News & Events
Party at the AAG - Saturday the 25th
February 17, 2012
We hope you can join us!
Click image for full-sized flyer.
Kris Olds to Chair International Studies Assessment Committee
February 15, 2012
Department faculty member, Kris Olds, was selected to chair a campus-wide interdisciplinary committee to evaluate the way international studies are governed and organized at the UW-Madison.
"The work of the ad hoc committee, appointed by Interim Chancellor David Ward and University Committee Chair Brad Barham, comes at a time when UW-Madison is asserting itself as a worldwide leader in globalization, offering more educational and research opportunities in areas of international studies than ever before."
"The group is expected to make recommendations to ensure that faculty and staff participation in governance is reflective of the institution's values, as well as to improve the effectiveness of the Division of International Studies and the university's overall international activities." (UW Communications) Full story here.
Chris Muellerleile Awarded NSF Grant
February 13, 2012
Chris Muellerleile, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography, was recently awarded a dissertation research improvement grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund two extended field visits to New York City and Washington, D.C., logistical support for interviews as well as production of a number of maps for future publications. Muellerleile's dissertation research considers the invention of financial derivatives instruments in the city of Chicago between 1972 and 1987. Research abstract.
Graduate Student Symposium - Friday 8:30am - 4:00pm
February 9, 2012
The annual Graduate Student Symposium will be held this Friday at the Memorial Union from 8:30am-4pm with a reception to follow in Room 175 Science Hall. Join us!
Jake Fleming Awarded NSF Grant
February 6, 2012
PhD candidate, Jake Fleming, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for his dissertation research.
Research Summary: Property is central to the interactions of humans and nonhumans, but scholarship on property tends to be strongly anthropocentric: property is a relationship among people about a thing. Most property work represents nonhumans as passive and subordinate, to be shuffled among human owners for better or worse. But people are not so clearly in control of property regimes, nor are people and things so easily separated as this schema suggests. The objective of this project is a posthumanist analysis of property in the world's largest walnut-fruit forest, which grows in southern Kyrgyzstan. The trees of this forest - walnut, apple, plum, cherry, pear - grow in untended profusion in some places, but, through the horticultural practice of grafting, can be transformed into the dependable inhabitants we find in gardens and orchards around the temperate world. Human labor since the 1930s has scattered thousands of grafted trees throughout the forest, where they bear bigger, tastier, more valuable fruit than their ungrafted neighbors.
The project addresses the role of these trees in property regimes through three key questions: 1) How are things owned and accessed by human and nonhuman actors in the forested and cultivated spaces of southern Kyrgyzstan? 2) How does grafting work in and around southern Kyrgyzstan's walnut-fruit forests? 3) How does the horticultural potential of the forest affect the politics of access to its resources? A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods will be used, including participant observation, interviews, oral histories, document review, and mapping of the distribution of grafted trees in and around the forest. The investigators expect to demonstrate the ways in which grafted and ungrafted trees act differently, and with what consequences for how the forest is owned and accessed.
This project seeks the reframing of property institutions not as ways for humans to dole out the fruits of a passive material terrain but instead as accomplishments of people and things, only achievable through their collective efforts. It does so through analysis of property relationships in and around Kyrgyzstan's walnut-fruit forest, an ecosystem of international conservation and horticultural importance in a relatively understudied part of the world. By focusing on grafting, a horticultural practice that shapes the forested landscape and people's use of it, this work draws attention to an intimate interaction between human and plant with material effects on local livelihoods and the genetic identity of the forest. In considering the place of the grafted tree on the shifting terrain of post-Soviet property, this project has potential implications for political ecology, science and technology studies, social theory and theoretical work on human-environment interactions, and research on the post-Soviet world. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
UW Geographers address potential Social Impacts of REDD/Climate Change Policy
January 30, 2012
Tropical deforestation is a source of roughly 15% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is a prominent international policy mechanism through which developed, high-emitting countries pay developing nations to sustain their forests in order to store carbon. REDD is controversial, particularly with regard to whom should be paid and whether REDD could cause local communities to lose access to forests.
In collaboration with the Land Tenure Center (Nelson Institute) and with support from the USAID TransLinks program, Geography faculty and graduate students are addressing these issues and informing policy makers through various activities, e.g.:
Hosting an international workshop in Oct. 2011 on Land Tenure and Forest Governance that brought experts on REDD from around the globe. Leading this workshop were Lisa Naughton, Ian Baird, Cathy Day, Holly Gibbs and Matt Turner (all Geography) plus Jennifer Alix-Garcia (AAE, UW Madison) and Kelly Wendland (Univ of Idaho). Also attending and assisting were Geography grad students Erin Kitchell, Peter Swift and Will Shattuc. Presentations from this workshop were circulated in REDD-related events and at the Conference of Parties in Durban, South Africa in Dec 2011. [These are available online at www. rmportal.net/landtenureforestsworkshop. ]
Building on the workshop, Prof Lisa Naughton and PhD student Cathy Day co-edited a publication (Jan 2012) entitled Lessons about Land Tenure, Forest Governance and REDD . This volume includes case studies of pilot programs from across the tropics revealing the promise and risks of REDD in terms of local land security. [available http://nelson.wisc.edu/ltc/publications.php]
Preparing a special issue of the academic journal World Development that will feature selected papers from the workshop.
