News as of 4 September 2002

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"Jobs in Geography" Series

Mr. Greg Armento, CSULB Librarian for Maps, Geography, History, Religious Studies, and Philosophy, will discuss "Careers in Cartographic and Geographic Information Services in Public and Academic Libraries." His talk will be on Wednesday, 9 October, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., in LA4- 100. Mr. Armento is one of our Department Alumni, and his talk is sponsored by the Department Internship Program. For more information about the internship program, please contact Dr. Suzanne Wechsler.

Jet Lag

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov, one of our new assistant professors, has just now arrived, after harrowing adventures in aviation and embassy procedures. He's the one with that jet-lagged look. A big welcome and best wishes for recovery from airplane flu!

Dr. Laris Hits the Ground Running!

Dr. Paul Laris, one of our new assistant professors, has a new article just out. The paper is entitled, "Burning the seasonal mosaic: Preventative burning strategies in the wooded savanna of southern Mali," and it's the lead article in Human Ecology (Vol. 30, No. 2). Congratulations!

Dr. Lassiter Is Smokin' the Presses!

Dr. Unna Lassiter has released a torrent of writing over the last several months and this summer has received notice that FOUR of her articles have been accepted. Espaces et Sociétés has accepted, «La mouche dans la soupe: L'endroit et l'authenticite des animaux» ("The fly in the soup: Place and authenticity of animals"). Gender, Place, and Culture accepted "'This is none of that Jack Kerouac thing ...': an essay review on narratives of poverty," while the California Geographer will publish "Cultural aspects of attitudes toward marine animals: a focus group analysis." With Marcie Gilbert and Jennifer Wolch of USC, Dr. Lassiter will be publishing "Animal practices and the racialization of Filipinas in Los Angeles" in Society and Animals. Congratulations on this remarkable scholarly achievement!

Dr. Del Casino Is off to Australia!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino will be heading to Australian National University for six months where he has been invited to take up a position as a Research Fellow in the Department of Human Geography in the Research School for Pacific and Asian Studies. While we'll all miss him greatly, we laud him for receiving this prestigious honor and research opportunity. He will be Down Under from August through January.

Dr. Del Casino Receives a Major Grant

Dr. Vincent Del Casino has been notified that his proposal, "Cognitive Distance, Mobility Patterns, and Drug Use Among MSM" has been funded for 2002-2003 by the Universitywide AIDS Research Program of the University of California. The grant is for approximately $83,000 in direct costs and will cover release time for Dr. Del Casino to conduct ethnographic research on designer drug use and related HIV risks in Long Beach among "men who have sex with men." The research draws from his background in medical/social geography and ethnographic methodologies and will focus attention on how MSM "cognitively map risk." Way to go!!!

Drs. Wechsler and Rodrigue and Mr. Brian Sims Give Papers at ESRI

Drs. Suzanne P. Wechsler and Christine M. Rodrigue gave a presentation at the ESRI Users Conference in San Diego on the 7th of July, in the "HiEd: GIS Articulation" session. Their paper was entitled, "GIS articulation: Addressing the issue, sharing experiences and moving forward" and it presented the outcomes of the CSULB GIS Articulation Workshop back in April. Mr. Brian Sims, a graduate student and RESAC research associate, gave a paper to the Landline Engineering and Support moderated session, entitled, "Centralizing Corporate Assets with GPS Technology at Southern California Edison."

Dr. Del Casino Has a Publication out

Dr. Vincent Del Casino has a publication out: Del Casino, V.J., Jr. 2002. World Regions in Global Context: Study Guide. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Congratulations!

Dr. Rodrigue Lectures on Ethics in Science to G-DEP

Dr. Christine M. Rodrigue, together with Dr. Roger Bauer (Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and first dean of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics) and Dr. Elizabeth Ambos (Professor of Geology and Acting Dean of Graduate Studies), gave a colloquium on ethics in the earth sciences to the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program participants on the 8th of July. Dr. Rodrigue's remarks focussed on the ethics of attribution and the protection of human subjects.

Dr. Del Casino Receives Enhancing Educational Effectiveness Award!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino, together with Dr. Tim Keirn of History, has received a summer stipend from the Enhancing Educational Effectiveness Award program, so that he can work on developing a World Historical Geography Certificate Program.

Dr. Wechsler Receives Enhancing Educational Effectiveness Award!

