Department of Geography

College of Liberal Arts

California State University, Long Beach

News as of 01 February 2005

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Ms. Julienne Gard Gives a Talk at the LAGS This Friday

Ms. Julienne Gard, one of our graduate students, will be giving a talk to the Los Angeles Geographical Society entitled, "A Report on Graduate Research in Medical Geography." The talk will be held from 8-9 p.m., Friday, 4 February, at Franklin Hall Room 101, Los Angeles City College (855 North Vermont Avenue, just north of the 101. And, the LAGS' famous refreshments will be available after the talk. Directions can be found at http://www.lageographic.org/lecture_s/directions.htm.

Ms. Lisa Pitts Will Also Talk at the LAGS

Gregory Kee and one of our graduate students, Ms. Lisa Pitts, will also be giving a talk at the LAGS, this one on 1 April. It's entitled, "Geographers of the Future: Teaching Geography and GIS to K-12 Students."

Dr. Wechsler and Ms. Pitts Have an Article out

Dr. Suzanne P. Wechsler and Ms. Lisa A. Pitts published an article in the latest issue of The California Geographer. The article is "GIS in High School Integrates Geography with Technology: A Case Study." Congratulations!

The LAGS Will Showcase Student Research in May

The LAGS will hold its third annual Geography Student Research Papers and Posters Presentation on 6 May. Any geography student who has presented a paper, poster, or map to any professional society over the last year is invited to re-present it to the local audience. The last two have been quite impressive, and CSULB students were much in evidence. Let's do it again! For more information about this great event, please contact Ms. Julienne Gard, whose inspiration this showcase meeting is: jgard@csulb.edu.

Dr. Tyner Has Been Busy

Dr. Judith Tyner published "Stitching the World: Westtown School's Embroidered Globes," in Piecework Magazine (September/October 2004). She also presented a paper, "Staid in School and Worked on My Map: 19th Century Schoolgirl Maps," to the North American Cartographic Information Society conference in Portland, Maine, in October, 2004. She gave an additional presentation on the use of maps in murder mysteries, "Bloody Maps," to the California Map Society meeting at UCLA in January, 2005. Way to go!!

Dr. Del Casino Has Been Burning the Midnight Oil, too!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino is co-author of the following article: Hanna, S.P.; Del Casino, V.J., Jr.; Selden, C.; and Hite, B. 2004. "Representation as Work in `America's Most Historic City." Social and Cultural Geography. Additionally, he published a study guide, an instructor's manual, and a mapping workbook for the Prentice-Hall textbook, World Regions in Global Context, 2nd Edition by Sallie A. Marston. Outstanding!

Dr. Sidorov Receives CLA Collaborative Research Grant

The Department of Geography is proud to announce that Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov and two colleagues from two other departments (Dr. Vlatka Velcic of Comparative Literatures and Classics and Dr. Caitlin Murdock of History) have received one of only three College of Liberal Arts Collaborative Research grants. The CLA Collaborative Research program is a new initiative, designed to promote interdepartmental collaboration involving three departments. The lead faculty design research projects that involve student researchers and draw on all three disciplines and then create a cross-disciplinary year-long course for participating students. Dr. Sidorov's and his colleagues' project is entitled, ""Evolving Borderlands: Frontiers, Borders, and Boundaries in (post)-Soviet Eastern Europe." Many congratulations to Dr. Sidorov and his team for their success!

Ms. Julienne Gard Appears in the L.A. Times

Ms. Julienne Gard, a graduate student, published a short commentary in the Los Angeles Times on the passing of jazz great Artie Shaw, in which she related an amusing anecdote about a backstage visit she had with him back in 1998. She had been a swing music radio host in L.A. at the time (a side of Ms. Gard she has kept hidden from us!). He complained about how the Wiltern Theatre concert he'd just given had mussed up his nightly habit of reading in bed but then added, "But it's a good business if you have to pick one." The commentary appeared on 2 January 2005 on p. B12, and you should be able to read it for a few days yet here.

Dr. James Curtis in Hospital

Dr. James Curtis gave himself (and the rest of us) a real scare the week before finals when he had a mild heart attack. He was quite relieved to learn that only one of his coronary arteries had been partially obstructed, which meant that a balloon angioplasty and stent were able to take care of the problem. He is doing much better and is back in the classroom already. He said thanks to everyone who pitched in and helped him take care of his classes!

