The history of AAG’s presidents reveals much about the development of the modern discipline of geography. We offer these biographies with the knowledge that there is much more to say and to explore in the stories of AAG’s founding, in our present, and in the future.
Patricia Ehrkamp
2024-2025
Patricia Ehrkamp
Patricia Ehrkamp is the College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky.
Her primary research focus is immigration, citizenship, refugee geopolitics, trauma, and migrant transnationalism. As a political and feminist geographer, she also focuses on the role of everyday spaces in these processes. Much of her funded research agenda is collaborative through community outreach and public lectures to various local constituencies in Lexington, KY, and through teacher trainings and summer institutes in the U.S. and abroad. Her work is published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Urban Geography, Progress in Human Geography, Antipode, Transactions of the IBG, Space & Polity, Environment and Planning A, Gender, Place and Culture, and Annals of the AAG.
She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and her Diplom (M.Sc.) at the Universität Bonn, Germany.
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Rebecca Lave
2023-2024
Rebecca Lave
Professor of Geography, Indiana University. Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley (Geography); M.C.P. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (City Planning with certificate in Urban Design); B.A. Reed College (Art History and Political Theory). Email: rlave@indiana.edu. Twitter:@RebeccaLave.
Academic Appointments and Professional Experience: Professor of Geography, Indiana University (2020-present); Associate Professor of Geography, Indiana University (2014-2020); Assistant Professor of Geography, Indiana University (2008-2014); Department Chair (2018; 2019-2022); Director of Undergraduate Studies (2011-2019); Curriculum committee member, BA in Environmental Sustainability Studies (2016-2019); Member or chair of seven search committees in Geography, International Studies, and the Ostrom Workshop, and of ten ad hoc policy committees in Geography (2010-2021); Elected member, College of Arts & Sciences Policy Committee (2016-2019); College of Arts & Sciences Strategic Planning Committee (2016-2017); 21st Century Liberal Arts Curriculum Task Force (2014-2015); Senior Associate, Design, Community and Environment (1999-2005); Urban Planner, Goody, Clancy & Associates (1996-1998).
Service to Geography and the AAG: Vice-President (2022-2023); Member and Co-Chair, AAG Honors Committee (2017-2019); Councilor-at-Large, Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group (2012-2014); Co-editor of two book series: Economic Transformations, Agenda Publishing (2016-present) and Critical Environments: Nature, Science and Politics, University of California Press (2012- present); Editorial Board of six Geography journals: Environment and Planning F (2021-present), Progress in Environmental Geography (2021-present), The Geographical Journal RGS/IBG (2019-present), Gender, Place and Culture (2018-present); The Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2016-present), and The Canadian Geographer (2013-present); Scientific Advisory Board member for the Integrative Science of Rivers International Conference (2021-2022) and “Contested Waterway: Governance and Ecology on the Lower Danube, 1800-2020” (2020-present); Panelist, NSF GSS; NSF ad hoc reviewer: Arctic System Sciences and Arctic Social Sciences, GSS, HEGS, Hydrology, and Science, Technology and Society programs; Reviewer for more than 45 journals and seven academic presses; Co-Founder of KOI: the University of Kentucky, Ohio State University, and Indiana University Graduate Student Workshop in Political Ecology; Co-Organizer of five workshops on Critical Physical Geography in the US and Europe, and a planned Pan-American workshop on Urban Critical Physical Geography in Spring 2023 in Mexico.
Awards and Honors: Distinguished International Visiting Fellow, University of Sheffield (2023) and University of Cambridge (2019); Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award (2010, 2012, 2014, 2015); Indiana University Campus Catalyst Award for Excellence in Teaching Sustainability (2015).
Research and Teaching: My research takes a Critical Physical Geography approach combining political economy, STS, and fluvial geomorphology. My previous projects focused on stream restoration, the political economy of environmental expertise, environmental markets, and the ways in which water policies shape fluvial systems in the US. My current work focuses on anthropogenic flooding in the US Midwest. I have published in journals ranging from Science to Social Studies of Science and am the author of two monographs: Fields and Streams: Stream Restoration, Neoliberalism, and the Future of Environmental Science (2012, University of Georgia Press) and Streams of Revenues: The Restoration Economy and the Ecosystems it Creates (2021 MIT Press; co-written with Martin Doyle). I have co-edited four volumes: the Handbook of Political Economy of Science (2017), the Handbook of Critical Physical Geography (2018), and two collections on Doreen Massey (2018). Over the last five years, I have given 29 invited talks and keynotes (including four at the invitation of undergraduate or graduate student organizations) at institutions in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, and the US. Teaching is one of my favorite parts of academia. My courses combine physical and human geography approaches to the environment, particularly in relation to environmental conservation, ecological restoration, multispecies relations, and water resources. I was my department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies for eight years and have won multiple teaching awards.