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler, together with her collaborators, Dr. Teresa Ramírez-Herrera (a geographer in the Geological Sciences Department) and Dr. Christopher Lowe (Biological Sciences), received a substantial Enhancing Educational Effectiveness award. Each will receive 0.2 re-assigned time to work on geological, ecological, and marine biological labs and modules for the new course, Geography *481 (GIScience Applications for the Natural Sciences), which is targeted to Geology and Biology majors.

Dr. Rodrigue Is off to Boulder

Dr. Christine M. Rodrigue is traveling to Boulder, Colorado, for the annual international Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. She will serve as a panelist discussing hazards and emergency management education and will co-facilitate an experimental "first-timers' orientation" to this unusual conference. She will additionally present papers on her 9/11-related work and her new project on the perception of risks associated with the Mars Sample Return Lander.

CSULB Hosts GIS Articulation Workshop

The Department of Geography organized and hosted the first GIS Articulation Workshop on the 26th of April. This workshop brought together CSU faculty and community college faculty throughout the State to discuss the articulation of community college GIS courses with CSU GIS courses, as well as ordinary transfer of units and CSU practices concerning waiving certain upper division requirements and prerequisites for students transferring in with GIS exposure. The idea for the workshop was proposed by Dr. Vinnie Del Casino, and Dr. Suzanne Wechsler publicized the event and organized campus facilities for it. Drs. Chris Lee, Frank Gossette, and Chrys Rodrigue arranged for the funding of meals and incidentals. This event was very successful in clarifying the institutional pressures and constraints on the articulation and transfer/waiver process and in sharing curricular materials for lower division GIS courses. Dr. Gossette gave a talk on the structure of the upper division GIS/remote sensing/cartography/spatial statistics curriculum at CSULB. The need for this discussion is shown by the 34 people who attended, including several from Northern California. The consensus at the workshop was that another is needed for the fall and annually thereafter. Graduate students, Ms. Romey Hagen, Ms. Samantha Antcliffe, Mr. Shaun Healy, and Ms. Erin Stockenberg also attended and worked hard to make the event successful, smoothly organized, and very professionally run. In attendance from the CSULB Department of Geography were Drs. Wechsler, Gossette, Tyner, and Rodrigue and Mr. James Woods.

CSULB Delegation to the California Geographical Society

Drs. Suzanne Wechsler, James Curtis, Stephen Koletty, and Chrys Rodrigue, along with Mr. Kris Jones, Ms. Valerie Muuml;ller (graduate student), and Ms. Aimée Mindes (former graduate student, now at Rio Hondo College) trekked up to Lone Pine for the California Geographical Society meeting on May 3rd through 5th. Dr. Rodrigue also presented a paper, "Assessment of an Experiment in Teaching Geography Online," as did Mr. Jones, which was entitled, "Field Tripping in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Region: Locations, Lessons and Logistics." Mr. Jones, additionally, put together a field trip of the eastern Sierra, including the Mono Basin, Tioga Pass, Mammoth Lakes, and Hot Creek. Dr. Suzanne Wechsler learned that she has been elected to the board of directors for the CGS (congratulations!).

Dr. Judith Tyner Attends the Society of Woman Geographers Meeting

Dr. Judith Tyner, recently elected into the Society of Woman Geographers, attended the organization's meeting near Tucson, Arizona, from the 2nd to the 5th of May. She reports that it was unlike any other meeting or conference she's ever attended. Among the other attendees was the first woman ever to winter over in Antarctica, a woman who had climbed each of the highest mountains on all the continents, and a WWII cryptologist!

Science Olympiad 2002

The Science Olympiad is an international movement that tries to improve the quality of K-12 science education and increase student interest in the various sciences through scholastic competitive events. The Department of Geography began participating in these events last year (thanks to graduate student Mr. Shaun Healy) and ran two events this year. Mr. James Woods was event captain for the "From a Distance" event for 10th-12th graders, in which students use maps and remote sensing imagery to infer the physical and cultural character of a given place. Dr. Chrys Rodrigue served as event captain for "Weather or Not," an event for 7th-9th graders, which gives students problems in understanding weather maps and practice in predicting weather and storm damages from them. Mr. Shaun Healy returned to help Profs. Rodrigue and Woods through their first experience with the Olympiad, notably the heavy grading and ranking involved in a very short time frame. A good (and exhausting) time was had by all, punctuated with the mixture of Olympiad students and Dr. Frank Gossette's GIS certificate students practicing using GPS gear in LA4! To learn more about the Olympiad and perhaps to serve as event captain or volunteer, please contact Prof. Sharon Writer in the Science Education Department.