Dr. Denis Cosgrove Delivers Geography Awareness Week Keynote Address

Dr. Denis Cosgrove, the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Geography at UCLA, delivered the National Geography Awareness Week keynote address on this year's thematic subfield, cultural geography. He presented "Culture and Landscape: The Representation of Southern California" on Tuesday, 16 November, to a packed Multicultural Center. Many thanks to him for this thoughtful and reminiscent reflection on the construction of the California suburb as one of America's iconic landscapes. Many thanks also to Dr. Jim Curtis for arranging this lecture.

Dr. David Hornbeck Gives GIS Day Lecture

Dr. David Hornbeck, Professor Emeritus of Geography at CSU Northridge and a consultant in applied geography and GIS, is giving the GIS Day lecture on Wednesday, 17 November. He will present "The Imperial Valley: California's Next Urban Frontier?" at 6 p.m. in LA4-100. Thanks to Dr. Chrys Rodrigue for arranging this address.

Mr. Joel Rojas Gives Jobs in Geography Lecture

Mr. Joel Rojas, Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, City of Rancho Palos Verdes, is the "Jobs in Geography" speaker for Geography Awareness Week. He will discuss "Geography and Urban Planning Careers in Southern California" on Thursday, 18 November, at 6 p.m. in LA4-100. Thanks to Dr. Paul Laris for arranging this talk.

Second Annual Geography Photography Contest

The Second Annual Geography Photography Contest is in full swing as part of the celebration of National Geography Awareness Week. Several dozen entries have been submitted in seven different categories. Voting is open to all (ballots are on the wall near the display boards, and go into the ballot box in the front office in LA4-106) until Thursday at 6 p.m. Winners and prizes will be announced on Friday at the Geography Awareness Week luncheon in the Chartroom at noon (RSVP to Ms. Lisa Mikhail, lmikhail@csulb.edu or (562) 985-4977). Thanks to Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov for putting together this exciting contest and getting so many people to submit so many gorgeous images. And thanks to all the contestants!! And to all of you staring at these photographs, it is time to (as Mr. Justin Rodríguez put it) "Rock the Vote" already!!!

Mr. Ludwig and Dr. Del Casino Make International Education Week Presentations

Mr. Noel Ludwig made a presentation on international water resource issues for International Education Week, which coïncided with Geography Awareness Week this year. His panel presentation was on Tuesday, 16 November in the Anatol Center in the East Library. The panel addressed "The Global Struggle Over Water Resources: Farm, Home and Environment." The Chair and Discussant was Namika Raby (Anthropology, who also teaches GEOG 319i), and the panelists were: Robert Friis (Health Science); Noel Ludwig (Geography); Ramses Toma (Family & Consumer Sciences).

Dr. Vincent Del Casino is serving on a panel entitled, "International Issues in HIV/AIDS," which is on Wednesday, 17 November in the Anatol Center in the East Library, The panel consists of Dennis Fisher (Behavioral Research & Services/ Psychology); Vinnie Del Casino, (Geography): Kevin Malotte (Health Sciences); Carol Itatani (Biological Sciences); Carole Campbell (Sociology).

Thank you, Mr. Ludwig and Dr. Del Casino, for making sure that Geography was represented in International Education Week! The rest of the International Education Week program can be found by clicking here.

Geography @ The Beach Delegation to SCCUR

Two Geography students will be presenting the research they did during the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project in summer 2004 at the prestigious Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research:

Mr. Terry Lumati, now a Geography major, is the first and presenting author of "The Use of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) in Managing Natural Habitats in the South Coast Wilderness." Co-authors are fellow GDEP participants Messrs. Carlos Takashima (El Camino College) and Simeon Haynes (Cabrillo High School). His faculty mentor is Dr. Suzanne P. Wechsler.

Mr. Aziz Bakkoury, graduate student in Geography and graduate assistant in GDEP, is the third author of "Producing a Vegetation/Habitat Map of the South Coast Wilderness" with Mr. Carlos Takashima (El Camino College)and Dr. Christopher Lee. Mr. Takashima's faculty mentor was Dr. Stephen R. Koletty of El Camino College, who also participated in GDEP in summer of 2004.

Dr. Jocoy Makes the First Brown-Bag Presentation

Dr. Christine Jocoy made the first Brown Bag Talk on Friday, 12 November. The title of her talk was "Social and spatial contexts of corporate learning: A geographic perspective on regional economic development."