From beginning to end, the project has involved the efforts of diverse talents from Geography and The Nelson Institute. GIS certificate student Sam Matthews (and Geography alum), working with Tanya Buckingham, Assistant Director of the UW Cartography lab, has been key in creating a series of maps and in designing the final publication. Drew Sellers (Nelson Institute) provided invaluable administrative oversight thoughtout.
Department Seeks Tenure-Track Assistant Professor
January 6, 2012
The Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is accepting applications for an Assistant Professor, tenure-track position, beginning August 2012. We seek a nature-society geographer whose research shows substantive engagement with contemporary biophysical and social processes in North America. Of particular interest are applicants who conduct policy-relevant research on water, energy, food, or health that contributes to the fields of environmental justice and/or environmental governance, broadly defined.
For more information on Geography at UW-Madison, see www.geography.wisc.edu. To apply for this position, please send a letter describing research and teaching interests, a CV, and names and contact information (including email address) of three referees to: Professor Matthew Turner, Recruitment Committee Chair, naturesociety@geography.wisc.edu. Inquiries may be sent to the same email address. To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by March 1, 2012. Review of applications will begin upon receipt and will continue until the position is filled.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding the applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. Employment may require a criminal background check prior to appointment
Printable position announcement
Jack Williams Featured in The Atlantic
December 21, 2011
A Conversation With Jack Williams, Director of the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research
Check out this interview with our own Jack Williams in The Atlantic. Dr. Williams is the Department's Bryson Professor of Climate, People, and the Environment and the Director of the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research. Jack studies the impact of global climate change at the end of the last ice age, 15,000 years ago.
AAG to Honor Jim Knox for Lifetime Achievment in 2012
December 19, 2011
We are pleased to announce that Jim Knox will receive the Lifetime Achievement Honors of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) for 2012.
The AAG will confer its Honors and Awards at athe Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, February 28 at the 2012 conference in New York City.
AAG Award Citation
AAG Honors are the highest awards offered by the Association of American Geographers. They are offered annually to recognize outstanding accomplishments by members in research and scholarship, teaching, education, service to the discipline, public service outside academe and for lifetime achievement.
Jim recently retired from the UW-Madison Geography Department after 43 years of service. He can still be found within the halls of Science Hall enjoying the additional time for research.
Congratulations Jim!
Kaiser to Receive Leon Epstein Fellowship
December 14, 2011
Congratulations to faculty member and Department Chair, Bob Kaiser, for receiving the Leon Epstein Fellowship beginning July 1, 2012. This relatively new award was made in recognition of Bob's outstanding contributions to teaching, research and service.
Bob teaches Intro to Human Geography (101), Geography, Politics and Territoriality (318), Geographies of Transition in Post-Socialist Space (353), Eastern Europe and the FSU: Problems in Human Geography (553) and The Geography of Nationalism (Seminar).
Current research: Rescaling and Reterritorializing Place and Identity in the Post-Socialist Borderlands and Cultural Politics of Memory: Re-imagining the Past, Reclaiming the Future in the Estonian-Russian Borderlands.
Bob is also co-author of the forthcoming book, "Borders in Post-Socialist Europe", with Tassilo Herschel and Dmitry Zimin.
Leon Epstein was a well-known professor of Political Science at the UW-Madison. He was a member of the faculty from 1944 to 1988. During his tenure here he taught political science courses at all levels and also served as the Dean of the College of Letters and Science from 1965 to 1969. Professor Epstein was an influential figure in his department and very involved in developing collegiate relationships. This fellowship is in his memory.
2011 Undergraduate Student Colloquium - Tues Evening
December 9, 2011
Join us Tuesday evening (Dec 13th) for the 2011 Undergraduate Student Colloquium. The Colloquium is a forum for our seniors to present their capstone project work.
Presentations will be held in the Rm 180 Lecture Hall beginning at 5:45pm and will run until approximately 10:15pm. See link for presentation topics.
Everyone is welcome to attend!
Geography Tees Make Great Holiday Gifts
December 7, 2011
What do you get the Geographer in your life who has everything? Well, Geography Cow t-shirts, of course. A new shipment of these classic shirts have just arrived. Email Becky for a list of the latest colors and to order yours today! Proceeds benefit the undergraduate Geography Club.
For more information about the shirts and club, visit the Geography Club webpage.
Environmental Conservation Class Blog on Media and the Environment
November 21, 2011
Geography graduate student and teaching assistant, Kevin Gibbons, has created a blog called Environment and Media to use as a teaching tool for the class, New Media for Environmental Communication, a special section of GEOG/ENV ST 339: Environmental Conservation.
The blog allows students to share examples of how people are using new media to portray the environment.
Knox Retirement Reception & Special Yi-Fu Talk Friday
November 7, 2011
After 43 years with the Department of Geography, Prof. Jim Knox has retired! Please join us for a reception and special Yi-Fu Tuan talk as we celebrate the dedicated service and distinguished university career of our favorite fluvial geomorphologist.
Reception and presentation will take place at University Club, UW-Madison Library Mall, at 3pm this Friday, November 11th. Talk begins at 4pm. Drinks and appetizers will be served.
The Yi-Fu talk will be given by alumnus, David S. Leigh, of the University of Georgia and is entitled: The Universal Model of the Driftless Area, Geomorphic Benchmarks, and Tribute to the Career of James C. Knox.