Public Engagement and Synergistic Activities: I co-founded EDGI (the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative), an international network started in in response to the 2016 US presidential elections, which provoked deep fears about the loss of environmental data collected and held by the US government and about the rollback of environmental protections more broadly. I was the initial coordinator of EDGI’s website tracking team, which monitors, documents, and publicizes changes to tens of thousands of US federal agency webpages, particularly those related to climate change and environmental justice.
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Marilyn Raphael
2022-2023
Marilyn Raphael
Marilyn Raphael is the director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and professor of geography at UCLA. Her primary research focus is Southern Hemisphere (SH) atmospheric dynamics and climate change; specifically, Antarctic sea ice variability and the interaction between Antarctic sea ice and the large-scale Southern Hemisphere circulation. Her work includes global climate modeling and improvements to the simulation of sea ice and the atmosphere in Southern Hemisphere research. She earned her masters and doctorate in geography from the Ohio State University. In 2021, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Emily T. Yeh
2021-2022
Emily T. Yeh
Investigating questions of power, political economy, and cultural politics in the nature-society relationship, Emily Yeh is a professor of geography at the University of Colorado-Boulder. With regional expertise in China, Tibet, and the Himalayas, her research uses primarily ethnographic methods to examine property rights, natural resource conflicts, environmental history, development and landscape transformation, grassland management and environmental policies, and emerging environmentalisms in Tibetan areas of China. Yeh’s work extends to the politics of identity and race in the Tibetan diaspora. Through several National Science Foundation-funded interdisciplinary, collaborative projects, Yeh has studied the putative causes of rangeland degradation and vulnerability to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau. Her broader research and teaching interests include transnational conservation, critical development studies, the relationship between nature, territory, and the nation, and environmental justice. With a B.A. and two masters degrees from MIT, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.
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Amy Lobben
2020–2021
Amy Lobben
Specializing in geographic information science and human environmental interaction, Amy Lobben focuses specifically on human environmental decision making and behavior. Her research approach usually relies on controlled research design, data collection and analysis, employing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods. Much of her research is grounded in spatial information theory, decision making theory, cognition, and neurogeography. She earned her B.A. and M.A. from, Georgia State University, and her Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
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David H. Kaplan
2019–2020
David H. Kaplan
David Kaplan is a researcher into the geographic manifestations of ethnic identity, including extensive research on urban segregation patterns in cities around the world, including its relationship to housing finance and economic opportunity. Recent areas of inquiry include national identity, borderlands, and separatist movements. Dr. Kaplan is the author of more than a dozen books and editor-in-chief of the Geographical Review and editor of National Identities. He is a professor of geography at Kent State University.
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Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
2018–2019
Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach is the Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor #1 at the University of Texas-Austin. As founding director of the Environmental Hydrology and Water Quality Lab, she directs water analysis, remote sensing, and GIS cto examine the mineral components of natural waters and determine suitability for drinking, domestic, and agricultural uses. With a strong commitment to human rights and the right to science, Dr. Luzzadder-Beach’s research areas include geoarchaeology; hydrology and water quality; geomorphology; spatial statistics; gender, science, and human rights; Mesoamerica; Mediterranean and the Near East; and Iceland. She became a Fellow of AAG in 2022.
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Derek Alderman
2017–2018
Derek Alderman
Derek Alderman is a professor of geography and former department head at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. A noted public scholar with hundreds of publications in academic journals as well as perspectives and interviews in general media, his research focuses on cultural and historical geography , especially the landscapes of public memory, race, heritage tourism, social/spatial justice, critical place name studies, and politics of geographic mobility and travel. His career is dedicated to understanding and illuminating the many facets of the African American Freedom Struggle and the culture of the southeastern United States. He was named a Fellow of AAG in 2021.
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Glen M. MacDonald
2016–2017
Glen M. MacDonald
Glen Sproul dit MacDonald is the John Muir Memorial Chair of Geography, Director of the White Mountain Research Center and a UCLA Distinguished Professor. He is a former UC Presidential Chair and former Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. His research focuses on climate change, its causes and its impact on the environment and society. His most recent coastal and marine research focuses on how estuaries and marshes are responding to climate change, sea level change and human disturbance. He is a dedicated science communicator who speaks widely to the public and policy makers at the state and federal level in the U.S.; his op-eds have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Sacramento Bee. He is a Fellow of numerous professional societies, including the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and AAG.