Alumna Written up in Press-Telegram

Ms. Sharon Johnson, one of our alumni, was spotted in the "Reader Page" of the Long Beach Press-Telegram on 8 November by Mr. James Woods. The article, entitled, "College official inspires students," describes her work as the director of the Learning Center at Marymount College in Palos Verdes, where she supervises tutoring services and serves as an assistant professor of physical geography. She has been awarded an Educator of the Year Award by the local chapters of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. Way to GO!!

Dr. Rodrigue off to Brussels

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue was flown to Brussels, Belgium, in late October by the Education Commission Working Group of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine to give a talk and help in the rewriting of education and training standards for the new discipline of disaster medicine. The title of her talk was "Hazard vulnerability, media construction of disaster, and risk management."

Ms. Julienne Gard Gives an Invited Talk in Dr. Ray Sumner's Class

Ms. Julienne Gard, graduate student in geography, gave an invited lecture, entitled "Lakewood as Levittown" to Dr. Ray Sumner's Urban Scene class. Dr. Sumner reports that the talk was very informative and generated a lot of interest

Long Beach Delegation to the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

Drs. Vincent Del Casino and Ray Sumner travelled to San Luis Obispo in September to participate in the APCG annual meeting. Dr. Del Casino gave a paper, "Rethinking regions and regionalization in the context of world regional geography," and chaired a session on "Theorizing and Teaching the Region." Dr. Sumner gave a paper she co-authored with Professor Joan Clemmons, "Tom Down Under: McKnight's relationship with the Fifth Continent," a tribute to the late Dr. Tom McKnight. She also chaired a session, "Historical Geography and Evolving Cultural Landscapes."

Dr. Sumner Takes on New Rôles in the Discipline

Dr. Ray Sumner was recently invited to join the Association of American Geographer's Committee on College Geography, her appointment beginning 1 July 2004. She is also a member of the AAG Diversity Task Force and participated in a tele-meeting as part of the 2004 Conference on Race/Ethnicity and Place, Washington, DC, Sept 16-18. Congratulations on these honors!

GDEP Concludes

Drs. Suzanne Wechsler, Chris Lee,'s and Chrys Rodrigue spent eight weeks this summer hosting projects for the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program here at CSULB. GDEP provides summer research assistantships for underrepresented students from five local community colleges and five LBUSD high schools, who work with CSULB faculty in Geography, Geological Sciences, and Anthropology and faculty from the partner institutions. The Geography projects this year focussed on using SPOT satellite imagery to classify the vegetation in the South Coast Wilderness and track habitats most susceptible to exotic invasive plant species. The Geography projects also included a field test of the elevation accuracy of digital elevation models and parameters derived from them, such as slope and aspect. The Geography student researchers (aka the "Geographists") were Messrs. Simeon Haynes (Cabrillo High School), Terry Lumati (Long Beach City College and starting at CSULB this fall), and Carlos Takashima (El Camino College). Their work was showcased in a GDEP symposium on 6 August. GDEP was the subject of a Long Beach Press Telegram article that day and a press release from Cerritos College. To learn more about GDEP, visit its home page: https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geography/gdep/.

Dr. Wechsler's Work Is Cited

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler's work on the issue of uncertainty in digital elevation modeling was extensively discussed in a forthcoming article by A. Wiyadati et al., "Uncertainty and effects of resolutions of digital elevation model and its derived features: Case study of Sumberjaya, Sumatera, Indonesia." Unlocally notorious!

Dr. Del Casino's Study Guide Comes out

Dr. Vincent Del Casino's instructor's manual for a popular world regional geography textbook (Marston, Knox, and Liverman. World Regions in Global Context: Peoples, Places, and Environments, 2nd ed.) is out, with an official publication date of 2005 from Prentice-Hall. Congratulations!

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue off to Two Conferences

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue went to two conferences to present papers. The first of these was the NASA/Universities Space Research Association sponsored Earth System Science Education for the 21st Century (ESSE21), held in Monterey June 28th-30th. Representing the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project team, she presented a poster entitled, "GDEP (Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program): An NSF-OEDG Program Emphasizing Interdisciplinary Earth System Science Research." The second conference was the invitation-only 29th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Boulder, Colorado, from the 11th-14th of July. There she presented "Disaster by Management: Managerialism and Normal Accident Theory in the Columbia Accident and FBI Headquarters' Response to Field Office Concerns before 9/11" and hosted the "First-Timers' Orientation" to the Workshop.