The reception and talk are open to everyone
Seeking Spring 2012 Geography Lecturers
October 11, 2011
The Geography Department seeks lecturers for several courses this spring:
Geog 101 (Intro Human Geog) PVL 71951
Geog 170 (Our Digital Globe) PVL 71952
Geog 305 (Intro to the City) PVL 71956
Geog 360 (Quantitative Methods) PVL 71958
Geog 377 (Intro GIS) PVL 71954
Applications for all of these (cover letter and CV) are due Nov 1 and should be submitted directly to Sharon Kahn at smkahn@wisc.edu.
Electronic submissions are encouraged and a single PDF is ideal. We anticipate one additional posting for a lecturer in Geog 120 (Global Physical Environments). If you have questions about any of these, please feel free to contact Matt Turner (Chair of Curriculum Committee) or Sharon Kahn.
Call for Spring 2012 Geography TA Applications
October 10, 2011
If you're in
terested in applying for a Geography TA position for the Spring 2012 semester, complete the online application HERE.
Applications received by Friday, Nov 11, will receive full consideration. If you have any questions, please contact Sharon Kahn at smkahn@geography.wisc.edu.
Department Collaborators Honored for WHAI Project
October 5, 2011
A partnership between the Department's Arthur Robinson Map Libary and State Cartographer's Office and the UW Digital Collections Center (UWDCC) is the winner of the 2011 Governor's Award for Archival Innovation for their work on the Changing Landscapes of Wisconsin Project. There will be a public award cememony on Friday, October 7th from 2-3pm in the Robinson Map Library.
The Changing Landscapes of Wisconsin project, enabled by a UW Baldwin WI Idea grant, was designed to preserve and expand access to a rare collection of historic aerial photographs of Wisconsin's landscapes from 1937-1941. The photographs were digitized and indexed by the UWDCC and Map Library and made available to the public through the Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder created by the State Cartographer's Office.
We invite Geography staff, students, alumni and friends to attend the award ceremony. Refreshments will be served.
Jing Gao Wins Ruth Dickie Research Scholarship
October 3, 2011
Congratulations to PhD student, Jing Gao, who won the Ruth Dickie Research Scholarship from Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) this summer. GWIS offers this scholarship to graduate women at the UW-Madison, who demonstrate outstanding ability and promise in research.
Jing's geospatial science reserach focuses on decomposing errors in land cover / land use change models and investigating what insights the decomposition reveals and how they help improve model performance.
The History of Cartography - Now Online!
September 28, 2011
In July 2011, the University of Chicago Press made all four
books of Volumes One and Two of The History of Cartography
freely available online. These books cover cartography in the
ancient and classical world and medieval Europe (Vol. 1, ed.
Harley and Woodward, 1987); the traditional Asian societies
(Vols. 2.1 and Vol. 2.2, ed. Harley and Woodward, 1992 and 1994); and indigenous societies across the rest of the world (Vol. 2.3, ed. Woodward and Lewis, 1998).
The books brought sustained attention to societies and cultures other than those on which map historians had generally focused. They demonstrated the validity of a socio-cultural approach to map history and encouraged much new scholarship. While many thousands of copies of these groundbreaking books have been sold, they are still not readily available to all map historians because of their cost. Online publication now makes this scholarship available to a wider audience.
The Press has converted all parts of each book - not only the chapters but also the prefaces, indexes, illustrations, captions, and cumulative bibliographies - into PDF files that can be read online or downloaded. At the same time, a search function allows the user to search individual files or across all files at once for specified keywords. Access to this site is available at www.press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/.
The Department of Geography's History of Cartography Project is a research, editorial, and publishing venture drawing international attention to the history of maps and mapping. The Project's major work is the multi-volume History of Cartography series. Its inter-disciplinary approach brings together scholars in the arts, sciences, and humanities. By considering previously ignored aspects of cartographic history, the Project encourages a broader view of maps that has significantly influenced other fields of study.
For information about current Project activities, read their most recently-published newsletter at archive of Project newsletters.
Parks & Poverty: Do protected areas keep people poor?
September 25, 2011
Lisa Naughton's recent publication on Parks and Poverty in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is getting a lot of attention. See this article in a recent issue of Conservation on her research.
Naughton-Treves, L., Alix-Garcia, J., and Chapman, C. (2011). Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Traps Special Feature: Lessons about parks and poverty from a decade of forest loss and economic growth around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108 (34), 13919-13924 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1013332108
Geography Featured at UW's “Wed Nite @ The Lab”
September 9, 2011
Tanya Buckingham (Assistant Director of the UW Cartography lab) and Jim Lacy (Associate State Cartographer) both spoke this summer during a weekly series at UW-Madison called "Wednesday Nite @ the Lab" (WN@TL). The event typically draws in 45-50 retirees from the community who are interested in learning about the many science activities happening on the UW-Madison campus.
Tanya discussed the many recent changes to the world of production cartography, and how it affects her work with the UW Cartography lab. She introduced ideas and variables that cartographers must consider when making maps, and about recent efforts to use maps in new ways, such as crisis mapping and location-aware technologies in response to disasters. She also discussed efforts to map areas that were invisible to the majority of the world, in a project called "Map Kibera." A recording of Tanya's June 8th presentation, "Hasn't Everything Been Mapped Already?!" is available on the UW Biotech video site.