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Sarah Witham Bednarz
2015–2016
Sarah Witham Bednarz
Professor emerita of geography at Texas A&M University, Sarah Bednarz studies the intersections of the learning sciences, geography, the geosciences, and geospatial technologies, with a special focus on spatial and geographic thinking, at a range of educational levels. This interest is, in part, based on her experience as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M from 2008-2014. She has said, “Issues related to how spatial, geographical, and geospatial thinking contribute to the development of committed and educated citizens is of increasing importance and personal relevance.” She became an AAG Fellow in 2018.
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Mona Domosh
2014–2015
Mona Domosh
Cultural-historical geographer Mona Domosh is the Joan P. and Edward J. Foley Jr. 1933 Professor in geography at Dartmouth College. Her research interests explore the cultural/historical geographies of the making of American empires, as well as how ideas of femininity, masculinity, consumption, and “whiteness” played into the crucial shift from American nation-building to empire-building during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She also examines gender and class in the cultural formation of large American cities in the 19th century, and explores feminist perspectives, theory, and methodology in relationship to matters of space and place. She was named an AAG Fellow in 2021.
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Julie Winkler
2013–2014
Julie Winkler
Julie Winkler teaches geography at Michigan State University, where she has been on faculty for 35 years. Her interests are in regional climate change, climate scenario development and evaluation and synoptic and applied climatology. Much of her research has focused on the Central Plains and Great Lakes region of the United States. She earned her bachelors at University of North Dakota and her Ph.D. in geography at the University of Minnesota. She became an AAG Fellow in 2020.
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Eric Sheppard
2012–2013
Eric Sheppard
Eric Sheppard is a Distinguished Professor and Alexander von Humboldt Chair of Geography at UCLA. His research focuses in geographical political economy, uneven geographies of globalization, neoliberalism, urbanization in the global south, urban sustainability, environmental justice and GIS. He earned his bachelors degree in the at Bristol University in the United Kingdom, and his masters and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, Canada. He taught for most of his career at the University of Minnesota. In 2019 he became a Fellow of AAG.
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Audrey Kobayashi
2011–2012
Audrey Kobayashi
Born in British Columbia, Canada. Audrey Kobayashi has served as both president of the Canadian Association of Geographers and of the American Association of Geographers. She began her career at McGill University before joining the geography afculty at Queens University in Ontario, Canada (now emerita). Kobayashi’s research spans geopolitics and racial and gender studies. She studies how processes of human differentiation–race, class, gender, ability, national identity–emerge in a range of landscapes that include homes, streets, and workplaces. She focuses on the legal and legislative frameworks that enable social change, and on the cultural systems and practices through which normative frameworks for human actions and human relations are developed. These focal points have been part of her long history of research on the Japanese Canadian community, She earned her bachelors and masters at the University of British Columbia, and her Ph.D. at the UCLA.
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Kenneth E. Foote
2010–2011
Kenneth E. Foote
Kenneth Foote specializes in cartogrphy and GIS, especially internet-based applications and locative media. Much of Foote’s research hones in on how events of violence and tragedy are marked in public landscapes. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Foote has also been active in professional development and career education initiatives at AAG. He earned his bachelors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his masters and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He has served on the faculty at the University of Texas-Austin, University of Colorado, and is now the University of Connecticut, where he is Graduate Program Coordinator and Director of Urban and Community Studies. He was named a Fellow of AAG in 2019.
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Carol P. Harden
2009–2010
Carol P. Harden
Carol A. Harden specializes in geomorphology, water resources, and Latin America, where she analyzes soil erosion, stream/sediment dynamics, and water resources. Throughout her career, Harden has studied the connection between human activities and physical and hydrological processes in mountain watersheds, especially in the Ecuadorian Andes and Appalachians. She retired from teaching at the University of Tennessee and now is a visiting professor of geography at Middlebury College. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado. She was named an AAG Fellow in 2020.
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John A. Agnew
2008–2009
John A. Agnew
Political geographer John A. Agnew is Distinguished Professor of Geography and Italian at UCLA. Besides serving as AAG President, Agnew also co-edited the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and two other major journals in the field of geopolitics. Widely considered an expert in territory, place, and political power, he is best known for reinventing geopolitics as a field of study. Born in England in 1949. he was educated at Universities of Exeter and Liverpool in England and earned his masters and Ph.D. at The Ohio State University. He taught geography at Syracuse University for twenty years before joining the faculty at UCLA. Recipient of many honors and prizes, including a Guggenheim fellowship, Agnew was named a Fellow of AAG in 2019.
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Thomas J. Baerwald
2007–2008
Thomas J. Baerwald
For nearly 30 years, Thomas (Tom) Baerwald was on staff at the National Science Foundation, most recently as Senior Science Advisor to the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences. For 10 years prior to his time at NSF, Barerwald was the Geography Program director at the Science Museum of Minnesota. He is the author of several educational geography texts for young people. In 2018 he was named a Fellow of AAG.