Dr. Jocoy off to Workshop

Dr. Christy Jocoy has been accepted into the "Spatial Analysis and GIS for Undergraduate Course Enhancement in the Social Sciences" workshop at San Diego State University in coöperation with the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) and sponsored by the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. It is August 2nd-6th, 2004.

Dr. Wechsler Has a New Article out

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler has just had her research on user perceptions of uncertainty in digital elevation models published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association. Congratulations!!!

Dr. Del Casino Receives the First Glenda Laws Award

Dr. Vincent Del Casino has just been selected as the first recipient of the Glenda Laws Award for activist-scholarship in geography. The Glenda Laws Award of the Association of American Geographers was bestowed at the 2004 AAG Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. This award is administered by the Association of American Geographers and endorsed by members of the Institute of Australian Geographers, the Canadian Association of Geographers, and the Institute of British Geographers. The annual award and honorarium recognize outstanding contributions to geographic research on social issues. This award is named in memory of Glenda Laws, a geographer who brought energy and enthusiasm to her work on issues of social justice and social policy. All scholars involved in geographic research on one or more social issues will be eligible for this award, with preference given to researchers who have received their Ph.D. within the last five years. Dr. Del Casino was nominated by Drs. Chrys Rodrigue and Dennis Fisher (Department of Psychology and Director of the Center for Behavioral Research and Services) and Dr. Katherine Gibson of Australian National University and Dr. John Paul Jones III of the University of Arizona wrote letters of support. CONGRATULATIONS, Dr. Del Casino, for all your hard work, which led to this internationally prestigious honor.

Drs. Del Casino's and Fisher's Grant Profiled on My.CSULB!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino and Dr. Dennis Fisher (Psychology) won a $341,221 grant for the the CSULB Center for Behavioral Research and Services from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant funds a project aimed at reducing HIV risk through interventions aimed at reducing the use of club drugs at mini-raves in the Long Beach area. The project is profiled on the My.CSULB home page, http://my.csulb.edu/! You can read the full story by clicking here.

Dr. Rodrigue's Latest Article Cited

The Natural Hazards Research and Appliations Information Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, assembled a peer-reviewed volume of twenty studies from the hazards research community on the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, a volume that includes an article by Dr. Chrys Rodrigue. The volume was reviewed in the Hazards Center's Natural Hazards Observer, where it was stated, "Based on findings from these studies, the book includes numerous conclusions and recommendations for the improvement of public policy and disaster response." Dr. Rodrigue was pleased to see that four of these are specifically called out, and her paper's conclusion was one of these: "More media attention to the broader political, social, religious, and other aspects of September 11 and similar disasters could help Americans better understand the terrorism risk and the consequences of preventative actions the country might take." The review is available online here.

Dr. Del Casino's Latest Article

Dr. Vincent Del Casino has a new publication out, the first article out of this department for 2004. The reference is Del Casino, V.J., Jr.. 2004. (Re)placing health and health care: Mapping the competing discourses and practices of `traditional' and `modern' Thai medicine. Health and Place 10, 1: 59-73.

Dr. Sidorov Has a New Article in Print

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov has a new publication out, this one in a premier German geography journal. The reference is Sidorof, Dimitrij. 2003. Raum für Religion? Die neue alte Rolle der Russisch Orthodoxen Kirche. Geographische Rundschau 54, 12, the title of which translates roughly as "Space for religion: The new old rôle of the Russian Orthodox Church."

Dr. Wechsler Receives an NSF Grant!

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler just found out that a grant proposal she submitted as a Co-PI to NSF last February, along with Tom Meixner and Edith Allen of UC Riverside, Michael Goulden of UC Irvine, and M.E. Fenn of the U.S. Forest Servicehas been funded! The proposal is entitled, "SGER: Post-Fire Hydrology, Biogeochemistry, and Vegetation Response," and deals with the San Dimas Experimental Forest, which was burned out in 2002. Way to go!!!

Dr. Wechsler Part of a Team Honored by URISA

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler has been serving as part of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) Committee on GIS Certification. The URISA Board of Directors honored the Committee with its Service Award this October. A thankless task gets ... thanked!

Internship Web Page

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler would like to remind students and faculty to visit the Geography Internship web page, which has been redesigned and is being updated very frequently. There is always a list of new jobs available to students and the current speaker coming up in the "Jobs in Geography" lecture series.

