Bruce Braun Appointed AAG Annals Section Editor

The AAG Council voted recently to appoint Bruce Braun, Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, as Editor of the Nature and Society section of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. His term will begin on January 1, 2012.



Click here for the full article at the AAG website.

WWII vet leads an old-fashioned classroom

Fraser Hart, Professor in the Geography Department, is the subject of a special Veterans Day salute in the Minnesota Daily's November 10th issue. Click here for the full story.

$8 million NSF grant for population/environment data network

An interdisciplinary team has been awarded a five-year, $8 million
grant from the National Science Foundation to boost understanding of
population-environment relationships on a global scale. The project,
Terra Populus, is a collaboration of The Minnesota Population Center,
the Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota Libraries,
and faculty from the College of Liberal Arts and College of Science
and Engineering, as well as Columbia University and the University of
Michigan.

The research will create new opportunities for understanding the
relationship between population and the environment on a global scale.




The lead investigators from the University of Minnesota are Steven
Ruggles (Minnesota Population Center), Jonathon Foley (Institute on
the Environment), Victoria Interrante (Computer Science and
Engineering), Wendy Pradt Lougee (University of Minnesota Libraries),
Steven Manson (Geography), Jaideep Srivastava (Computer Science and
Engineering) and Shashi Shekhar (Computer Science and Engineering).
With this award, TerraPop will be an NSF Sustainable Digital Data
Preservation and Access Network (DataNet) Partner. The DataNet
initiative aims to provide reliable digital preservation, access,
integration and analysis capabilities for science and/or engineering
data over a decades-long timeline.
For more information, see the news release.

Judith Martin

Memorials can be directed to:

Minnesota Fringe Festival, 79 - 13th Avenue NE, Suite 112, Minneapolis, MN 55413

Friends of Northrop Dance Season, Fund 1996, University of Minnesota Foundation, Lockbox B, PO Box 70870, C-M 3854, St. Paul, MN 55170-3854

The Judith Martin Memorial Fund, c/o University of Minnesota Foundation, C-M 3854, PO Box 70880, Saint Paul, MN 55170-3854

From James Parente, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts
The Department of Geography, College of Liberal Arts and the University mourn the loss of Professor Judith Martin, who passed away early Monday morning, October 3, 2011.

Judith Martin was a home-grown jewel at the U. She received her M.A. in American history and M.A. and Ph.D. in American studies here at the U. She began her service here as a research associate in the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs in 1976, and held various term positions in CLA until she was hired as a professor in geography and director of the Urban Studies program in 1989.

Judith was an exemplary University citizen, one who senior administrators knew they could depend upon for thoughtful leadership and counsel. Her CV is filled with work on committees across the University, many of which she served as chair or vice-chair: Faculty Consultative Committee, University Senate, Senate Committee on Finance and Planning, and countless other committees on governance, planning, teaching, and students. She was an invaluable member of CLA's 2015 planning committee last year, and this year served on the provostal search committee.

Judith was a 15-year member of the Minneapolis Planning Commission, seven years as president. She brought her knowledge and leadership to the city she loved, contributing to the development of plans for land use, downtown development, light rail stations, and the new zoning codes that were developed in the '90s.

In addition to directing the Urban Studies program, Judith was founding co-director of the University Metropolitan Consortium. She seamlessly blended her research, teaching and service, and was widely sought for her expertise on urban planning, policy and governance; historic preservation; urban sprawl; and landscape and culture. Judith advanced the University's public engagement agenda through community-engaged research and outreach in urban and metropolitan issues. She also contributed to early strategic planning discussions to formulate the vision for UMore Park, with a special focus on academic opportunities for faculty, students and staff.

"I have often used the Twin Cities as a base for my work, due to my early belief that all too much urban research ignored the experiences of the most typical of American urban areas," she wrote. Her scholarly and community work were the subjects of a profile in CLA Today in 2004.

Over the course of her distinguished career in CLA and at the U she received many awards for teaching and service, including the Morse Amoco/Alumni Teaching Award, Academy of Distinguished Teachers, College of Continuing Education Teaching Award, CLA Alumna of Notable Achievement, and President's Award for Outstanding Service.

