Chair's Blog

The Department of Geography and Anthropology is please to announce the 2013-2014 winners of the scholarships provided through our department.  Joseph Quintana is the recipient of both the Henry W. Kolka and the Palm Family Scholarships .  It is a testament to Mr. Quintana that the Kolka scholarship is for geography students with good scholastic records who are outstanding individuals. Bravo, Joey.   Mr. Quintana was also co-recipient with Zachary Hilgendorf of the Wickman Applied GIS Scholarship , which was created to support a geography major or minor with special interest in geographic information systems (GIS), who shows applied use of GIS in their academic work and demonstrates great potential for success in a future career. Bravissimo, Joey and Zach.  Mr. Hilgendorf , in turn, was co-recipient of the Seitz Scholarship with Corrin Turkowitch .The Kerlin and Ethel Seitz Scholarship is designed to benefit a serious-minded Geography major (two, actu...

So, it's the first day back to school for the spring semester.  The students walked to school in -17 F weather -- at least the moon and sun were out and there was no wind.  We also just learned that we have a new Dean for the college of Arts and Sciences – the news release is not even on the university's homepage yet but look for it there soon. Its been a winter of travel for geographers -- most of us stuck around the upper Midwest in places that rhyme (geographically speaking) with Michigan and Nebraska.  I gave a talk in Green Bay, for example, but others hit the big road: Ingolf Vogeler on one of his self-directed learning trips, this time three weeks in Hawai'i; Ari Anand with family in India; Harry Jol on a UWEC grant with students in New Zealand, and; Joe Hupy in Austria. Joe was invited by the University of Vienna to deliver a lecture entitled, ‘Divergent pathways of landscape evolution due to the impact of explosive munitions.’ The talk was part of a lectur...

John Bowen in Hawai'i with Faulkner & Zeitler's Geog 368 Field Experience class, 2011. Two of our recent graduates recently got jobs with esri, the company at the center of the GIS mapping software, services and apps world.   Sam Tompsett graduated this past December and will be starting this week in Southern California and Jon Bowen, who graduated Dec 2012, started two weeks ago in Washington, D.C.   I’ll give Sam some time to settle in, but for Jon, this is his second dream job in a year – last year he had an internship with National Geographic ( See UWEC news release from April 2013 )! After the internship and some short term work as a print cartographer with XNR Productions in Madison, making maps for such clients as National Geographic and Pearson textbooks, Jon landed a full-time job in web mapping as a cartographer/designer with the Story Maps team in esri’s DC Research and Development Center .  Led by ex- National Geographic Chief Cartographe...

As they plan out the new Wisconsin History Center in Madison, the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) has invited our very own Dr. Ezra Zeitler to serve with scholars from around the state on a Content Advisory Team that will help inform museum content, exhibition design and educational approach.   This is a big deal project that will splendidly present and interpret the State’s history and preserve and present its artifacts. To help develop a plan for the new museum and to think about how to provide a rich experience for visitors, the WHS has brought in the same consultants who helped with such museums as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. and the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.    According to the WHS, Dr. Zeitler’s background and expertise represent many areas that the Wisconsin Historical Society hopes to have covered by the Advisory Team. First of all, they want a geographer on their team.  Beyond that, he tea...

Today I received a listing of all geography graduates known to our Alumni Office.  I requested the list in the hopes that we can use the list to help us do a better job of staying in touch with you, and maybe to give you a chance of staying in touch with eachother.  I noticed from the list that our oldest UW-Eau Claire geographer in our records is from the class of 1948!  I also counted a total of 1079 UW-Eau Claire geography graduates of whom the Alumni Office is able to keep track.  I don't know how representative this list is of all geographers, but it seems to include all recent graduates.  If that is true, 2013 is one of our largest graduating class.  The table above only includes one of our15 December graduates.  If we, indeed, had 32 graduates in 2013 that could make 2013 one our largest classes since Brian J. L. Berry was AAG president (1979.    I would like to think that we will be in touch with all of you, but I won't promise....

One of the things that made the West Lakes Regional Meeting of the Association of American Geographers special was the opportunity we had to collaborate with the Chippewa Valley Book Festival.  Since both events were in town in the same week, we joined energies and audiences to host authors of mutual interest.  One of them was Michael Perry, a local author known nationally for his humorous and empathetic insights and anecdotes on life in NW Wisconsin.  Michael took the opportunity to explore the geography of his work -- which he did with gusto and creativity -- to the delight of the 350 or so people in the Davies Center audience.  It must have been one of the most influential and widely informative pitches for geography the Chippewa Valley has ever heard.  I will try and provide an excerpt or two from his 17 October 2013 talk.  Until then, here is his 28 October “Roughneck Grace” column in the Wisconsin State Journal in which he reflects back on his present...

Ingolf Vogeler and geographers from Macalester  and Northern Illinois University gather in front of the new Davies Center for a walking tour. Geography student volunteers at the WLAAG annual meeting registration desk. Friday night social at Volume One's Local Store. One of our highlights from this past fall was the opportunity we had to host the West Lakes Association of American Geographers conference in the new Davies Center, 17-19October.  Geographers from across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and beyond attended.  Numerous sessions, activities and events made it memorable.  Students from Ingolf Vogeler and Garry Running's capstone course served as the critical core of our student volunteers, paper and poster sessions were well attended and received, we took full advantage of Eau Claire amenities for our field trips and social times, and we collaborated with the Chippewa Valley Book Festival to host two authors whos speak to geographi...

This week, we hit a few new lows.  The temperature, for example, dropped to around -30 F. And I thought I would start a blog as a way of communicating with alumni and our regional community of the kinds of things in which of the UW-Eau Claire's Department of Geography and Anthropology is involved. I hope you find this meaningful.  I think I will. And, I hope that you will use this as an opportunity to communicate with me about any thoughts, suggestions or affirmations you have.  I would love to hear from you.  Please email me .