Department of Geography

College of Liberal Arts

California State University, Long Beach

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News as of 28 February 2002

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

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Willkommen! Welcome!

: Willkommen zu unseren Gästen von Österreich! (welcome to our guests from Austria!) Dr. Frank Gossette is conducting a unique International Coöperation in GIS course this semester (Geography 494-01), in which seven students from Salzburg, Austria, are visiting with their colleagues here in Long Beach to collaborate on a GIS project on behalf of a local community service organization. They are arriving now and will spend three weeks here. At the end of the semester, the Long Beach students will go to Salzburg to visit their Austrian colleagues and do the same kind of collaborative project for an Austrian community service organization!

Dr. Rodrigue Has a New Article out

: Dr. Chrys Rodrigue has a new article out: "Patterns of Media Coverage of the Terrorist Attacks on the United States in September of 2001," in Quick Response Report 146 (2002). You can get to it by clicking here.

Prof. Noel Ludwig Appears in the Long Beach Press Telegram!

: Prof. Noel Ludwig is quoted in a front page article in the Long Beach Press Telegram on Wednesday, 20 February! The article, by Paul Young, is entitled, "Rainy Season Comes up Dry." You can read it by clicking here. Way to go! (and thanks to Dr. Noel Ludwig for spotting this story!)

Dr. Rodrigue Is Awarded a Sabbatical Leave

: Dr. Chrys Rodrigue has recently learned that the University has granted her a sabbatical leave for Fall 2002 to pursue her research interests in media representation of hazards. Specifically, she will work on two projects, "Environmental Controversy around Mars Sample Return Mission" and "Hazard Literature and Events of 9/11/01."

Guest Lecture on Place and Space in a Socialist City

: Ms. Joan Hackeling gave a guest presentation on Wednesday, the 13th of February, entitled, "Mobilizing Place in a Socialist City: The Case of Rostock in the 1980s."

Guest Lecture on the Environmental History of Central America

: Dr. Robert Dull gave a talk on Monday, the 11th of February, discussing the research he has done in El Salvador and Nicaragua, using palaeoenvironmental data to reconstruct the history of landscape alteration in Central America over the last 8,000 years.

Dr. Stephen R. Koletty Has An Article out!

: Dr. Stephen Koletty's article, "The Samoan Archipelago in Urban America" has just appeared in the book, Geographical Identities of Ethnic America: Race, Space, and Place, edited by Kate A. Berry and Martha L. Henderson (University of Nevada Press, December 2001). The book is already available at Amazon or you can order it from http://www.nvbooks.nevada.edu.

Dr. Judith Tyner

: Dr. Judith Tyner's article, "Whither Cartography?" has just come out in the in the winter 2001 issue of Cartographic Perspectives. Not only that, she has also been nominated for vice-chair of the Cartography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. She has also been invited to give a talk to the Orange County Sampler Guild on the subject of "American Map Samplers," this on the 25th of February.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino Has Still Another Publication out!

: Dr. Vincent Del Casino has an article out in the American Geographical Society's special issue on Doing Fieldwork! The article is entitled, "Decision-Making in an Ethnographic Context," and it appears in this special double issue of Geographical Review 91, 1/2 (January and April 2001), on pp. 454-462.

Dr. James Curtis Receives a SCAC Award!

: Dr. James Curtis was selected to receive a University Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee Award (SCAC)! This honor confers a summer stipend for Summer 2002, which will enable him to conduct field research in Mexico. Congratulations on this recognition and support!

Dr. Terence Young Is Published in Planning Perspectives!

: Dr. Terence Young has an article out in Planning Perspectives in Vol. 16, No. 4. The article is entitled, "Moral Order, Language, and the Failure of the 1930 Recreation Plan for Los Angeles County" and is found on pp. 333-356.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino Has Yet Another Publication out!

: Dr. Vincent Del Casino reports that his latest article, "Enabling Geographies? Non-Governmental Organizations and the Empowerment of People Living with HIV and AIDS," has just come out in Disability Studies Quarterly 21, 4 (Fall): 19-29. It is also conveniently available here.