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Kavita Pandit
2006–2007
Kavita Pandit
Kavita Pandit is the Executive Coach and Senior Advisor to the Provost at Georgia State University. Her academic focus is on population geography, migration, and economic development. She was previously on faculty at the University of Georgia for 19 years, chairing the Department of Geography from 2003 to 2005. She earned her bachelors in Architecture at Bombay University in India and her masters and Ph.D. in geography at Ohio State University. In 2018, she was named an AAG Fellow.
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Richard A. Marston
2005–2006
Richard A. Marston
Geomorphologist Richard A. Marston specializes in applied physical geography with an emphasis on mountains and the Great Plains and is a certified professional hydrologist. He is a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Kansas State University, where he has taught geography since 2005. He has also taught geography, geology, and environmental sciences at Oklahoma State University, University of Wyoming, University of Alaska, and University of Texas-El Paso. He earned his bachelors degree at the University of California-Los Angeles and his masters degree and Ph.D. at Oregon State University, all in geography. Recipient of numerous honors, awards and special recognition. He became an AAG Fellow in 2018.
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Victoria A. Lawson
2004–2005
Victoria A. Lawson
Victoria A. Lawson is a professor and former department chair in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, where she also directs the honors program and is an adjunct professor of Gender, Women and Sexuality studies. She is co-founder of the Relational Poverty Network. Author of three books and numerous articles, she focuses on critical poverty studies and feminist care ethics to help address inequality. She earned her Ph.D. in geography from Ohio State University.
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Alexander B. Murphy
2003–2004
Alexander B. Murphy
Alexander Murphy specializes in political, cultural, and environmental geography with an emphasis on Europe and the Middle East. Author of several books and over 90 articles, he may be best known for his book, Geography Why it Matters, which has been widely acclaimed for promoting a broader understanding and importance for the field of geography. Recipient of numerous honors and awards, Murphy holds a bachelors degree from Yale University, a masters degree in geography from the Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany, a law degree from Columbia University and a doctorate in geography from the University of Chicago. He is currently professor of geography at the University of Oregon.
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Duane Nellis
2002–2003
Duane Nellis
Internationally renowned for his research on GIS and remote sensing, Duane Nellis has also had a wide-ranging career in university leadership, including presidencies of Ohio University, Texas Tech University, and the University of Idaho. Nellis earned a bachelors in earth sciences and geography at Montana State University, and a masters degree and Ph.D. in geography from Oregon State University. His doctoral work focused on remote sensing in water resource management. He has received numerous honors, including appointment as a Fellow in the Royal Geographical Society.
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Janice J. Monk
2001–2002
Janice J. Monk
A pioneer in the development and history of feminist geography, Janice Monk’s research looks at the ways gender has shaped the development of geographic institutions and women’s experiences within them. Her work has especially focused on women and minority groups. Born in Sydney, Australia, she holds a bachelors degree in geography from the University of Sydney and a masters degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, where she went on to teach geography for eight years. She spent most of her career at the University of Arizona, where she is now Emeritus Professor. She was made a Fellow of AAG in 2018.
Susan L. Cutter
2000–2001
Susan L. Cutter
Geographer and disaster researcher Susan L. Cutter is the Carolina Distinguished Professor and Director of the Hazards Vulnerability & Resilience Institute at the University of South Carolina. Her work focuses on factors that contribute to people’s and places’ susceptibility to disasters. She has studied how vulnerability and resistance are measured, monitored, and assessed; how people can recover from disasters; and how to predict and map disasters and hazards. She earned her bachelors degree at California State University, East Bay and her masters and doctorate at the University of Chicago. In addition to her work at the University of South Carolina, she has taught at the University of Washington, Rutgers University, and the University Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn, Germany. A prolific writer, she has published more than 150 papers, given testimony before Congress, and authored or edited 14 books, many on risks and hazards. In 2019 she was appointed a Fellow of AAG.
Reginald Golledge
1999–2000
Reginald Golledge
Reginald Golledge, who passed away in 2008, was an innovator in the field of behavioral geography, focusing on analytical approaches. His work on spatial recognition were dramatically transformed when the loss of his sight at age 47 prompted him to turn his research toward the geography of disability. Over the entirety of his career, Golledge wrote or edited 16 books and more than 150 academic papers. His teaching career spanned more than four decades at several universities, including the University of British Columbia, Ohio State University, and three decades at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Golledge was born in New South Wales, Australia. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees in Australia at the University of New England, and his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa.
