AAG Past President’s Address by Julie Winkler
Julie Winkler will deliver her AAG Past President's Address at the AAG Annual Meeting in Chicago on Thursday, April 23, 2015. Embracing the Complexity and Uncertainty of Climate Change Climate change is one of the defining environmental concerns of our time, and will directly or indirectly affect every sector of society. The complexity of the climate system…
The Future of Physical Geography
For my last column as AAG President, I explore further the role and status of physical geography within the AAG. I share with you some of the input received from AAG members on this topic, and outline some initial steps to capitalize on that input, as well as address concerns that have been raised. My…
‘Earth Interactions’ Journal Undergoes Recent Changes
Since 1997 the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the Association of American Geographers (AAG) have jointly published Earth Interactions, an electronic journal focusing on the interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere in the context of global issues or global change. Earth Interactions has recently undergone several significant changes.…
Women in Academia: It’s Not Just About Numbers
While I appreciate, and have even contributed to, the extensive literature on the underrepresentation of women in the professoriate and the challenges for their recruitment and retention, I am struck by the more limited literature on the well-being of women in departments that have, or are approaching, numbers of female faculty that are reflective of…
What’s in a Name? The Renaming and Rebranding of Geography Departments
In a recent issue of the Observer magazine, author Eric Jaffe explored the nature and rationale of recent changes in the names of prominent psychology departments. Jaffe interviewed faculty and administrators from several universities that had changed the departmental name from Psychology to alternative nomenclatures including Psychological Sciences, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Psychology and Neuroscience,…
Why We Join the AAG
In just a few days, many of us will be in Tampa for the AAG annual meeting. We will be beneficiaries of the months of intense effort by the AAG central office to plan for, and execute, a seamless meeting for thousands of attendees. At the same time, each of us will contribute to the…
The Challenge of Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: “Who’s on First?”
Earlier this winter, I had dinner with a friend who is a senior scientist at a federal data and research center. At one point during the evening, our conversation turned to authorship practices and the diffusion of disciplinary-specific authorship styles to other disciplines. This diffusion was leading to some concern and even confusion among my…
University Research Centers: An Opportunity or Challenge for Geography?
The number of research centers on university campuses has grown substantially in the past several decades, in part a response to funding opportunities offered by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and other major funding agencies. These agencies have helped to promote this organizational structure via their requests for proposals for science and…
Climate Variability and Change: Embracing Complexity and Uncertainty
Last spring, at a listening session I attended on climate variability and change in northwestern Michigan, a local fruit grower summarized his concerns with the analogy that his industry is the "canary in the coal mine" for the potential impacts of climate variability and change on agriculture. This statement was motivated by the sensitivity of…
Supporting the Regional Divisions
Over the years, the AAG Newsletter has been peppered with presidential columns about the AAG regional divisions. The nine regional divisions host their annual meetings during autumn, and, barring scheduling conflicts, the AAG president represents the national-level Association at these meetings. Hence, it is only natural that former presidents have wanted to share with the AAG membership…
Physical Geography In the AAG Journals: Is It Time for a New Approach and a New Journal?
Winkler A great deal of excellent research is conducted by physical geographers. Unfortunately, only a small portion of this research is published in the two AAG journals, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and The Professional Geographer. As you peruse your November issue of the Annals, you may notice that, for the first…
TAMPA!
Now is the time to begin planning for the AAG annual meeting, one of the largest venues in the world for sharing and communicating the broad range of contributions by geographers to basic and applied knowledge and to problem solving. The 2014 annual meeting will be held April 8-12 in Tampa, Florida. This is the…