Jim's talk on August 31st, "The Geospatial Revolution: Transforming How we Map Our World" touched on the ways in which the mapping industry has evolved in recent years, and what these changes mean for the general public. He showed a brief excerpt of "The Geospatial Revolution," a video series produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting, followed by a short explanation (and demonstration) of what professional "mappers" mean when they refer to geospatial information technologies. He also walked the audience through some very practical examples of how they can utilize geospatial technologies in their daily lives.
Both presentations will also be broadcast along with other WN@TL presentations during the University Place feature on Wisconsin Public Television's "Wisconsin Channel" (WPT Digital Channel 2).
WN@TL runs every Wednesday night, 50 times a year, and the topics cover the full range of science, engineering and technology research at UW-Madison, from astronomy to zoology, and from bioethics to biomedical engineering. The weekly program is organized by the Wisconsin Alumni Association, Science Alliance @ UW-Madison and by BioTrek, the outreach program of the Biotechnology Center at UW-Madison/Extension.
Welcome New Students and Faculty!
September 8, 2011
We welcome 17 new graduate and 10 new GIS certificate students to the Department and are happy to see all our continueing undergrad, graduate and certificate students back in Science Hall.
Please also join us in welcoming three new faculty members: Holly Gibbs, Rob Roth and Stephen Young. Read more about them on their home pages.
Have a great semester everyone!
New GIS Certificate Program Students
Mapping Sciences Outreach at Wisconsin State Fair
August 29, 2011
Staff members Tanya Buckingham (Cartography Lab), Jaime Stoltenberg (Map Library), and Paddy Rourke (Geography Library) represented the Geography Department at UW-Madison Day at the Wisconsin State Fair earlier this month.
The Geography booth housed interactive activities that taught kids and adults alike about maps and the mapping sciences. One of the more popular activities for children was the "Where Did You Find Big Red and Buttercup?" participatory map. Upon finding one of our wandering "cows" around the fairgrounds, a child could bring it back for a prize and map where they found it.
When kids learn to read maps they are able to see the world in a new light, giving them a sense of perspective and sparking a desire to learn more about places represented by maps. Click here for more details!
WHAIFinder Receives Governor's Award for Innovation
August 10, 2011
On July 1, 2011, the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board announced that the "Changing Landscapes of Wisconsin" project had won the 2011 Governor's Award for Archival Innovation.
"Changing Landscapes of Wisconsin" is a three-year collaboration between the Geography Department's Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office, and Robinson Map Library, and the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center. The project was funded by a grant from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The main outcome of the project is the Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder (WHAIFinder), which provides access to a rare collection of 1937-41 aerial photographs covering the state of Wisconsin, the first such systematic aerial survey of the state and a baseline dataset for understanding important changes to Wisconsin's landscape over time.
Mapping Sciences to Hold Outreach Events in August
July 25, 2011
Next month, Department staff will host two mapping science outreach activities.
On Monday, August 8th, Karen Tuerk, GIS Certificate Program Manager will teach GIS workshops to area 9th and 10th grade students in Science Hall as part of the UW-Madison Information Technology Academy summer camp.
On Wednesday, August 10th, Tanya Buckingham (Cartography Lab), Jaime Stoltenberg (Map Library), Karen Tuerk (GIS Cert Program) and Paddy Rourke (Geography Library) will host an Exploration Station at the UW-Madison Day at the Wisconsin State Fair.
Prof. Jim Knox Retires
June 1, 2011
After 43 years of continuous and distinguished service to the Department of Geography, the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and the discipline of Geography overall, Jim Knox announced his retirement to become effective at the end of the Spring 2011 semester.
Jim began his career at UW-Madison in the Fall of 1968, a very momentous semester filled with protests, demonstrations, and student and faculty activism. He leaves at the end of a semester that was similarly filled with protests, demonstrations, and activism. The cycle is completed!
During his long tenure in Science Hall, Jim has been a stellar member of the program. Jim has authored or co-authored approximately 90 research publications that have appeared in a variety of outlets ranging from mainline journals such as Science and Nature to book chapters and reports. His 2006 paper on rates of natural versus anthropogenic rates of floodplain sedimentation was honored at the 2011 European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna as one of the top-50 most cited articles published in Geomorphology during the past 5 years. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering research assessing responses of river systems to human impacts and for his research linking floods and climate change across time scales from modern to geologic. He also is widely recognized for his research on the Quaternary history of the unglaciated Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley.
He has supervised 55 MS theses and 30 PhD dissertations, and Jim's former graduate students hold many of the most prominent positions in the field of physical geography. At the same time, Jim carried a full teaching load, and regularly taught our introductory physical geography courses throughout his 43 years of service. He also served the department and the campus in a wide variety of administrative positions.
Jim has held an Evjue-Bascom Professor-at-Large appointment at UW-Madison since July 1997. Professional Honors given to Jim Knox include election to Fellowship in the Geological Society of America, 1988 and election to Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1988. He received a research Honors Award from the Association of American Geographers, 1990; and from the association's geomorphology section he received the G. K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphological Research, 1996; and the M. G. Marcus Distinguished Career Award, 2001. The Association of American Geographers in 2007 awarded him their Presidential Achievement Award for Long-Standing and Distinguished Contributions to the Discipline. The Geological Society of America's Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division presented Jim in 2006 with their D. J. Easterbrook Distinguished Scientist Award for Unusual Excellence in Published Research.
