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Jobs in Geography Center
Information for job seekers
The Jobs in Geography (JIG) Center will be located on the First Floor of the Riviera Hotel in Capri 102. The Jobs in Geography sessions feature extensive information on careers in geography, professional development, and employment opportunities. The JIG Center will also feature numerous job postings in all fields of geography for students and job seekers.
The Jobs in Geography Center will be open:
Tuesday, March 24, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p .m.
Thursday, March 26, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Highlights
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Large exhibit of available jobs with opportunities to meet with employers.
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Options to submit a resume to the AAG Resume Bank. (User ID and meeting registration required.) Resumes will be reviewed by prospective e mployers attending the meeting.
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Discussions with successful geographers to learn about their experiences, professions, and career paths.
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Many career and professional development sessions and presentations.
Participating Employers
The following employers have already reserved space in the Jobs in Geography Center. Employers interested in participating should click here.
- ASRC Research and Technology Solutions
- Census Bureau
- ESRI
- FUGRO EarthData
- Las Vegas Planning and Development Department
- National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
- NOAA
- University of Toronto
- US Army Topographic Engineering Center
- USGS
- Western Michigan University
- University of South Florida
AAG Diversity Ambassadors
A diverse group of graduate students will be serving as AAG Diversity Ambassadors at the Las Vegas Meeting. Volunteers are willing to share their experiences and give advice about college life, graduate school, job searches, networking, navigating the annual meeting, and more to other graduate or undergraduate students.
Faculty or employers who are looking to implement activities to achieve greater diversity in their programs and workforces, and who wish to converse about ideas and experiences are also welcomed. This informal venue seeks to provide an open forum to share recent success stories, engage in conversations regarding recruiting and retention strategies, understanding student and faculty mentoring needs, and other insights from the unique perspectives of the ambassadors.
Volunteers will be available on Wednesday, March 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Jobs in Geography (JIG) Center.
Organizers: Patricia Solis, AAG and Nathan Sessoms, University of Southern California
Co sponsored by the Association of American Geographers and the AAG Enhancing Diversity Committee
Career and Professional Development Sessions
There are many special sessions at the AAG Annual Meeting on careers in geography, professional development, and employment opportunities:
TUESDAY, MARCH 24
Preparing Masters Students for Careers Outside the University (Sponsored by Applied Geography Specialty Group; Private/Public Affinity Group; Community College Affinity Group)
Tuesday, March 24, 8:00 a.m. - 9:40 a.m.
Room: Skybox 210, Riviera Hotel, 2nd Floor (Panel Session)
Organizer(s): Janice Monk, University of Arizona; Beth Schlemper, University of Toledo
Chair(s): Janice Monk, University of Arizona
Panelist(s): Burrell E. Montz, Binghamton University; Donald A. Friend, Minnesota State University; Trudy Suchan, U.S. Bureau Of the Census; Jeff Colby, Appalachian State University; Jeffrey M. Young, TerraGo Technologies, Inc; Patrick L Lawrence, University of Toledo
Session Description: Masters students mostly seek careers in business, government, nonprofit organizations and community colleges. To prepare them, departments face such challenges as designing suitable curricula, identifying diverse career opportunities, creating and managing internships, developing strategies for reaching beyond academia, supporting thesis and non-thesis options, funding students, and engaging with new initiatives in graduate education such as certificate programs and professional masters degrees. Panelists represent academic and applied sectors. They will each engage each other and the audience in conversation about these and related issues.
Snapshots from Early Career Faculty: Demystifying the First Stages of an Academic Career
Tuesday, March 24, 8:00 a.m. - 9:40 a.m.
Room: Royale Pavilion 8, Riviera Hotel, 1st Floor (Panel Session)
Organizer(s): Anne Bonds, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Mona Atia
Panelist(s): Anne Bonds, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Mona Atia; Maria Fannin, University of Bristol; Harvey Neo, National University of Singapore; Daniel Trudeau, Macalester College
Session Description: Beginning an academic career can be at once thrilling, terrifying, and bewildering as newly appointed faculty members learn to navigate differing institutional frameworks, mounting levels of responsibility and expectation, unfamiliar norms and relationships, and new modes of engagement. Academic socialization and early career pressures create challenges, anxieties and concerns for junior faculty, such that, as Harald Bauder (2006) points out "By the time academic geographers assume faculty positions, romanticized ideas of being a knowledge-seeking scholar or Gramscian-style intellectual who changes the world may have been dashed by the realities of academic practice" (671). Yet these professional experiences set the stage for success. Solem and Foote (2004) note that these experiences "shape patterns of work and social behavior that pre?gure the long-term success of new faculty members, including prospects for tenure and promotion" (1). Thus, the early years of an academic career are at once a period of reconciliation and reformation, requiring the formation of new sets of skills to accommodate and perform roles and expectations as well as differing strategies for coping and thriving. This panel brings together early career faculty members - at various stages in their early careers – from a range of institutional and geographic locations to discuss issues, strategies, and events shaping the first stages of their academic careers.