Prof. James Woods Gets Famouser

: Mr. James Woods just stumbled into a republication of his map, "Number of Times the Land Has Burned," in John O'Looney's Beyond Maps: GIS and Decision Making in Local Government (ESRI Press, 2000), p. 161!!! This was brought to his attention by Mr. Shaun Healy, grad student and RESAC employee, who received the book for FREE when he joined URISA.

Dr. Terence Young Finds Himself in Print Yet Again!

: Dr. Terence Young has an article out in the Association of American Geographers' flagship journal, the Annals. The article is entitled, "Place Matters," and is found in Vol. 91, No. 4, on pp. 668-669.

Ms. Lisa Mikhail Hits the President's Honor List

: The Geography ASC, Ms. Lisa Mikhail just received notification that she is on the President's Honor List for Spring 2001. Congratulations on this quite rare distinction!

Prof. Kris Jones

: Mr. Kris Jones has been elected President of the Los Angeles Geographical Society. Congratulations! The LAGS is a public outreach organization that goes back over 50 years. It hosts a series of Friday evening travelogue and popular geography talks once a month at Los Angeles City College.

Dr. Judith Tyner Elected to the Society of Woman Geographers

: Dr. Judith Tyner has just been elected to the Society of Woman Geographers as an Active Member! Previous members include Margaret Meade and Amelia Earheart, and astronaut Katherine Sullivan is a member, too! "The Society brings together women 'explorers at heart' whose work has involved extensive travel in the investigations of little-known or unique places, peoples or things in the world." Congratulations!!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino Gives a Guest Lecture at UCLA

: Dr. Vincent Del Casino has been invited to make a guest lecture at the UCLA Department of Geography's Colloquium. He presented "Making Space for Organic Intellectuals: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis of Non-Governmental AIDS Activism in Thailand" on Friday, 16 November.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue Was Sent off to New York

: The National Science Foundation flew Dr. Chrys Rodrigue to New York City to participate in New York University's Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems workshop on the World Trade Center and the events of 9/11. The purpose of the two-day workshop was to bring together researchers with the government officials engaged in WTC site restoration and recovery activities.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino Presented a Paper in Kentucky

: Dr. Vincent Del Casino went to Lexington, KY, to present a paper entitled, "Social Protest, Spatial Praxis, and the Teaching of Radical Geography in World History," to the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers meeting during the week of 19 November.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue Makes a Presentation to a NASA Teleconference

: Dr. Chrys Rodrigue was invited by Jet Propulsion Lab to make a presentation to a NASA teleconference on the 27th of November. The telecon brought together participants from JPL, NASA Headquarters, Ames Research Center, and Johnson Space Center. Dr. Rodrigue's talk was entitled, "Representation of Risk in the Space Program: The Internet and the Social Amplification of Risk."

The Away Team

The Department is very much interested in initiating and deepening contacts with local community colleges, high schools, and elementary schools to promote the discipline of geography in general and the Department of Geography at CSULB in particular. We now have an "Away Team" (someone's been watching too much "Star Trek"?). Here are some of the Away Team's activities:

: Drs. Terence Young and Chrys Rodrigue facilitated a discussion of the "Five Themes of Geography" among Ms. Jamie Vallianos-Healy's fourth graders at Tincher Preparatory School (on Atherton at Petaluma east of campus). This visit was part of Ms. Vallianos-Healy's National Geography Awareness Week program for her very well-prepared class. Check out the reports the kids did about what they learned -- they're in a blue folder on the front counter of the department office! Earlier in the week, the Tincher fourth graders visited CSULB to watch Prof. Noel Ludwig give a demonstration of the flume, which simulates thousands of years of river and floodplain development in minutes. A very good time was had by all!
: Drs. Chrys Rodrigue and Suzanne Wechsler are Co-PIs on the GeoScience Diversity Enhancement Program (G-DEP) at CSULB, together with five geologists and an archæologist. Faculty Associates include Dr. Christopher Lee, as well as a science educator and psychologist-assessor. This three year NSF-funded project will support joint geoscience research projects by the CSULB team and collaborating faculty from several local community colleges and high schools, which will involve outstanding under- represented minority students.

GeoDiversity Grant is the Lead Article in the Daily 49er!