Jim's service to professional societies and Federal agencies has been extensive. At the National Science Foundation he was Geography and Regional Science panel member 1988-90; Continental Hydrologic Processes and Hydrologic Science panel member, 1991-1993; Advisory Committee for Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Geologic Sciences, 1996-98; and Earth System History Steering Committee 1998-2000. His editorial board service includes: Association of American Geographers Annals, Associate Editor, 1978-81 and 1993-96, and editorial board, 1982-84 and 1996-1999; Geological Society of America Bulletin, Associate Editor 1991-99; Quaternary Research, Associate Editor, 2006-present; Quaternary Science Reviews, editorial board, 2001-present; Geographical Analysis, editorial board, 1990-95; The Holocene, editorial board, 1996-2005; Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, consulting editor, 2004-present.
Jim Knox also has an extensive record of administrative service for professional societies. His service to the Association of American Geographers includes: National Councilor, 1984-86; Long-Range Planning Committee, 1984-85; Honors Committee, 1990-92; and Nominating Committee, Chair, 1992. He served the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America, first as Vice-Chair, 1986-87, and then Chair, 1988. He was a member, 1982-91, then Secretary, 1988-91, of the U.S. National Committee of the International Union for Quaternary Research. He was National Councilor of the American Quaternary Association, 1976-80. At the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Jim served Section E (Geology and Geography), on the Nominating Committee, 1994-96, and committee Chair, 2008; Member Officer-at-Large, 1998-2000; and Chair Elect, Chair, and Retiring Chair of the Section, 2006-09.
Jim's accomplishments are by no means at an end. He plans to continue a productive research life as an emeritus member of the department.
Wallace Receives 2011 CaGIS Scholarship -- Doctoral level award
May 6, 2011
The CaGIS scholarship committee selected Tim to receive the award because his "scholarship shows great societal relevance and innovation in cartography". CaGIS also cited Wallace's service to the community through NACIS as a board member and ICA as a member on a proposed commission on map design."
Each year, the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) sponsors two scholarships to students whose research and accomplishments support the mission of CaGIS. The scholarships recognize academic achievement and encourage the continuing success of outstanding cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), and geographic information science (GIScience) students. The scholarships also recognize achievement or potential for achievement in original research advancing the specific disciplines of cartography or GIScience. Winners are selected based on academic achievement, particularly in the calendar year prior to the award. Applications are reviewed by the CaGIS Scholarship Committee, and awards are announced in February or March.
Geog 140 -- World Regions: Problems & Concepts
April 5, 2011
Geography 140 -- World Regions: Concepts and Problems is a new distance education course that takes advantage of innovations in technology to help:
- Enhance the acquisition of multiple forms of knowledge about world regions (e.g., Africa, Southeast Asia), as well as;
- Directly shed light on how key public, private and non-governmental actors with 'global reach' (e.g., the Gates Foundation, Google, the European Commission, ASEAN, Medecins Sans Frontieres) frame, develop, and implement regionally-specific strategies (e.g., the EU's Asia or African strategy).
Geography 140 will be launched in the summer session (13 June to 10 July) of 2011, and is set to run every term from Fall 2011 on.
Seeking Geography Lecturers
April 5, 2011
We are currently seeking applications for lecturers to teach Geography 101 and Geography 524 for the Fall 2011 semester. You can find details of these positions here:
- Geog 101 (PVL # 66967) http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/pvl/pv_066967.html
- Geog 524 (PVL #66968) http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/pvl/pv_066968.html
To insure consideration, applications must be received by April 25, 2011.
Mapping Life After Graduation: From Dirt to Floods
April 5, 2011
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)is the nation's largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency. The diversity of the agency allows for flexibility and I have worked on a variety programs over past nine years and will discuss WiM and FIMI, my latest endeavors.
WiM (Wisconsin Internet Mapping) develops, implements, and maintains cutting edge web based mappers and mobile applications utilizing ESRI based software technologies and Flash. Our primary focus is information dissemination to the public and cooperators, using the interactive map as a portal to spatial information. Several current projects will be discussed, including: Predicted Methyl Mercury in the National Parks; Water Quantity and Quality in the Cedar River, Iowa; Program Information in the Great Lakes; The National Wetlands Inventory from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and an interpretive display of the Great Lakes SPARROW model.
Communicating flood hazards to the public is a complex and difficult endeavor. Translating the vertical stage data from the USGS streamgage network into flood inundation maps for a community communicates the flood hazard much more clearly than stage or discharge data alone.Connecting those maps toNational Weather Service flood forecast data enable officials to make timely operational and public safety decisions during floods. The USGS has developed a flood inundation mapping initiative (FIMI) in an effort to provide consistent hydraulic and hydrologic methods; to provide consistent appearance and functionality of inundation products; and to guide the future development of inundation mapping science.
View the symposium's information poster.
Call for Fall 2011 Geography TA applications
March 21, 2011
If you're interested in applying for Fall 2011 TA positions in the Geography department, please complete the online application form by Friday, April 8. If you have questions, please contact Sharon Kahn.
Profanity Map Garners Widespread Online Recognition
January 27, 2011
UW-Madison Department of Geography Alumnus and current Lecturer of Cartography Daniel Huffman's map Profane Mountains, Polite Plains - displayed on the cover of the recent issue of Cartographic Perspectives, issue 66 (see story below) - gained recognition on a number of social media networking sites on Tuesday.
Among the sites profiling the map of the use of profanity on Twitter are MSNBC's technolog, Tech 24 Hours, Gizmodo (which as of Thursday morn had directed about 7000 user's to Daniel's website), and Andrew Sullivan's blog for The Atlantic.