University President Emeritus Robert Bruininks said, "I received the news of Judith's passing with deep sadness. She was a dear friend of ours, and frequent confidante and advisor whose leadership, thoughtfulness, and broad perspective on issues impacting the University were invaluable to me over the past many years. We enjoyed so many walks along the Mississippi River together and had looked forward to many more. Susan and I will miss Judith terribly."

2.5 million U-Spatial Initiative

Congratulations to Geography Professor's Francis Harvey and Steve Manson who recently received, along with a group of other collaborators across campus, a 2.5 million I3 (Infrastructure Investment Initiative) award for the U-Spatial Initiative.

U-Spatial coordinates equipment and services for the University research community working with spatial information, the key to spatiotemporal studies of people, places, and process. U-Spatial brings together existing resources and services and strengthens research activities in four infrastructure cores: technical assistance, training, and resource coordination; analysis of aerial and satellite imagery of the earth; data archiving and development of shared computing; and spatiotemporal modeling, geodesign, and mapping

More information found here.

U-Spatial: Spatial Sciences and Systems Infrastructure
PI: Francis Harvey, College of Liberal Arts
Co-Investigators (from CFANS, CSE, IonE, CLA): Marvin Bauer, Forest Resources; Jonathan Foley, Ecology, Evolution and Behavior; Steven Manson, Geography; Steven Ruggles, MN Population Center and History; Shashi Shekhar, Computer Science and Engineering

Coffee Hour Kicks off September 9!

We are looking forward to seeing you in the JSA room this Friday to hear about all things transport from David Levinson.

Bring your own mugs if you can!

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GEOGRAPHY COFFEE HOUR FRI. 9 SEPTEMBER 2011:
Blegen 445, Coffee & Cookies 3:15 pm, Talk 3:30 pm

"Network Structure and Travel Behaviour" - David Levinson

[Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota; Director of NEXUS (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems Research Group)]

Geography welcomes Martin Swobodzinski!

The Geography Department is excited to welcome Martin Swobodzinski to the Department! Martin has a two year appointment as Assistant Professor and he will be teaching GIS courses. Martin's general research interests are in geographic information science and behavioral geography. His current research investigates the factors that guide the decision making of individuals in public participation scenarios. Most importantly, his work examines the role of information and decision-support technology as a means to more meaningful participation, better decision-making outcomes, and greater satisfaction of the stakeholders involved in participatory transportation planning. In addition, he has a long standing interest in disability geographies and spatial cognition with an emphasis on computational aspects related to human orientation and navigation without sight.

Home-grown celebrities!

Sophie Oldfield, president-elect of the Society of South African Geographers
and Eric Sheppard, vice president of the Association of American Geographers.

Go Minnesota!

Geography welcomes new Assistant Professor Lorena Muñoz

Starting in Fall 2011, Lorena Muñoz will be joining Geography as a new Assistant Professor.
Lorena is an urban/cultural geographer whose research focuses on the intersections of place, space, gender, sexuality and race. Through qualitative frameworks she examines the production of Latina/o informal economic landscapes in trans-border spaces.

Geography welcomes new Assistant Professor Lorena Muñoz.
Lorena is an urban/cultural geographer whose research focuses on the intersections of place, space, gender, sexuality and race. Through qualitative frameworks she examines the production of Latina/o informal economic landscapes in trans-border spaces.
Her current project examines how queer Latina immigrant women who work in the low wage service sector, negotiate and perform their gendered and queer identities differently across 'pseudo' heteronormative, male-dominated spaces of low-wage labor in Los Angeles. Her other research interests are focused on minority students access to STEM education. Her research is currently funded by the National Institute of Health.
Her new office is 427 Social Science. Stop by and say hi!

Geography welcomes Assistant Professor Abigail Neely

Starting in Fall 2011, Abigail Neely will be joining Geography as a new Assistant Professor. As an historical geographer trained in the nature-society tradition, Abby seeks to explain relationships between the material world (microbes, crops, and economies) and the way people understand that world (as mitigated through culture, knowledge, and experience).