William L. Graf
1998–1999
William L. Graf
One of the preeminent river scientists in the world, Graf focused on fluvial geomorphology in arid regions. He also was a recognized expert on Federal land policies. Graf earned his bachelors, masters and doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in physical geography. After graduation, he taught briefly at the University of Iowa. He then moved to Arizona State University where he became a Regents Professor. When he retired, he joined the University of South Carolina as the University Foundation Distinguished Professor, subsequently chairing the department of geography and serving as interim Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts and Sciences. He was also influential in public policy, appointed to the Presidential Commission on American Heritage Rivers by President William Clinton, and also chairing the Environmental Advisory Board of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At the time of his death in 2019, he was serving as a science advisor to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Missouri River Recovery Program Implementation Committee, to the U.S. Department of Energy Hydropower Initiative, and to American Rivers, Inc. At AAG, he will be remembered for his presidential catchphrase, “It’s a good day for geography.”
Patricia Gober
1997–1998
Patricia Gober
Patricia Gober focuses her research on urban planning and design, sustainability, and the connections among food, water, and energy. She is Professor Emerita at University of Saskatchewan. She is also a research scientist and Professor Emerita of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University. She is the author of Metropolitan Phoenix: Place Making and Community Building in the Desert. She earned her bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and her masters and Ph.D. from Ohio State University.
Lawrence A. Brown
1996–1997
Lawrence A. Brown
Lawrence A. Brown (born Browamik) is known as one of the primary movers of geography’s quantitative revolution, that prepared the way for geospatial technology, including GIS. His book, Innovation Diffusion, became a definitive work for the adoption of new products and techniques worldwide. He served AAG in many capacities, including vice president before he was president, and received an AAG Lifetime Achievement Award. Brown was a first-generation American whose family fled the pogroms against Jews of the Ukraine; the family name was changed from Browarnik to Brown when they immigrated to the U.S. via Ellis Island. He grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania intended to be a car mechanic, but was bitten by the geography bug while traveling with his brother Ed. Brown earned his Ph.D. in geography from Northwestern University in 1966. A Distinguished Professor and former chair of Ohio State University department of geography, Brown passed away in 2014.
Judy M. Olson
1995–1996
Judy M. Olson
Professor emerita of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at the University of Michigan-East Lansing, Judy M. Olson’s research interests include cartographic communication, design, and symbolization. A Fellow of the International Cartographic Association, Dr. Olson’s service to the field was commended by ICA as “nothing short of exceptional.” AAG profiled some of her early work in an article, titled Accommodating Color Palettes for All.
Stephen S. Birdsall
1994–1995
Stephen S. Birdsall
Stephen D. Birdsall is professor emeritus of geography and former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dr. Birdsall earned his masters and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He is the co-author of four books and atlases, including Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada.
Robert Kates
1993–1994
Robert Kates
A researcher on natural hazard mitigation, Robert Kates was an early mentee of former AAG President Dr. Gilbert White at the University of Chicago. After receiving his Ph.D. from U-Chicago, Kates made his teaching career at Clark University for 25 years. He also taught at Brown University for several years, and was the Presidential Professor at the University of Maine. His work probed the human use of natural resources and human responses to hazards. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards, and the author or co-author of many books and articles
Thomas J. Wilbanks
1992–1993
Thomas J. Wilbanks
Co-laureate for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for Peace, Thomas J. Wilbanks conducted research and published on sustainable development, energy, environmental technology, and global climate change. Author or co-author of nine books and more than 100 journal articles, He earned his bachelor’s degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army as an Airborne Ranger and military intelligence officer. He served as a Corporate Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned his Nobel Prize recognition for his participation in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). One of AAG’s awards were named in his honor: Wilbanks Prize for Transformational Research in Geography.
John R. Mather
1991–1992
John R. Mather
Meteorologist and climatologist John R. Mather was the long-time chairman and professor emeritus of the Department of Geography at the University of Delaware, credited with building the department. He earned his bachelors at Williams College, a second bachelors and masters at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then his Ph.D. from John Hopkins University. He taught at the University of Delaware for 25 years, and is estimated to have personally taught physical geography to over 12,000 students in his career there. He authored several books on climatology and water resources, and served as Delaware’s State Climatologist for many years.
Susan Hanson
1990–1991
Susan Hanson
Susan Hanson is professor emerita at the Clark University Graduate School of Geography. She served as editor of all four AAG journals, and was the first female geographer to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Recipient of numerous awards, she wrote or co-wrote eight books and numerous articles. Her research focused on gender and work, travel patterns and feminist scholarly approaches. She completed her undergraduate studies at Middlebury College and her Ph.D. at Northwestern University. Prior to her time at Clark, she was faculty at the Geography and Sociology departments at the University of Buffalo.