Read more about the map and ensuing discussion on Daniel's blog Cartastrophe.
Buckingham and Roth Edit Special Digital Issue of Cartographic Perspectives
January 25, 2011
Tanya Buckingham of the UW-Madison Cartography Lab and Rob Roth of the Penn State GeoVISTA Center (and, starting Fall 2011, faculty at the UW-Madison Department of Geography), recently teamed to guest edit the second special issue of Cartographic Perspectives, the flagship journal of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS). The special issue is presented in the context of an exciting transition to modernize CP for primarily digital, online dissemination and to update CP's content to serve more equitably the diverse interests of both researchers and practitioners in the cartographic community. This issue expands upon the new territory explored in the first special digital issue published in 2009, edited by Tanya.
Multiple UW-Madison Geography and UW Cartography Lab members and alumni provided important contributions to the special issue. The opening essay by Michael Goodchild, Professor of Geography at UC-Santa Barbara and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is followed by an excellent series of articles that includes contributions by current PhD Candidate Tim Wallace and UW Geography and Cart Lab alumni Daniel Huffman (MS '10) and Andy Woodruff (MS '07). The issue also features static and interactive maps from Huffman and G575 students A.D. Riddle and David Parker. The special issue was copyedited by UW alumna Laura McCormick. Tanya and Rob extend their gratitude to all contributors to the special issue, which is available openly from CP's website
Tanya is the current President of NACIS while Rob is serving as CP's Assistant Editor. Cartographic Perspectives considers scholarly and practical manuscripts on all topics cartographic and recently announced a student paper competition with a purse of $1350. To contribute to CP, please contact Editor Patrick Kennelly (Patrick.Kennelly@liu.edu) or visit the NACIS website. Tanya and Rob eagerly encourage you to submit your work to Cartographic Perspectives and to attend of the 2011 NACIS Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Concourse Hotel right here in Madison, WI!
Nature-Society Graduate Workshop, February 4 – 5
January 24, 2011
With the help of Prof. Matt Turner, Department of Geography graduate students Abby Neely and Leif Brottem have initiated a nature-society graduate workshop in collaboration with the Universities of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Minnesota, Twin Cities.
The workshop will take place on February 4th and 5th. Between three and six pre-circulated papers will be discussed in turn during a workshop on Saturday, February 5, 2011 in Science Hall.
The focus of the workshop is on providing graduate students from the three schools with valuable feedback from across the nature-society spectrum as well as on offering opportunities for informal collaboration.
Faculty, graduate students, and anyone in geography interested in participating in the workshop should contact Abby or Leif.
Geography Depart. Alumnus Grabs National Geographic Internship
January 20, 2011
Chu Hao Chan, recent graduate of the Department of Geography, has accepted an internship under the department of National Geographic Magazine
MadGeogNews Captures 2009-2010 Highlights
December 24, 2010
The latest issue of MadGeogNews highlights the exciting happenings within the department over this past year. Read about new faculty hires, international partnerships, collaborative research grants, student updates, and cartographic initiatives.
Thank you again to our generous donors who help keep the proud tradition of UW-Madison's Department of Geography strong.
Download Issue 70 of MadGeogNews (PDF).
Gibbs Announces Post-M.S. Research Position and Graduate Student Funding
December 8, 2010
Geography's newest faculty member Holly Gibbs (starting Fall 2011) is announcing two funded positions: one for a post-masters research position and another for a graduate research assistant. Read about the positions and how to apply:
- GIS and Land Use Specialist - Global Land Use Change and Sustainable Bioenergy
- Graduate Research Assistant - Tropical Land Use and Sustainable Bioenergy
Holly will join the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2011. Her faculty position is part of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative (WBI) with appointments in the Department of Geography and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. She is currently a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow in the Program on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University.
Read more about Dr. Gibbs and her research into tropical land use change and bioenergy.
Geographer Keith Barney to Speak on the "Political Ecology of Cumulative Effects"
December 6, 2010
Geographer Keith Barney, a PhD Candidate of Geography at York University, will deliver a talk at 12pm noon on Friday, December 10, 2010. The talk will take place in 206 Ingraham Hall.
The talk is part of the Center for Southeat Asia's speaker's series, co-coordinated by Department of Geography's Prof Ian Baird.
Title: "The Political Ecology of Cumulative Effects: Remaking Environmental Governance and Livelihoods through Resource Concessions in Lao PDR"
Abstract: Contemporary Laos is a site for major investments in resource sector development in hydropower and mining, and is also a hot-spot in the 'global land grab' phenomenon. On the ground, existing constraints in the regulatory capacities of the Lao state are being compounded by the ways in which the externalities of different resource mega-projects often combine and cascade, and interact with the environmental practices of local communities, producing cumulative and unpredictable outcomes. A chaotic and semi-regulated pattern of resource concession activity in Laos is thus producing complex mosaics of environmental degradation and community (under) development. Drawing on Latour-inspired geographers such as Paul Robbins, my talk will first explore how the environmental classificatory schemes of the state and professional resource managers, which seek to delineate political-administrative jurisdictions over forests, land, water, and communities, are constantly transgressed by local, relational socio-ecological processes. Second, I explain how the establishment of this 'relational resource frontier' in Laos is altering regimes of political authority, and producing novel governmental orders in the countryside. The proliferation of new spatial-territorial configurations in Laos challenges our understanding not only of the multiple scales of resource governance, but also of the nature of state authority and sovereignty in an era of global connection.
