2014 Geography Faculty Development Alliance Workshop
Participants and Leaders
Hyowon Ban,
Hyowon Ban is Assistant Professor and Interim Undergraduate Student Advisor in the Department of Geography, and Advisor of GIS Certificate and Korean International Student Association at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB KISA). Her teaching and research interests include spatial analysis and geovisualization of semantic uncertainty of spatial concepts and relative motions of moving objects as well as representation of geographic information using art. In specific, Dr. Ban’s research explores uncertain spatial boundaries of urban sprawl and undersea features, relative motion analysis and visualization of moving objects such as dancers, and conversion of spatial information into design and music. Dr. Ban holds a Ph.D. in Geography from The Ohio State University (USA), an M.S. in Geography from Ewha Womans University, Seoul (South Korea) and a B.A. in Social Studies with Geography specialization from the Ewha Womans University. She also worked for ESRI Korea, Inc. as a GIS specialist and the instructor.
Melanie Barron,
I am a third-year PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and I am also an adjunct instructor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I completed my B.A. in Geography at Georgia Southern University in 2010, and my M.S. in Geography at UT in 2012. My research interests are located at the interface of environmental justice, socio-legal scholarship, and critical studies of globalization. I am working to draw connections between these literatures to trace the impacts of global corporations in modern systems of governance and attempts at resisting corporate power. My dissertation focuses on a case study in Anniston, Alabama, where I am investigating the scales of influence and power at play among the actors involved in a legal process to clean up of decades of industrial pollution left by a Monsanto-owned industrial chemical manufacturing facility. I am currently serving as a Geography 101 instructor, and this will be my second year teaching this course. I have also served as a teaching assistant in various geography courses, and I was previously a research assistant on an NSF-funded project about truth and reconciliation movements in the United States. My passion for geography is fueled by a personal and professional commitment to social justice, and in my spare time I enjoy volunteering for community and labor rights organizations in the Knoxville area. I also enjoy gardening, cooking, and visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as much as possible!
George Bentley,
George completed his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut in 2013. He will be an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Framingham State University in Fall 2014. His research interests include environmental-economic geography, GIS, urban geography, and public health. More recently, his research interests have focused on deterioration and decay within America’s legacy cities. Over the past several years he has taught world regional geography courses ranging in size from 35 students to 325 students and introduction to geographic information systems. Off campus he enjoys spending time in the outdoors, particulary hiking in New England’s mountains.
Bradley Bereitschaft,
Bradley Bereitschaft is an Assistant Professor in the department of Geography/Geology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He graduated with a MS in biology in 2007 and a PhD in geography in 2011 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Bradley currently teaches courses in urban geography, biogeography, urban sustainability, and earth & environmental science. His primary research interests include the relationships between urban form and environmental quality, the changing form and function of the post-industrial ‘creative-knowledge’ city, and patterns of equity and environmental justice in urban areas.
Ashley Coles,
Ashley Coles is a lecturer of geography in the Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography with a minor in Latin American Studies from the University of Arizona, an MA in Geography from the University of Arizona, and a BS in Atmospheric Sciences from Cornell University. Her research focuses on human-environment interactions, which she approaches though the perspectives of political economy, science and technology studies, critical development and postcolonial theories. Previous research has focused on the production of knowledge and knowledge politics in development and hazard management, with case studies in the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia. Lower division courses taught include Environment and Society, Physical Geography, Human Geography, World Regional Geography, and Our Changing Climate. Upper division courses include Political Geography, Economic Geography, Politics of Nature, and Geography of Latin America.
Somayeh Dodge, :
Somayeh Dodge is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) and serves as the Academic Counselor of the AAG GIS Specialty Group. Somayeh joined the UCCS in 2013, first as a visiting assistant professor, where she teaches Introductory and advanced GIS courses, including Digital Earth, Internet GIS, and Geovisualization. Somayeh’s research involves the analysis of movement patterns in relation to the environment and the underlying geographic context. Previously, Somayeh worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, at The Ohio State University. Prior to that she was a research fellow at the GIScience Center of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, where she completed her PhD in Geography with a specialization in on GIScience in 2011. Somayeh’s research has been published in the International Journal of Geographic Information Science (IJGIS), Movement Ecology, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, and Information Visualization.
LaToya E. Eaves,
LaToya is a Ph.D. candidate at Florida International University and is wrapping up a Pre-doctoral Fellowship In Residence at the University of Connecticut. She has finished writing her dissertation and will earn the Ph.D. in 2014. Her dissertation is a cultural study of the U.S. South through a lens of Black sexualities. Specifically, she used qualitative research methods to examine the sociospatial experiences of Black lesbian and queer women who reside in small towns and rural spaces in North Carolina. Her scholarly interests are in Black geographies, feminist geographies, sexuality and space, and the Southern studies. Prior to pursuing the Ph.D., LaToya worked in student affairs. She is an alumna of North Carolina State University, earning B.A. degrees in English Language and Literature and Theatre, and Florida State University, earning a M.S. degree in Higher Education Administration. Outside of academia, LaToya enjoys road trips and family visits and is active in her sorority. Her favorite season is autumn because it means she can spend her weekends watching football.
Ken Foote,
I'm a professor of geography and department head at the University of Connecticut. I am interested in: landscape history and issues of public memory and commemoration; geographic information science and technologies; and learning and teaching geography in higher education, including instructional technology and issues of professional development for early career faculty. I have served as president of both the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers and have taught previously at the University of Texas at Austin and University of Colorado at Boulder. At the time I became a geography professor, I had had far more experience teaching music than geography and wish I had more time to perform early music on flute, recorder, and viola da gamba. My wife, Isobel Stevenson, and I have twin boys, Andrew and Douglas Stevenson, born in February 2003.