: Drs. Suzanne Wechsler and Chrys Rodrigue are delighted to report that the GeoDiversity grant was the lead article on the front page of the Daily 49er on Wednesday, 24 October! Drs. Wechsler and Rodrigue are Co-PIs on this $852,000 grant, together with six other Co-PIs in the Geology and Anthropology departments and three faculty associates, including Dr. Chris Lee. This grant funds an innovative collaboration among the CSULB faculty and faculty and students in local community colleges and high schools, in order to increase interest in the various geoscience disciplines on the part of underrepresented, urban students by involving them in field- and lab- based projects with the various faculty collaborators. You can read the article online by clicking here. You can also learn more about the "G-DEP" program by visiting its home page.

Local Golden Key Chapter Wins International Award

: Dr. Suzanne Wechsler was startled and gratified to receive a press release from the Golden Key International Honor Society, concerning the Long Beach chapter of which she is the Chapter Advisor. The International awarded the Long Beach chapter "The Most Improved Chapter Award." This award is presented to chapters that have been active for more than one full academic year and have most drastically improved their leadership and involvement in Golden Key. The Department is very proud to see Dr. Wechsler's hard work culminate in this kind of recognition for the chapter she advises. Golden Key is a non-profit, international academic honors organization that provides academic recognition, leadership opportunities, career networking, community service, and scholarships. Membership into the Society is by invitation only to the top 15 percent of juniors and seniors in all fields of study. To learn more, please contact Dr. Wechsler.

Internationalization of the Curriculum Award

: The Department is delighted to announce that Dr. James R. Curtis has received an "Internationalization of the Curriculum Award" for his new course proposal, Geography 468/568, "Geography of World Cities." This is a very prestigious award granted by the CSULB Center for International Education. Congratulations! A formal reception for awardees will be held on the 24th of October, from 4-5:30 pm, in the Alamitos Bay Rooms (President's Rooms) of the University Student Union. RSVPs may be directed to Ms. Linda Olson-Levy at 5-8440.

Check Out the Alumni News Page!

: Alumni have been responding to the Geography Department Newsletter that Dr. Ed Karabenick put together. As reports come in, they'll be shared on the brand-new alumni news page.
Please send in those newsletter surveys or e-mail us to let us know what you've been up to, and we'll be happy to share your news with the entire CSULB Geography community.

Major NSF Grant Award!

: Drs. Rodrigue and Wechsler and their collaborators in geology, archaeology, and science education recently learned that their $852,000 grant proposal to the National Science Foundation has been selected for funding! For more details, click here.

Sigma Xi

: Dr. Rodrigue was inducted into the local chapter of Sigma Xi, the science research honor society, on 15 May 2001. She joins Dr. Suzanne Wechsler, who was inducted in Syracuse back in 1996 and affiliated with the CSULB chapter last spring; Dr. Irisita Azary, who was inducted in 1998; and Dr. Chris Lee, who was inducted at Dominguez Hills. Dr. Azary mentioned that one of our graduates, Mr. Larry Harlan (M.A., 2000), is also an associate member at Dr. Azary's nomination!

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.

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Jobs

Part-Time Lecturing at CSULB

: The Department of Geography at CSULB is offering part-time lectureships for Spring 2002. For more information on the positions and the application process, please click here.

Position Available at San Juan College

San Juan College in Farmington, NM, is hiring a full-time geology/geography instructor. They require a master's degree in a related area and three years teaching experience in a secondary or post-secondary institution and give preference to those with community college experience. To apply, send a San Juan College application, letter of intent, résumé, college transcripts, and three letters of reference to:

San Juan College Personnel Office
4601 College Blvd.
Farmington, NM 87402

You can learn more from their Human Resources office at:

(505) 566-3215 (fax -3521)

or visit their web page at: http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us

The position is described at: http://www.sjc.cc.nm.us/hr/employ/positions.html.

The deadline for application is 28 February 2002!!!

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Lectures and Field Trips

Guest Lecture on the Representation of the US/Mexico Border and Immigrant Identities

: Dr. Susan Mains gave a guest presentation Wednesday, the 27th of February. Her work focusses on contested borders and how various aspects of identity are shaped and constrained by the existence of the border and the agencies enforcing it or organizing around it.

Guest Lecture on National Monumentalization and the Politics of Scale

: Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a guest presentation Monday, the 25th of February, on the resurrections of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He traced the ties between national monumentalization (the cathedral historically in Russia, the Palace of the Soviets, the municipal pool, and the Ostankino TV Tower, and the virtually instant reincarnation of the cathedral amid mayoral election politics), the different meanings of monumental space in the history of Russia, and the civic-scale politics of Moscow.