Diversity, Professional Development, and the Culture of Graduate Education in Geography (Sponsored by Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education project (EDGE); Geography Faculty Development Alliance (GFDA); AAG Commission on College Geography)
Tuesday, March 24, 10:10 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
Room: Skybox 210, Riviera Hotel, 2nd Floor (Paper Session)
Organizer(s): Michael N. Solem, Association of American Geographers
Chair(s): Rebecca Bayless Theobald, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
10:10 Ken Foote, University of Colorado, Introduction
10:20 Janice Monk*, University of Arizona; Kenneth Foote, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs; Beth Schlemper, University of Toledo; Rebecca Theobald, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Graduate Education and Careers in Geography: Student Aspirations and Faculty Expectations
10:40 Beth Schlemper*, University of Toledo; Patricia Solis, Association of American Geographers; Janice Monk, University of Arizona; Rebecca Theobald, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Graduate Education and Diversity in Geography: Perceptions, Strategies and Challenges
11:00 Michael N. Solem*, Association of American Geographers; Beth Schlemper, University of Toledo; Nick Hopwood, University of Oxford, Experiencing graduate school: A comparative analysis of students in geography programs
11:20 Discussant: Jeffrey Olson, Ohio State University
11:30 Discussant: Joseph Lewis, Ohio State University
Session Description: This session reports the results of three studies conducted for the AAG's Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) project, funded by the National Science Foundation. The papers explore important issues in contemporary graduate education: 1) students' career aspirations in relation to faculty expectations and advising practices, 2) diversity and the climate of graduate programs, and 3) how students experience the cultures of master's and doctoral programs. Together, the papers provide an empirical basis for enhancing professional development and graduate education through improvements to the overall social and academic climate.
Rethinking the Degree of PhD in Geography 1: New Approaches and Practices to Professional Development in Doctoral Programs (Sponsored by Geography Education Specialty Group; Graduate Student Affinity Group; Business Geography Specialty Group)
Tuesday, March 24, 1:00 p.m. - 2:40 p.m.
Room: Skybox 210, Riviera Hotel, 2nd Floor (Panel Session)
Organizer(s): Ken Foote, University of Colorado
Chair(s): Ken Foote, University of Colorado
Panelist(s): J Nicholas Entrikin, University of California; Susan M. Roberts, University Of Kentucky; Timothy Lee Hawthorne, The Ohio State University; Harald Bauder, Ryerson University; Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia; David A. Fyfe
Session Description: This panel explores the role, scope and place of professional development in doctoral curricula and how to improve on current practice. Graduate programs offer strong training in research and writing, but do not always address as thoroughly the full range of issues that are important to professional success, especially for the substantial proportion of doctoral students who pursue careers outside of academics.
Employment in the Public Sector: Getting a Job with the Federal Government
Tuesday, March 24, 3:10 p.m. – 4:40 p.m.
Room: Capri 101, Riviera Hotel, 1st Floor (Panel Session)
Organizer(s): Rachel S Franklin, Association of American Geographers
Matthew T. Koeppe, Association of American Geographers
Chair(s): Rachel S Franklin, Association of American Geographers
Panelist(s): John Adler, NOAA / CIRES; John Cromartie, USDA; Paul Weise, Federal Government; Marc J. Perry, U.S. Census Bureau; Lowry Taylor, US Dept. of State; John Sporing, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Panel Description: This panel session is designed for individuals curious about careers in the federal government. Panelists are representative of a broad range of federal agencies and educational backgrounds, and will come prepared to discuss and field questions regarding their professional backgrounds and training, the types of work geographers perform in their agencies; the types of skills they look for when hiring, both broadly and specific to geographer positions. Information will also be provided regarding how often openings become available in these various agencies, how to find out about openings and apply. The format of the session will lend itself to informal discussion and questions from the audience.
Civilian Geographers working for the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) (Sponsored by Military Geography Specialty Group; Private/Public Affinity Group; Cartography Specialty Group)
Tuesday, March 24, 3:10 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
Room: North Hall N102, Las Vegas Convention Center (Panel Session)
Organizer(s): Ray Caputo - U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Introducer(s): Ray Caputo - U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Session Description: We would like to have the Director of TEC/Army Geospatial Information Officer give an overview on this unique Army lab whose mission is to provide soldiers with a superior knowledge of the operational environment and to support the nation's civil and environmental initiatives through research, development, and the application of expertise in the topographic and related sciences then have a panel of TEC employees talk about what we do and how we got to TEC. This would be great for the young just getting out of college and the "old" looking for a change.
THURSDAY, MARCH 26
Earning your Varves (i.e. Stripes) in a Geography Career: Effective Mentoring Relationships (Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education project (EDGE))
Thursday, March 26, 3:10 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
Room: Skybox 207, Riviera Hotel, 2nd Floor (Panel Session)
Organizer(s): Micheline Van Riemsdijk, University of Tennessee; Rosann Poltrone, Arapahoe Community College
Panelist(s): Diane M. Stanitski, Geocation, LLC; Steven Jennings, University of Colorado; Gerald R. Webster, University of Wyoming; Christian Sellar, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Rosann Poltrone, Arapahoe Community College; Micheline Van Riemsdijk, University of Tennessee
Session Description: In academia we establish mentoring relationships between advisors and students, and these relationships can have important effects on the scholarly achievements of students. However, it can be difficult to foster new mentor relations once we leave the security of graduate school and start a career. In some academic departments, new hires are paired with experienced faculty members while other departments may take a more hands-off approach. Research has shown that people in effective mentoring relationships are more likely to succeed professionally. For instance, Robert Boice (2000) found that new faculty members in highly effective mentoring relationships were more likely to meet departmental expectations for scholarly productivity, teaching, and collegiality than faculty members who did not have effective mentors. Because mentoring is so important to start a career successfully, we will discuss issues that contribute to effective mentoring relationships.
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