Lexington, Kentucky

September 2014

 

Greetings.

 

I am in my second year as department chair and am pleased to report that the Geography Department at Kentucky continues to thrive, thanks to the most amazing energy and commitment of everyone associated with it. My job has been made much easier by previous Chairs Karl Raitz, Sue Roberts, and Anna Secor, who all did great things. There is too much to tell in a short letter, but please browse our website and individual student and faculty pages for more detail on who we are and what we do. For those of you familiar with the department (or who would like to be), here are a few highlights and some news from our community.

 

Professors Karl Raitz and Stan Brunn retired, but both still are regulars in the Department and seem to have more projects than ever. We are pleased to welcome to the faculty Dr. Betsy Beymer-Farris, a political ecologist who joined us from Furman University and who will also be teaching in the College’s Environmental Studies program. Matt Zook was promoted to Professor, and Daehyun Kim was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Several faculty members have returned from leaves. Matt Wilson spent the year at Harvard in the Design School, Michael Samers spent a Fulbright year in France, Matt Zook spent a Fulbright year in Estonia, Stan Brunn spent half a year teaching in China, and Anna Secor was on a very productive sabbatical writing essays and successful grant proposals.

 

Some honors were garnered this year (and I am sure to leave someone out, with apologies). Jonathan Phillips was awarded the Linton Medal from the British Society for Geomorphology, Karl Raitz won the UK Libraries Intellectual Achievement Award, Paul Karan was given a Lifetime Honor by the Himalayan Studies Association, and Stan Brunn was granted a Doctorate honoris causa from the University of Helsinki. The Graduate students kept up their usual pace. This year a record number presented their research at the Tampa AAG meetings, the student-organized Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference has become an international phenomenon, and the Barnhart and Withington Funds are supporting lots of field work and conference attendance. We are experimenting with hybrid and on-line courses at all levels (including a developing on-line certificate and MS in New Maps TBA shortly). We are working on reinvigorating the undergraduate society, thanks to the remarkable energy of some of our undergraduate majors, and we are able to support them through the Ulack Fund and the Raitz Fund. Finally, Matt Wilson is updating our department history and we are looking to honor our alums as part of that project.

 

Of course, daily life continues apace, but we are always pleased to hear from friends, old and new or yet-to-be made, so if anything on this site piques your geographical imagination, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

 

Best Regards

 

Richard Schein

Professor and Chair