Saul B. Cohen
1989–1990
Saul B. Cohen
A proud alumnus of Boston Latin high school, Saul Cohen attributed much of his academic success to his teachings at the oldest public school in America. He went on to earn his bachelors and Ph.D. at Harvard University—graduating right before Harvard terminated the Geography program. His mentor, Derwent Whittlesey, was also a former AAG President. After earning his doctorate, Cohen taught at Boston University and Clark University, where he became the dean. Later, he served as president of Queens College of the City University of New York, presiding over a controversial restructuring of its admissions process, and then taught for 10 years at Hunter College. Cohen, who specialized in economic and political geography of the Middle East, was editor of The Oxford World Atlas, and also wrote or edited 16 books.
David Ward
1988–1989
David Ward
Born in Manchester, England, urban geographer David Ward spent his career at Carleton University, the University of British Columbia, eventually becoming Provost and Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also was president of the American Council on Education from 2000 to 2008. During his retirement, his research focus is changes in land use and spatial arrangements of people and employment. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Leeds, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Terry G. Jordan
1987–1988
Terry G. Jordan
Terry Jordan started his career on the geography faculty at Arizona State University, before serving as department chair at the University of North Texas for 13 years. In 1982, he became professor of geography at the University of Texas-Austin. In addition to his role as AAG president, he also was elected vice president. A prolific writer, he authored or co-authored over 15 books. He earned his undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1960. He received his master’s degree at the University of Texas and a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, in 1965. Jordan began his career at Arizona State University and, North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) before teaching for 21 years at the University of Texas at Austin. His specialties included settlement geography, notably the patterns of German settlement in Texas and the Midwest.
George J. Demko
1986–1987
George J. Demko
George Demko was a professor emeritus of geography at Dartmouth College with a special passion: the geographies of mystery stories. He was a prolific teacher and writer on the spatial elements of crime fiction and, at the time of his death, was at work on a book, Landscapes of Murder: The Locus Operandi of Crime Fiction. The child of immigrant parents from the Ukraine and then-Czechosolvakia, he also specialized in the urban and political geographies of the Soviet bloc and Russia. After receiving his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1964, he taught at Ohio State University for 20 years. From 1984 to 1985 he shifted to public service, directing the Office of the Geographer before his appointment to Dartmouth. During his career, he also was program director of Geography and Regional Science at the National Science Foundation, and executive director of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
Ronald F. Abler
1985–1986
Ronald F. Abler
A key early leader in development of geography and communication and a leader of AAG both as president and as executive director, Ronald Abler began his teaching career at the University of Minnesota, where he earned his Ph.D, then moved on to Penn State University. He was also president of the International Geographical Union from 2008 to 2012, where he worked to strengthen geography’s presence in international science by connecting IGU with major international science and social science organizations. As executive director of AAG from 1990 to 2003, Abler enhanced geography’s presence as a uniquely interdisciplinary science. He was the recipient of the Royal Geographical Society’s Victoria Medal and the Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal from the American Geographical Society. One of AAG’s Honors, the Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Service Honors, was named for him
Risa Palm
1984–1985
Risa Palm
Geographer Risa Palm has created a dual career as an academic who has made significant contributions to the understanding of human responses to climate change, and as a senior university administrator, serving as Provost at both Georgia State University and the State University system of New York. She has authored or co-authored 13 books and over 40 articles and book chapters. Palm earned her bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. at University of Minnesota. She held tenured rank of professor at University of Colorado, University of Oregon, and at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Peirce F. Lewis
1983–1984
Peirce F. Lewis
Peirce Lewis was a professor at Penn State University for 37 years. An expert in the American landscape, specifically the cultural geography and human experience of America, Lewis graduated from Albion College in Michigan as an undergraduate, then went on to complete a master’s degree in 1952 before joining the Army’s Intelligence branch in Japan. He returned to the University of Michigan for graduate work in electoral geography. This led to his publication of his research on the influence of Black Americans’ migration on voting patterns during and beyond the Great Migration. Lewis was remembered by colleagues Ben Marsh and Joseph Woods as “an exceptional teacher, a vivid writer, and an engaged, productive, and generous member of the communities he inhabited.” He was a consummate public scholar, even writing for television, and served on his State Borough for Planning in Pennsylvania.
John S. Adams
1982–1983
John S. Adams
Urban geographer John S. Adams is professor emeritus at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and in the university’s geography department. His research focuses on North American cities, housing markets and policy, and regional economic development in the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. He was a National Science Foundation Research Fellow at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California at Berkeley; an economic geographer in residence at Bank of America world headquarters in San Francisco; and senior Fulbright Lecturer at the Institute for Raumordnung at the Economic University in Vienna. His book, Minneapolis-St. Paul: People, Place, and Public Life, examines the region’s growth and factors affecting its future.