Her work sits at the intersection of health geography and political-ecology. Her dissertation, provisionally titled "Reconfiguring Pholela: Local People and Government Bureaucrats from the 1930s to the 1980s," examines how interactions between residents and locally-based government bureaucrats had surprising implications for a rural, Zulu-speaking area of South Africa.
Her dissertation reveals that by paying attention to, for example, the addition of beetroot to gardens and cooking pots, the abandonment of long-standing healing rituals, and the failure of government anti-tuberculosis campaigns we can understand how local people and places shape the outcomes of large state policies. In Neely's research she uses a mix of qualitative methods like archival research, ethnography, participatory GIS, household surveys, interviews, focus groups, and oral history collection to document the evolution of local illness and ideas about health and healing through two distinct phases of government intervention, one in health in the 1940s and 1950s and one in community planning in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. She says she is absolutely thrilled to be joining the geography faculty at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities!

Eric Sheppard new Vice President of AAG

Regents Professor Eric Sheppard was elected as the new Vice President of the AAG - Association of American Geographers. More from the AAG here.

His term began on July 1, 2011. Audrey Kobayashi of Queen's University was elected President.

Bruce Braun promoted to Full Professor

As announced at the May 16th Departmental meeting, Associate Professor Bruce Braun has been promoted to Full Professor. Congratulations to Bruce!

Professor Braun recently completed an edited volume (with Sarah Whatmore) entitled Political Matter: Technoscience, Democracy and Public Life, which has been nominated for the ASA's Don K Price Award for books on Science, Technology and Environmental Politics. His current research follows several streams simultaneously. The first explores 'forms of life' constituted in and through sustainable city projects, with a focus on the 'production of subjectivity' (i.e. habits, dispositions, desires) and the political technologies devised to bring these about. A second, related, project focuses on notions of 'resilience' and ideas of nature and society found therein. Finally, a third tries to understand these shifts within their historical context.

Please join us in congratulating Bruce!

Brown Day

This year's Brown Day will be held on Friday, April 22, 2011.
Our guest speaker will be John S. Adams (Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of Minnesota) who will give a talk titled "A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT, 1925-2010: COFFEE HOURS AND TEA PARTIES"

Join us from 3:15-5:00pm in the Carlson School of Management, Room 1-147 on the West Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. (Coffee/refreshments 3:15; talk starts at 3:30).



Held each spring, Brown Day brings together friends and colleagues for a noon time potluck lunch, an afternoon lecture by a prominent visiting Geographer, and an evening banquet that celebrates the achievements of the past year, and recalls our history, which spans over three-quarters of a century.
The day is named in honor of Ralph Hall Brown, eminent faculty member in our department from 1929 to 1948, and author of Mirror for Americans (1941) and Historical Geography of the United States (1948).
The evening program includes an awards ceremony that recognizes the achievements of our undergraduate and graduate students. It also offers news from colleagues afar, entertainment and humor, and the results of our annual photo contest.

Minnesota Reception at AAG

This year's Minnesota Reception at the AAG will be held Wednesday
Night, April 13, from 8:30pm-11:30pm, in the Diamond Room at the
Sheraton Seattle Hotel, 1400 Sixth Ave, Seattle.

A few, small culinary treats, along with a "little dessert" tray will
be available. There will also be a cash bar.

Hope to see you there!

Scott St. George on Channel 5 News

Geography Assistant Professor Scott St. George was recently a guest on 5 Eyewitness News (ABC). He discussed how Minnesota's Geography plays a role in flooding.

Watch the video.

Mysteries of Public Finance

Mysteries of Public Financing (co-produced by Judith Martin of Geography's Urban Studies program) is a 1/2 hour documentary from TPT, made in conjunction with the University Metropolitan Consortium.

How governments raise money, how it's spent, who benefits and who pays - the basics of how public funding works and how decisions are made for the public good are explained by policy experts and former finance officials in this TPT documentary.

View the video here.

Envisioning a different type of suburb

Brenda Kayzar was interviewed for an article in the Fedgazette about the conclusions she and colleague Steve Manson reached in their CURA (U-CGO) funded project which examines peripheral development in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Read the interview.