Dr. Tyner Has Another Article out!

Dr. Judith Tyner has once more appeared in Mercator's World with an article entitled, " Folk maps, cartoons, and map kitsch: The role of cartographic curiosities." This is the March/April 2002 issue, and her article appears on pp. 24-29.

Dr. Rodrigue Has Another Article out, too!

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue has an article out in the Fall 2001 issue of Risk: Health, Safety, and Environment, Vol. 12, No. 3/4. The title of the article is "The Internet and plutonium on board the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft," and it appears on pp. 221-254.

Prof. James Woods Gets Department Name up in Lights

Prof. James Woods created a map for the Office of Enrollment Services, which shows the area beyond which new students will have to meet higher standards for admission, as part of the campus' strategy to deal with an explosion in demand for seats at CSULB. This map, attributed to the Geography Department, was featured in the leading front page story in the Daily 49er on Monday, 11 March! The article by Phil Witte is entitled, "CSULB Becoming More Exclusive," and you can read it and see Woody's map here. Thanks, Woody, for putting our department "on the map"!

Dr. Chris Lee Presents at NASA AVIRIS Workshop

Dr. Christopher Lee presented a paper entitled, "Evaluation of the potential of Hyperion for Fire Danger Assessment by Comparison to AVIRIS." He is co-author with D. Roberts, P. Dennison, M. Gardner, and S.L. Ustin, and they made their presentation to the 2002 AVIRIS Earth Science and Applications Workshop, in Pasadena, on the 5 of March.

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."

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 as the lead article in the winter 2001 issue of Cartographic Perspectives on pp. 3-6. Not only that, she has also been elected as 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.

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.

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Lectures and Field Trips

Mr. Greg Armento

Mr. Greg Armento, alumnus and currently CSULB Librarian, will discuss "Careers in Cartographic and Geographic Information Services in Public and Academic Libraries," for the "Jobs in Geography" colloquium series. The talk will be held Wednesday, 9 October, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., in LA4-100.

Dr. Norman Thrower Gave an Invited Talk

Dr. Norman Thrower, Professor Emeritus at UCLA and a pioneering scholar in cartography and the history of geographic thought, gave an invited guest lecture on "Samuel Pepys and Cartography" to Dr. Judith Tyner's "Maps and Civilization" course. Samuel Pepys, who lived from 1633 to 1703, is famous for the often very frank diary he maintained during the critical Restoration period of English history, including such events as the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the ravages of the Plague in the 1660s.

"Jobs in Geography" Guest Lecture by Mr. Glenn LaJoie

Mr. Glenn LaJoie, Vice President of Planning and Environmental Studies at RBF Consulting (and an alumnus) discussed the transition, "From a Geography Major to a Career in Community Planning." The talk was on Monday, 29 April, as part of the "Jobs in Geography" colloquium series. The colloquium is part of the Department Internship Program, which is directed by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler, who would be delighted to tell you more about the opportunities available.

"Jobs in Geography" Guest Lecture by Mr. Brian Sims

Mr. Brian Sims of Integrated Spatial Solutions, Inc. (and a returning graduate student here at CSULB is giving a guest presentation on Monday, the 8th of April, from 5-6 pm, in LA4-100. His presentation addresses "GIS at Southern California Edison." Specific subjects will include Utility AM/FM management, electric vehicles, telecommunications, emergency preparedness, and environmental issues. This talk is sponsored by the Internships in Applied Geography program run by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler, who can be reached at (562) 985-2356.

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Changes among the Faculty

Acting Chair and Graduate Advisor for Fall 2002

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue will be on sabbatical during Fall, 2002. While she is gone, Dr. Joel Splansky will serve as acting chair and graduate advisor. His office is in LA4-103, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-4454 and splansky@csulb.edu.

Undergraduate Advisor

Dr. Frank Gossette is the undergraduate advisor. His 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. To set up a visit, please contact Lisa Mikhail at (562) 985-4977.

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

The Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

The APCG will hold its annual meeting from October 2nd-6th this year in San Bernardino. The host institution is CSU San Bernardino, and the person to contact is Dr. Jenny Zorn. She can be reached at:

• Department of Geography
  California State University
  San Bernardino, CA 92407
• (909) 880-5500
  (909) 880-7107 (fax)
• jzorn@csusb.edu

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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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