Richard Morrill
1981–1982
Richard Morrill
Professor emeritus at the University of Washington, Richard Morrill was a pioneer in the field of spatial analysis. His analysis provided significant support to the U.S Census Bureau for mapping and boundaries, especially in the Seattle area. Specialized areas include stratification/inequality, migration, population. In 2014 he was celebrated for his accomplishments in community service by the University of Washington, not only for his lifetime achievements but also his continuing efforts to address gerrymandering and other electoral abuses.
Nicholas Helburn
1980–1981
Nicholas Helburn
Outdoorsman, organic gardener, ecologist, peace activist, mentor and educator Nicholas Helburn was a bridge builder during World War II, as a conscientious objector to the war, and also served as a smoke jumper in Montana. He earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Wisconsin after earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Montana State University. In 1965, he was appointed the director of the High School Geography Project, a curriculum project sponsored by the National Science Foundation to develop a new approach for teaching geography in high schools. He also became the first director of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) for Social Studies. He joined the faculty of the University of Colorado, where he chaired the geography department for three years. During his lifetime, he was recognized for his efforts to further the cause of world peace.
John Fraser Hart
1979–1980
John Fraser Hart
In a long life and career, John Fraser Hart has published more than 150 scholarly papers and a dozen books. Hart is a Fellow of AAG and of the Guggenheim Foundation. After earning his bachelors degree at Emory University, he joined the Navy during World War II and worked as an intelligence officer (one of his specialties was recognizing and teaching his colleagues about enemy planes). Hart earned his masters and Ph.D. at Northwestern University. He started his teaching career at the University of Georgia, before becoming a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota in 1967, where he taught for more than 50 years.
Brian Berry
1978–1979
Brian Berry
Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Brian Berry graduated from University College, London. A Fulbright scholarship brought him to the United States, where he earned his master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He started his teaching career in the geography department at the University of Chicago, and is now the Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. A prolific writer with hundreds of articles and books to his name, he is known for his central place theory, analyzing urban geography using spatial analysis, and long wave theory, where he researched happiness across countries.
Melvin G. Marcus
1977–1978
Melvin G. Marcus
A specialist in alpine and polar geography, Melvin Marcus conducted 40 years of field research, studying glaciers in Alaska and New Zealand, mountains in Turkey and Nepal, and vegetation in the Grand Canyon. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He also served as an Air Force pilot in the Korean War. He taught at the University of Michigan for 10 years before joining the faculty at Arizona State University for the remainder of his career. He died suddenly at age 67, of a heart attack during a hike in Colorado with his students. AAG’s Marcus Fund for Physical Geography was named in his honor.
Harold M. Rose
1976–1977
Harold M. Rose
Harold Rose was the first African American elected President of the AAG and among the first tenured Black professors at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. He was a pioneer in research on race and segregation; as his 2016 obituary states, “His scholarship established that examining segregation was not just about mapping the distribution of racial groups across the urban landscape, but also about understanding the social processes and attitudes about race that produced those patterns.” Dr. Rose’s extensive research focused on how racism and racial policy affected urbanization, development, and human experiences of cities. He earned his bachelors at Tennessee State University and his masters and Ph.D. at Ohio State University. Although Rose began his academic career exploring issues of land use and natural resource management, he shifted focus after arriving at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1962, where he spent most of his career. AAG’s Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice was created in his honor.
Marvin W. Mikesell
1975–1976
Marvin W. Mikesell
Marvin Mikesell was the author of numerous books and articles on global cultural geography, especially on North Africa and the Middle East. After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UCLA, he earned his doctorate at the University of California-Berkeley under the tutelage of renowned cultural geographer and former AAG President Carl Sauer. Mikesell spent his 59-year teaching career in the Department of Geography at the University of Chicago, serving as chairman of the department for several years. He was a member of the U.S. National Commission for Unesco (1973–78), and an advisor to the National Science Foundation (1977–79). Besides serving as AAG President, he also served in many other capacities including Vice President, National Councilor and Editor.
James J. Parsons
1974–1975
James J. Parsons
James (Jim) Parsons was a geographer of multiple specialties and wide-ranging curiosity. Although he spent most of his career based at the University of California-Berkeley (including having earned all three of his degrees there), his dedication to field research took him to many countries and prompted his exploration of a considerable variety of subjects: forests, manufacturing, the influence of fog, pre-Columbian ridged fields, African grasses in the New World, and the historical roots of industrialization. He began his career as a newspaper writer before studying geography with noted cultural geographer and former AAG President Carl Sauer. Parsons’s research interests included cultural geography in tropical environments, physical geography, and biogeography.