Guest Lecture on Environmental Globalization

: Mr. Nate Currit gave a guest presentation on Wednesday, the 20th of February, on environmental globalization, focussing on land use and land cover changes in the northern Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, Mexico, driven by maquiladoras. His theme was local environmental changes induced by global economic restructuring.

Guest Lecture on Vegetation Firing in West Africa

: Dr. Paul Laris gave a guest presentation on Monday, the 18th of February, on savanna and woodland firing practices in West Africa, examining their seasonal timing and the reasons people set fires. His work coupled the qualitative methods of one-on-one interviews of farmers, herders, and hunters in Mali with remote sensing imagery.

Los Angeles Geographical Society

The Los Angeles Geographical Society is a half century old geographical outreach society, which hosts free public lectures, generally on the first Friday of every month during the academic year (from September through May). The talks are held at L.A. City College, 855 N. Vermont Ave., in Los Angeles just north of the 101 Freeway. They always begin at 8 pm and usually end at 9 pm, after which free refreshments are served and the audience has a chance to meet with the speaker socially. The organization is also famous for organizing some spectacular field trips, both locally and to exotic locales abroad. Our own Kris Jones has just been elected president! There are three lectures remaining in this year's program:

"Outward Bound Adventures, Inc.," by Chuck Thomas of the Wildlands Conservancy (1 March)
"US-Australia Connections," by Ray Sumner from Long Beach City College (5 April)
"West Africa," by Matt Ebiner from El Camino City College (10 May)

Dr. Glen Norcliffe

: The Department was pleased to host Dr. Glen Norcliffe on the 6th of December. He graciously agreed to make a presentation on his research on industrial restructuring and the cultural production industry of such importance to Southern California. His talk was entitled, "New Geographies of Cultural Production: The Case of the Comic Book Industry," and was given on the 6th of December in Prof. Doug Behrens's Geography of California class). This event was sponsored by the Department of Geography and the Geography Internship Program's "Jobs in Geography" colloquium series.

Ms. Jennifer Price

: On the 1st of December, Ms. Jennifer Price led a field trip with the theme, "Greening the Lower Los Angeles River." This talk was organized by Dr. Terence Young and sponsored by the Geography Department Internship Program.

National Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day Events!

The Return to Charmlee Park

On the 3rd of November, Dr. Chrys Rodrigue took her Geography 442 (Biogeography) students out to Charmlee Park in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Malibu for an all-day working field trip. The students viewed four distinctive vegetation associations there and did several field projects, including transect sampling of vegetation, lichen field mapping, and using a floristic key to identify species.

Dr. Paul Von Blum

Dr. Paul Von Blum, Lecturer, Department of History at UCLA, spoke to the Geography Internship Program's about "Mexican and Chicano Murals: Public Space and Political Art?" on Monday, 12 November, 2001.

Ms. Camille Kirk

Camille Kirk, who is a researcher and principal in Context Research and Mapping, spoke on "Bringing the Geographer's Perspective to Practice and Policy" at the "Jobs in Geography" symposium. Ms. Kirk's talk was sponsored by the Geography Internship Program, about which you can learn more from Dr. Suzanne Wechsler.

Dr. Stephanie Pincetl

The Department of Geography and its Internship Program were delighted to sponsor a lecture on "Democracy and Local Control -- How Cities Are Governed!" by Dr. Stephanie Pincetl. Dr. Pincetl is Research Associate Professor of Geography; Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Policy, Planning, and Development; and Program Coördinator for the Sustainable Cities Program at USC. Her presentation was held on Monday, 22 October 2001.

Dr. Robin T. Lee and Ms. Veronica Lopez

The Internship Program of the Department of Geography was proud to sponsor another lecture in the "Jobs in Geography" series. Dr. Robin T. Lee (Coördinator, Coöperative Education) and Ms. Veronica Lopez (Graduate Assistant) will present "Résumé Review, Interview Techniques, and How to Make the Most of Your Internship!" The presentation was held on Monday, 22 October 2001.