Courtney Gallaher,
I am an assistant professor at Northern Illinois University (NIU) with a joint appointment in Geography and Women Studies. I came to this position with an eclectic background earning degrees in Soil Science and French (B.S.), Crop and Soil Science (M.S.) and Geography (PhD) and a graduate specialization in Gender, Justice and Environmental Change. Within geography I consider myself to be a human-environment geographer, focusing broadly on human interactions with their food systems. My dissertation research studied the impacts of urban agriculture in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya looking at improvements in food security and livelihood strategies from urban farming as well as exposure to environmental contaminants. My current research examines urban agriculture in Malawi as an adaptive strategy to deal with the impacts of rapid urbanization and climate change. My research tends to draw heavily on mixed methods, combining qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups, etc.) with more quantitative measures (surveys, lab analyses). Since arriving at NIU, I have also been involved in an interdisciplinary project examining the relationship between gender and participation in STEM majors on campus. I teach courses in physical geography, environmental management, women in science, gender and globalization and feminist research methods.
Tim Garceau,
Tim Garceau is beginning his fourth year of the University of Connecticut Geography Ph.D. Program. He earned a B.A. in Geography with a minor in Community Planning from the University of New Hampshire then received his Masters in Urban & Regional Planning from the Eastern Washington University. Tim worked as a professional planner at both regional and municipal levels before returning to graduate school to pursue his Ph.D. His main interests are in urban geography, transportation-land use planning and urban morphology but he enjoys the diversity that the geography field offers and the opportunities to explore a wide range of topics. His dissertation research is in the realms of urban geography and transportation geography and focuses on travel behavior in the United States, specifically as it relates to recent reductions in driving across the country. Tim is excited about teaching and recently taught his first semester as a course instructor for two sections of “The City in the Western Tradition.” Between grad school and being a young father, Tim does not have a lot of time for his numerous hobbies but when he does get a chance, you will find him hiking or snowshoeing (with his daughter aboard in the backpack), mini-golfing, playing hockey or standing on frozen ponds in mid-winter hoping to catch a single fish.
Ricardo González,
Ricardo Gonzalez is an instructor at Florida International University (Miami, Fl). The courses he teaches include: Introduction to Geography, Cultural Geography, World Regional Geography, Geography of Latin America, Geography of the Caribbean, Geography of Europe, and Marine Geography. His research focuses on marine resource management and policy from a political ecology perspective. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Hawai'i."
Jonathan C. Hall,
I am a first year Assistant Professor in the Geography Department at West Virginia University. I have a Ph.D. in Ecology from Ohio State University. My research focus is species conservation in human-dominated landscapes. For the past seven years I’ve been studying human impacts on threatened mammal and critically endangered raptor species in Rajasthan, India. I am particularly interested in how the cultural tradition of the Bishnoi people have impacted the animals their belief system requires them to protect dating back to 1485. In addition to my research in India I am beginning work on human impacts on recovering populations of California condors, North America’s largest bird and one of the most endangered bird species in the world. One of my primary goals as a junior faculty member is to further my research program using GIS and spatial modeling. I consider the interdisciplinary nature of geography an excellent home for my research and teaching and I look forward to learning a lot during this year’s GFDA workshop.
James W. (“JW”) Harrington,
JW is Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus, where he has faculty appointments in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and Urban Studies. June 2014 will be his tenth year as a GFDA leader, a highlight of each year! An economic geographer, JW has taught, written, and researched regional economic development, international trade and retail geography, occupational attainment and workforce development. He served as department chair from 2000-05, spent three years representing the UW Faculty in Washington State legislative and educational policy matters, and is the immediate past chair of the UW Faculty Senate. He’s served as AAG Secretary and as executive director of the North American Regional Science Association, and spent three years directing the Geography and Regional Science Program (as it was called) at the National Science Foundation.
JW’s abiding interests are in organizational and leadership development, and his hobbies include cooking/entertaining and vocal music (as a trained baritone). He’s been very active in Unitarian-Universalist churches in Buffalo NY, Reston VA, and Seattle WA.
Colleen C. Hiner,
I am an assistant professor at Texas State University, located in San Marcos, TX. I earned my PhD in Geography from the University of California, Davis, in 2012. At Texas State, I teach courses in environmental management, cultural and political ecology, land management, and qualitative methods. I have previously also taught courses on introductory human geography, rural change, social inequality, and comparative ethnicity. My research is generally focused on social and environmental issues along the rural-urban interface, examining human-environment interactions and rural-urban linkages. I am currently working on several projects, including a study of wine in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. With that project, I am specifically looking at cultural and physical landscape change as related to the wine industry, inclusive of wine grape growing, wine production, and wine-related tourism. I am also a certified group exercise instructor teaching in a variety of formats (strength training, indoor cycling, yoga, etc.) and am an avid runner.
Christine Hladik,
Christine Hladik is an Assistant Professor of Geography in the Geology and Geography Department at Georgia Southern University. She is a marine scientist with interests in the remote sensing of wetlands, estuaries, and coastal waters; the use of remote sensing to monitor climate change impacts; and the use of multisensor data in ecological monitoring. Dr. Hladik’s research applies geospatial methods to map and monitor coastal habitats at the landscape scale. Using remote sensing data in combination with geographic information systems (GIS), she has developed salt marsh mapping techniques, salt marsh vegetation correction factors for enhancing LIDAR digital elevation models in marsh environments, and has developed multivariate predictive models for the classification of salt marsh vegetation based on remote sensing-derived landscape variables. Dr. Hladik holds a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of Georgia, an M.S. in Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences from Creighton University, and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Creighton University.