[ Jobs ] [ Talks ] [ Changes ] [ Conferences ]

 

Jobs

Part-Time Lecturing at CSULB

The Department of Geography at CSULB may have part-time lectureships available for Spring 2005, though the State fiscal crisis will negatively impact the number of courses the Department has to offer. For more information on the positions and the application process, please click here.

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Lectures and Field Trips

Graduate Student Thesis Proposal Defenses

Three graduate students gave presentations of their thesis proposals on Friday, 30 April, as part of their application for advancement to candidacy for the Master of Arts degree in Geography.

• Mr. Travis Brooks, "Processes that shape the distributional pattern of native perennial grasses (bunchgrass) in central Orange County, California."
• Ms. Seri McClendon, "Analysis of industrial ecology, cradle-to- cradle principles, and an alternative packaging delivery system (APDS)."
• Ms. Sarah Powers, "Vulnerability to toxic dust pollution in the Owens Valley, California."

[ Jobs ] [ Talks ] [ Changes ] [ Conferences ]

 

Changes among the Faculty

New Faculty Member!

Dr. Christine L. Jocoy begins teaching in Fall 2004. She earned her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 2004, specializing in economic geography, urban geography, globalization, and regional restructuring. She has a particular interest in the application of learning theory in corporate decision-making contexts, especially in their locational decision-making, which has tremendous ramifications for regional urban political economies. You can learn more about her by clicking here! Welcome aboard!

Departing Faculty Members

Dr. David Porinchu began teaching in Fall 2003. He earned his Ph.D. from UCLA in 2002 and specializes in palæoclimatology, or the reconstruction of past climates and environments. He has mainly specialized in the interpretation of lake sediments as records of past environmental conditions, and his study area is the eastern Sierra Nevada. He is also moving into the area of dendroclimatology, which entails the analysis of cores removed from trees. He's been gone in the spring to take up a postdoctoral fellowship in Canada to work in dendroclimatology. Very unfortunately for us, he has accepted a position at Ohio State and will be leaving in August 2004. He can be reached at porinchu.1@osu.edu.

Dr. Unna Lassiter began teaching for us part-time in Fall 2000 and then was appointed visiting assistant professor as a full-time replacement for Dr. Richard Outwater while he worked as CSULB's Associate Vice President for Academic Information Technology and Facilities. She earned her Ph.D. from USC in 2000 and specializes in cultural geography and urban geography. She has done work on the social representation of nature, particularly human ties with animals, among the different ethnic groups of Southern California. More recently, her work has begun to move into political and social geography, particularly focussing on the study of migration and the formation of expatriate communities in the context of globalization. She has published a number of articles and reviews while here at CSULB, and that record has led to an offer of a tenure-track position in the Department of Political Science and Geography at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. Congratulations! Dr. Lassiter can be reached at lassiterui@sfasu.edu.

Graduate Advisor

Dr. Christopher Lee is the graduate advisor. His office is in LA4-205, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-2358 and clee@csulb.edu.

Undergraduate Advisor

Dr. Paul Laris is the undergraduate advisor. His office is in LA4-101E, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-1862 and plaris@csulb.edu.

Internship and Extension GIS Certificate Program Director

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler is the Director of the Internship Program and the GIS/Cartography Certificate Program run through University College Extension Services. Her office is in LA4-206E, and she can also be reached at (562) 985-2356 and wechsler@csulb.edu.

[ Jobs ] [ Talks ] [ Changes ] [ Conferences ]

 

Upcoming Conferences and Calls for Papers (by month of conference)

November 2004

Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Education

SCCUR will meet at Whittier College on November 20th. For more information, please visit http://web.whittier.edu/sccur2004/.

December 2004

American Geophysical Union

The AGU will be meeting in San Francisco from the 13th-17th of December. The call for papers is available at http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm04/.

April 2005

Association of American Geographers

The AAG will be meeting in Denver from April 5th-9th. The call for papers is available at http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/call_For_Papers/call_for_papers1.html.

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Have Any News Items You Want to Share?

This news page is for everyone in the Department -- students, faculty, staff, and alumni. If you would like to tell folks about your accomplishments or notify us of something you think we'd like to know about, please contact Dr. Rodrigue (rodrigue@csulb.edu) or LA4 206D and she'll get your news up here.

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