Understanding September 11

Dr. Vinnie Del Casino, together with several colleagues in several departments, put together a teach-in on the horrifying events of the 11th of September. The teach-in took place Wednesday, 10 October, 1-4 p.m. at the Speakers' Platform and was heavily attended (at least 1800 people took questionnaires with them). Dr. Del Casino led off as the first of the the featured speakers.
This event was organized by an ad hoc committee of the College of Liberal Arts Faculty Council, with thanks to Dr. Dee Abrahamse, Dean of CLA. Extra thanks to the Women's Studies Student Association and "the Clothesline Project" for sharing the speakers' platform space for this event. Co-sponsors include the History Students Association and the Spanish Club.
Ian Hanigan of the Long Beach Press-Telegram wrote a story entitled, "CSULB Holds Terror Forum," which ran in the Thursday, 11 October 2001 edition, on p. A4. The story reported on this three hour teach-in on the events of 11 September 2001, and our own Dr. Vincent Del Casino is quoted in the report! For more information, please click here.

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Changes among the Faculty

New Undergraduate Advisor!

Dr. Molly Debysingh will be handing over the position of Undergraduate Advisor upon her retirement in January 2002. The new undergraduate advisor will be Dr. Frank Gossette, whose office is in LA4-206A, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-7808 and gossette@csulb.edu. He holds office hours by appointment just for undergraduate advising from 11-2 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. To set up a visit, please contact Lisa Mikhail at (562) 985-4977.

Graduate Advisor

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue is serving as Graduate Advisor during 2001-02. Her office is in LA4-105, and she can also be reached at (562) 985-4895 and rodrigue@csulb.edu. She has drop-in office hours from 5-6 pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and can arrange to see grad students or prospective grad students at other times by appointment.

Internship Director

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler is the Director of the Internship Program. Her office is in LA4-206E, and she can also be reached at (562) 985-2356 and wechsler@csulb.edu.

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Social Events

Grad Student and Faculty Get-Together

There was a graduate student and faculty kick off get-together this weekend in Long Beach at E.J. Malloy's. Spotted enjoying the spectacular food and a lovely place were grad students Tim Anhorn, Samantha Antcliffe, Azis Bakkoury, Greg Bartleson, Gigi Burns, Thomas Ellrott, Debbie Hann, Shawn Healy (and guest), Daniel Hofer, Michael McDaniel, Keith Miller, Kathy Moriarty, Steve Newberg (and guest), Sarah Powers, Erin Stockenberg, Robert Neumann, and Lisa Pitts, as well as faculty members Molly Tyner, Richard Tyner, Vincent Tyner, Jim C. Tyner (and guest), Frank Tyner, Chrys Tyner, Terry Tyner (and guest), Kris Tyner, Jim W. Tyner, Suzanne Tyner, Judith Tyner, and Gerry Tyner. You had to have been there!

Many thanks to Dr. Vincent Del Casino for researching the possible venues and recommending a wonderful place! He is the consummate field geographer!

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Upcoming Conferences, Calls for Papers, Contests

Association of American Geographers

The AAG will be holding its annual national conference in Los Angeles (at the Westin Bonaventure downtown) next year from March 19-23! There are a whole bunch of student competitions. There is also a GREAT need for student volunteers, who get paid $10 an hour AND recieve admission to the meeting at half the student rate! You can learn more about the meeting at: http://www.aag.org/AnnualMeetings/Intro.html. If you would like to serve as a student volunteer, please contact Dr. Killian Ying of CSULA. He can be reached at (213) 343-2042.

California Geographical Society

The CGS will be holding its annual meeting in Lone Pine, CA, May 3rd-5th, the location chosen to celebrate the International Year of Mountains. The call for papers, announcement of student awards, and information on accommodations is available at: http://www.calgeog.org/2002lonepine.html. You can also learn more by contacting the conference organizer, Dr. Jenny Zorn of Geography, CSU San Bernardino, by e-mailing her at jzorn@csusb.edu.

International Conference on Human Geography

The Third U.S.-China Symposium will be held on March 23rd and 24th at CSU Northridge. For information and registration, contact the CSUN Geography Department at (818) 677-3532 or (fax) -2723 or visit the conference web page at http://www.csun.edu/geography/conference.html. This conference is co-sponsored by the Xi'an Foreign Language University, the Geographical Society of China, the AAG, and CSUN.

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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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