Leitner and Sheppard part of Faculty Exchange program

Helga Leitner and Eric Sheppard are spending the spring semester in the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development at the University of Amsterdam, as part of a long-running faculty exchange program between the University of Minnesota and the University of Amsterdam.

Settling in has been a bit challenging for our professors: personal contacts were vital, as the local administrators seemed puzzled by their presence. While in Amsterdam, Helga and Eric will be participating in the teaching of an undergraduate course on questions of globalization, and graduate courses in development theory, territories, identities and conflict, migration, segregation and immigration and advanced GIS. They will also be giving research talks in the Globe Lecture series, and at the Department of Sociology. They are also consulting with faculty and students as they continue ongoing research into geographical political economy, immigrant rights, citizenship, and provincializing global urbanism.
More information available at
http://www.fmg.uva.nl/gpio
http://www.iamsterdam.com/

Geography trips up Computer Brain

IBM's super computer might want to consider enrolling in Fraser Hart's GEOG 3101 US & Canada course next fall. During the February 15th installment of the popular television program Jeopardy, the normally impressive machine confused Toronto with Chicago - even though the Double Jeopardy category was "US Cities." Read the full story at the NY Times.

The City, the River, the Bridge

The Institute of Advanced Study has announced the publication of The City, the River, the Bridge: Before and after the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, edited by Patrick Nunnally, who teaches courses in our Urban Studies program.

The City, the River, the Bridge: Before and after the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse,, published by the University of Minnesota Press, is based on the symposium of the same name organized by the IAS in October 2008. Video of that conference is available here; information on the new book is at http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/N/nunnally_city.html.

MNDaily's feature on Geocaching

In search of a treasure trove in the guise of a mystery box of who-knows-what? MNDaily explores on-campus Geocaching in their story "GPS Pirates Hunt Treasure."

NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship

PhD Student Christopher Crawford was awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship for the 2010-2011 academic year.

PhD Student Christopher Crawford was awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship for the 2010-2011 academic year. Christopher's research addresses topics related to the cyrosphere, mountain snowpack climatology, and freshwater resources across interior northwestern North America using historical satellite image records. Christopher also holds funding through the Association of American Geographers (AAG), College of Liberal Arts, and the University of Minnesota for his tree-ring research on millennial length climate change across central Idaho and southwestern Montana.
When Chris isn't hanging out here, he can be found here.

Hegel's Materialism: The Philosophy of Right and Anti-Colonial Thought

This Friday (2/11) the Political Science department presents a short talk by Professor Timothy Brennan (University of Minnesota - Departments of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature and English), followed by a more lengthy discussion. Professor Brennan will present his paper "Hegel's Materialism: 'The Philosophy of Right' and Anti-Colonial Thought."As usual, it will be at 1:30 in 1314 Social Sciences; coffee will be served.

Geography Coffee Hour Spring 2011

Fridays, 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., Blegen Hall 445 (cookie/coffee reception begins at 3:15pm)

All presentations in the John S. Adams Community Room (445 Blegen Hall) unless noted otherwise.

Fridays, 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., Blegen Hall 445 (cookie/coffee reception begins at 3:15pm)
All presentations in the John S. Adams Community Room (445 Blegen Hall) unless noted otherwise
1/28: Steve Manson and Brenda Kayzar, Dept of Geography, UMN
2/4: Adam Berland titled "Changing tree cover in the urbanizing Twin Cities, 1937-2009"
2/11: Harvey Thorleifson, Minnesota State Geological Survey
2/18: Marvin Taylor, Dept of Geography, UMN
2/25: Hari Osofsky, UMN Law School
3/4: Kevin Anchukaitis, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
3/11: John Abraham, University of Saint Thomas
3/18: Spring Break
3/25: TBD
4/1: Garth Myers, Kansas State University
4/8: Abdi Samatar, Dept of Geography, UMN

A new member of the Geography family

Welcome Jonas Samuel Brownell to the Geography family, who arrived on 12/29/10 at 12:01 am - 2.5 weeks early.

7lbs 3oz
20 inches long

Proud Mother, Father and Sister are chronicling it all here.