Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center
“I never ran my train off track and I never lost a passenger.” Harriet Tubman was fond of saying this in her later years, but during the 1850s when she was actively escorting enslaved people north to freedom using the Underground Railroad (UGRR) network, she was taking grave risks with her own life and liberty…
US Geographer Mei-Po Kwan honored as Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences
The UK Academy of Social Sciences announced today that it has conferred the award of Fellow on US geographer Mei-Po Kwan, among other leading social scientists. Academy Fellows are drawn from academics, practitioners and policymakers across the social sciences. They have been recognized after an extensive peer review process for the excellence and impact of…
Geography and Climate Change in the 21st Century: Keeping our Eyes on the Prize
Geography has many grand challenges for the 21st Century: combatting climate change and biodiversity loss; providing clean water; investigating safe refuge, health care, education, and poverty; preparing for natural hazards, and ensuring food security among many. Another grand challenge is ensuring a harassment-, bullying-, and bias-free Geography workplace, to ensure that progress continues on our…
The Resilient Streams in the Urban Landscape of Washington, D.C.
The process of urbanization often leads to the alteration of local streams. Such alterations range from complete disappearance of streams by making them flow underground, converting them into canals, loss of their aquatic habitat, and changes in their morphology (Kang and Marston 2006; Kang 2007) . In Washington, many streams and springs have disappeared during the last 200 years…
A New Academic Year
This 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…
Researchers with disabilities in the academic system
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 disabilities is surprisingly low. For example at the University of California at Berkeley, it was indicated that of 1,522 full-time…
Stories of Change Hidden in Washington, D.C.’s Alleys
Washington, is known for its monuments, museums, and grand government buildings. It is associated with policy wonks, foreign dignitaries, and political controversy. But it is also a home town for thousands of people who live in its lively neighborhoods. How best to get a glimpse of everyday life for ’s residents, those people living in…
Postcards from the Mediterranean: Groundwater, Glaciers, and Geoparks
Article 15 and the Human Right to Benefit from Science One of the enduring themes for AAG Annual Meetings is Geography, Science, and Human Rights. We will continue to incorporate this nexus of human and physical geography, and GIScience, into the 2019 AAG annual meeting as a major theme. Understanding and teaching the right to…
The National Mall: Making Space for the Dream
On September 24, 2016, thousands gathered on the National Mall to celebrate the grand opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The building is distinctive: the bronze-meshed ziggurat moves upwards towards the sky and into the light. Inside the new 400,000 square foot museum are some 36,000 artifacts that share truths…
American Indians of Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake
When Captain John Smith sailed up the Potomac River in 1608, he found 13 American Indian villages along its banks. Spanish incursions beginning in 1521 brought diseases, land grabs, resource destruction, military assaults, and slave raids. Nonetheless, there were several large villages and fortified towns by the time of John Smith’s 1608 visit. At that…
Toddlers and Tears on the Texas Border
This column begins with special thanks and recognition of our outgoing President Dr. Derek Alderman, and outgoing Past President Dr. Glen MacDonald. Please join me in recognizing their leadership in moving the association forward on so many important fronts, ranging from civil rights to environmental security. We must carry this momentum forward from the strong…
AAG Seeks New Editor for ‘The Professional Geographer’ Journal
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) seeks applications for the position of Editor of The Professional Geographer. The new editor, whose responsibilities include overseeing the solicitation, review, and publication of scholarly articles for the journal, will be appointed for a four-year editorial term beginning July 1, 2019. The Professional Geographer has traditionally published short articles…