Grad Student Van Den Hoek Accepts Visiting Researcher Position in Berlin
December 1, 2010
Graduate student Jamon Van Den Hoek has accepted a Visiting Reseacher position from Dec 1, 2010, through Fall 2011 with the Geomatics Lab in Humboldt University, Berlin. There Van Den Hoek will collaborate with lab researchers on remote sensing analyses of forest cover change in southwest China.
He will also use the time to continue writing his dissertation thesis and plans to defend shortly after.
Grad student Gibbons's Short Film Wins Best Documentary
November 25, 2010
Geography graduate Student Kevin Gibbons' documentary short titled "America's Dairyland" was shown at several film festivals and won Best Documentary Short at the Indie Gathering Film Festival in Cleveland this past summer.
The film was produced through an "Environmental Filmmaking Workshop" facilitated by Gregg Mitman and Judith Helfand in the Fall of 2009.
Watch the film on YouTube, "America's Dairyland".
Bill Cronon Elected President of the American Historical Association
November 12, 2010
Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies Bill Cronon has been elected president of the American Historical Association.
His election raises the visibility of UW-Madison's long tradition of scholarship on the environment. Cronon was among the group of scholars who helped found environmental history, which has established itself as an innovative field that studies the human past in relation to the plants, animals, diseases and biophysical environments with which people interact.
Read the press release on UW-Madison news.
Cartography Lab Helps Deliver Interactive Web Map of UW Arboretum
November 1, 2010
A partnership between the UW-Madison Cartographic Laboratory and Axis Maps LLC helped give the 75th anniversary of the UW Arboretum broader public appeal with an engaging online map.
Assitant Director of the Cartography Lab Tanya Buckingham and Department of Geography graduate student Tim Wallace began working on map layers and imagery during the summer of 2009 with GIS data provided by the Arboretum. Axis Maps LLC (a company composed of former Department of Geography graduate students David Heyman, Ben Sheesley, Andy Woodruff, and Zachary Johnson, and former faculty member Mark Harrower) joined Tanya and Tim to help bring the map into a state-of-the-art web mapping application.
The interactive map of the UW Arboretum demonstrates new techniques in online mapping that -- beyond giving users an intuitive interface to explore the Arboretum through various data layers and imagery -- allows for continued additions and updates to the map through public participation. The map will utilize volunteered geographic information (VGI) services, drawing from user-driven online data sources such as Flicker.
The process of making the map and an analysis of the implications for mapping in a Web 2.0 context is discussed by Wallace (forthcoming 2010), "The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum Map." Cartographic Perspectives, 66.
Read the story as covered by UW-Madison News.
Prof. Ian Baird Featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education
October 28, 2010
The Department of Geography's newest faculty member Ian Baird has been highlighted in a recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The story retraces Baird's trajectory from a community worker in various village settings throughout Souteast Asia to Assistant Professor at UW-Madison specializing in Hmong Studies. Baird brings a broad perspective to contextualize contemporary US Hmong experiences within a geographic and historical mosaic.
The Chronicle story also notes Baird's research assistant and Department of Geography graduate student Pao Vue.
Prof Baird will be organizing a conference focusing on "Hmong in Comparative Contexts" for March of 2011.
Read the full story, "Hill Tribes Lead a Wanderer to Become a Geographer".
Call for Spring 2011 Geography TA applications
October 18, 2010
If you're interested in applying for Spring 2011 TA positions in the Geography department, please complete the online application form by Friday, November 12.
Complete the online application for Spring Geography TA positions.
If you have questions, please contact Sharon Kahn
Postdoc Marlon's Research Finds Gaps in Public Understanding of Climate Change
October 15, 2010
A recent report conducted by researchers from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communcation titled "Americans' Knowledge of Climate Change" found 63 percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening, but many do not understand why.
The report was co-authored by UW-Madison Geography NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow Jenn Marlon.
The study was conducted from June 24 to July 22, 2010 and surveyed 2,030 American adults 18 and older.
Among the reports findings were these highlights:
- 57 percent know what the greenhouse effect is
- 45 percent of Americans understand that carbon dioxide traps heat from the Earth's surface
- 50 percent understand that global warming is caused mostly by human activities
Large majorities incorrectly think that the hole in the ozone layer and aerosol spray cans cause global warming. Meanwhile, 75 percent of Americans have never heard of the related problems of ocean acidification or coral bleaching.
However, many Americans do understand that emissions from cars and trucks and the burning of fossil fuels contribute to global warming, and that a transition to renewable energy sources is an important solution. Americans also recognize their own limited understanding. Only 1 in 10 say that they are "very well-informed" about climate change, and 75 percent say they would like to know more about the issue. Likewise, 75 percent say that schools should teach children about climate change and 68 percent would welcome a national program to teach Americans more about the issue.
Read the NYTimes coverage of the story or read the executive summary and report (PDF)
Call For Papers -- Principled Engagement: Political ecologists and their interactions outside the academy
September 22, 2010
At the 2010 AAG annual meeting in Washington D.C., Piers Blaikie delivered a keynote address provocatively titled, "Should some political ecology be useful?" Noting the challenges of taking critical social science to people outside the academy "who want answers", Blaikie wondered, "Who are we talking to? Are they listening? How do we know?" In an era of increasingly complex positioning in public debate, growing acknowledgment of the complicated nature of environmental problems, and deepening linkages between universities and the private sector, Blaikie's question regarding how best to engage-long central to political ecology as a field-remains as relevant as ever. This panel wrestles with the question of how to ethically and strategically engage with the environmental challenges of today. Specific questions that have motivated us include:
- Where is an overtly normative perspective more useful, and when is it a hindrance? What sorts of normativity work well outside the academy, and what sorts do not?
