25T15:33:26-04:00

Three long-time AAG members met up recently at the 4th International Geography Youth Summit (IGYS) in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), India. The IGYS was developed as part of The Institute of Geographical Studies (TIGS) in Bengaluru.…

NCRGE Funds Research Networks on Geography and Civics, Geo-Computation, and International Curriculum Research

Staff August 3, 2018 Comments Off2018-08-03T15:18:30-04:00

The National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE) has approved awards for a third cohort of grantees under its Transformative Research grant program. This investment by NCRGE continues a long-term and broad-based effort to…

The Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences at Michigan State University Makes History

Joe T. Darden April 30, 2018 Comments Off2018-05-07T10:56:34-04:00

The MSU Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences has admitted and will fund three African American women graduate students for the 2018 academic year. This will be the first time in the history of…

Publications

‘GeoHumanities’: COVID-19 Announcement

StaffMarch 27, 20202020-03-27T11:34:21-04:00

Not Business as Usual: A Message from the Editors of GeoHumanities There is little about being an academic in the current time that can be called "business as usual". Academic publishing is no exception. It is…

‘The AAG Review of Books’: COVID-19 Announcement

Staff March 27, 2020 Comments Off2020-03-27T11:26:03-04:00

It has been my pleasure to serve as Editor in Chief for the AAG Review of Books for eight years. As I work on the transition to a new incoming editor, to prepare for the…

‘The Professional Geographer’: COVID-19 Announcement

Staff March 27, 2020 Comments Off2020-03-27T11:21:15-04:00

To the authors, readers, reviewers, and staff members who contribute their energy and insight to The Professional Geographer, I am grateful to this community of scholars and practitioners, whose contributions to The Professional Geographer have…

‘Annals of the AAG’: COVID-19 Announcement

Staff March 27, 2020 Comments Off2020-03-27T11:10:56-04:00

The Long View When the Annals was launched in 1911, penicillin did not yet exist. As Editors, we are taking the long view on the COVID-19 pandemic. While the journal has persevered through many global…

May 2020 Issue of ‘The Professional Geographer’ Now Available

Staff March 16, 2020 Comments Off2020-03-16T16:42:48-04:00

The AAG is pleased to announce that Volume 72, Issue 2 (May 2020) of The Professional Geographer is now available. The focus of The Professional Geographer is on short articles in academic or applied geography,…

Addenda

Researchers with disabilities in the academic system

Aleksandra (Sasha) Kosanic, Nancy Hansen, Susanne Zimmermann-Janschitz, Vera ChouinardSeptember 1, 20182018-10-02T17:08:07-04:00

Although researchers with disabilities are an exceptional category, they are a still very much underrepresented group in Academia worldwide. With billion people with disabilities worldwide, the percentage of academic positions filled in by academics with…