- When do specialized discourses-such as those frequently associated with post-development or post-colonial theory-bring something useful (or even essential) to the table? When is terminology simply received as jargon?
- What are the tradeoffs between direct involvement (e.g., via research consultancies, collaboration with NGOs or government agencies, or community-based Participatory Action Research) and the independence afforded by more classically "distanced" scholarship? When is it worth signing away one's intellectual property in order to have the opportunity to influence others, and when does doing so represent too high a price to pay?
Recognizing that these questions do not have definitive answers (and indeed they beg additional questions), this session seeks to explore the practice of principled engagement. We welcome case studies, as well as comparative, thematic, or theoretical efforts to wrestle with these and related questions.
Please forward abstracts no longer than 250 words to Ian Baird (ibaird@wisc.edu) no later than October 31, 2010. Other inquiries are also welcome.
Call For Papers -- Global drylands: facing uncertainty and change in the 21st Century
September 21, 2010
Global drylands encompass 41% of the earth's surface and support the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people, including many of the world's poorest. Rural and urban inhabitants in drylands face growing challenges from climate change, resource privatization, and other forms of structural change. Concerns about vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience of dryland livelihoods are producing many claims and counter-claims about the nature of human-environment interactions, thus increasing the need for critical research into social and ecological dynamics of drylands. While variability and uncertainty have long been embraced as defining characteristics of drylands, much remains unknown about how dryland inhabitants are adapting to these conditions as well as unforeseen changes occurring in the 21 Century. This panel, therefore, welcomes papers that utilize a variety of methodological and theoretical avenues to critically explore contemporary livelihoods, resource access, and environmental change in drylands. Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Ecological variability
- Climate change
- Resource degradation
- Spatial mobility
- Resource rights and tenure
- Water and land conflict
- Dryland development schemes
- Land use change
Please send a title and an abstract of no more than 250 words via email attachment as a Word or PDF document to Leif Brottem (brottem@wisc.edu) or Hilary Hungerford (hilaryh@ku.edu) by October 15, 2010. Also, please do not hesitate to contact either organizer with questions or comments.
Call For Papers -- Hmong in Comparative Contexts Conference
September 16, 2010
Recently, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota have jointly established the "UW-UM Hmong Studies Consortium." The Consortium will be organizing its first conference, titled "Hmong in Comparative Contexts", at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on 4-5 March 2011. Focusing on critical scholarship, the conference will consider the Hmong and their interactions and relations with other ethnic groups, especially those in Asia but also the Hmong diaspora in other parts of the world, including the United States. This concept reflects recent theoretical trends in critical scholarship, including an increasing interest in reconsidering ethnic geographies and associated boundaries in Asia, and examining new ideas put forward by those engaged in advocating and examining new ideas related to "Zomia."
The vision of the conference organizers is to gather a group of scholars interested in critical Hmong studies and related ideas. This includes bringing together well-established scholars as well as those beginning their careers. Graduate students are also encouraged to actively participate in the conference. Participants will not be required to pay any registration fees for attending, but will be expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Dr. Christian Culas, a prominent French scholar of the Hmong in Asia presently residing in northern Vietnam, will be the keynote speaker.
Scholars within the social sciences and humanities are encouraged to submit individual abstracts not exceeding 250 words, or ideas for panels not exceeding 400 words. Submissions should be sent to Ian Baird at ibaird@wisc.edu and should be received no later than December 1, 2010. Acceptance of abstracts and panel ideas will be confirmed by January 15, 2011.
New Geography Faculty Member Gibbs' Research Profiled in Stanford News
September 9, 2010
A recent Stanford Report profiles the research of Dr. Holly Gibbs, who will begin a professorship at UW-Madison in 2011. The article, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, summarizes findings from a study by Gibbs and several other colleagues of tropical forest and new agricultural land. Through Landsat satellite image analysis they determined 80 percent of new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 was cut from tropical forest. This forest clearing has direct implications for the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere.
Dr. Gibbs earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) where a DOE Global Change Environmental Fellowship supported her studies. Her dissertation research quantified shifting pathways of tropical land use and their implications for carbon emissions.
Read more about the study at Stanford News.
Geography Fall Picnic: September 10th
August 30, 2010
Please join us on Friday, September 10th for the department's fall picnic. Current students, faculty, and staff, alumni and emeriti, and friends and family are welcome. This year we'll hold the event at Vilas Park, 702 S. Randall Avenue on the near west side. We'll be gathering in the picnic shelter, starting around 5:00.
Driving directions (avoiding current construction on N Park Street) can be viewed on this
Department welcomes new graduate students to program
August 26, 2010
The Department of Geography enthusiastically welcomed the incoming class of 2010-2011 to the program. A traditional welcome lunch on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 provided an opportunity for faculty and students to meet, discuss respective research interests, and share information about living in Madison and the graduate experience.
Jim Leary, Director of UW-Madison's Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, delivered a talk on the jokes, legends, and anecdotes from the oral tradition of diverse people in Wisconsin.