Julian Wolpert
1973–1974
Julian Wolpert
A prolific writer and social commentator, Julian Wolpert researched and examined a wide range of issues in urban geography, social equity, disability, neighborhood dynamics, migration, and the role of public funding and of nonprofits, testifying about the latter issue before Congress. Recipient of many fellowships, including a Guggenheim, Wolpert taught in the science department at the University of Pennsylvania for 10 years and then was a professor of geography, public affairs and urban planning at Princeton University for the remainder of his career. During the mid- to late-1950s, he served in the U.S. Navy. He earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his masters and Ph.D. in Geography from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wilbur Zelinsky
1972–1973
Wilbur Zelinsky
Demographer and cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky taught at Penn State University, where he developed numerous models of settlement and migration that are still taught, including the Theory of First Effective Settlement, which asserts that an area’s first successful settlers or invaders have a pivotal role in establishing the social and cultural geography, even if they are a relatively small group. In 2001, Zelinsky was awarded the Cullum Geographic Medal from the American Geographical Society and Presidential Achievement Award from AAG. Among his more than 140 books and articles are several geographical studies of American popular culture, place-names, trends in American nationalism, and demographic transitions. He obtained his bachelors and masters from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, as a student of former AAG President Carl Sauer.
Edward J. Taaffe
1971–1972
Edward J. Taaffe
Edward (Ned) Taaffe was born into an Irish-American family on the south side of Chicago. His family moved throughout the city almost every year. He later said the only advantage to this was how he got to know the city’s breadth and diversity. His first encounter with spatial science was as a trainer for meteorologists in the Army Air Corps, before he had even completed college. After the war, he enrolled in the University of Chicago’s graduate geography program. As a professor at Northwestern University and then as chair of the geography department at Ohio State University, he built a reputation as an urban and transportation geographer. He also was an influential voice in securing more recognition for geography as a social science.
Norton S. Ginsburg
1970–1971
Norton S. Ginsburg
Norton Ginsburg received a scholarship at age 16 and entered the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelors, masters and Ph.D. in geography. His dissertation was on Japanese prewar trade and shipping flows in the Pacific. He was a long-time professor at the University of Chicago. During the war years he joined the Navy, where his knowledge of the Pacific theatre, including Japan and China, was immensely impactful. He also worked at the Department of State as a map intelligence officer.
J. Ross Mackay
1969–1970
J. Ross Mackay
A Canadian geographer, J. Ross Mackay is best known for his permafrost explorations in the western Canadian Arctic. A graduate of Clark University, he then earned his master’s degree from Boston University. He joined the war effort in Canada, serving as a Major in the Canadian Intelligence Corps while also serving as an assistant geography professor at McGill University. After the war, MacKay obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Montreal. He taught for more than 30 years at the University of British Columbia. MacKay has the distinction of serving as president of both AAG and the Canadian Association of Geographers.
John R. Borchert
1968–1969
John R. Borchert
John Borchert’s wide-ranging intellect and practice led him to make important contributions to climatology, natural resource assessment, regional economics, metropolitan change, urban and regional planning, geographic information science, and geographic education. He studied geology at Depauw University, doing advanced work in meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before completing his doctorate at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Borchert later joined the faculty at University of Minnesota. Long before GIS layers were invented, Borchert devised systems for creating detailed and consistent maps of Minneapolis’ expansion from 1900 through the 1950s, plus a forecast of growth through 1980. His 1967 article “American Metropolitan Evolution” remains a classic in urban geography.
Clyde F. Kohn
1967–1968
Clyde F. Kohn
Born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Clyde Kohn pursued studies at Northern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. His first post-doctorate teaching position was at Mississippi State College for Women. He subsequently taught at Harvard, which gave him a lifelong dedication to the full range of geography education from elementary school onward. Kohn lectured at Harvard, Northwestern, and the University of Iowa, where he stayed for the remainder of his career. He had a hand in nearly every major effort to improve geographic education during the 1960s and 1970s. He also participated in efforts to improve research methods, and was active as a researcher and lecturer up to the end of his life.
Walter M. Kollmorgen
1966–1967
Walter M. Kollmorgen
Founder of Kansas University’s geography program, Walter Kollmorgen spent his formative professional years working for the U.S. government during the Great Depression under the Roosevelt Administration, a time he recalls with humor and detail in his 1979 article in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, “Kollmorgen as a Bureaucrat.” He moved to Kansas in 1946 to begin the University of Kansas geography program transforming it from an arm of the geology department to a world-class, stand-alone program. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and had diverse geographic interests, with a special fascination for agricultural geography.
Meredith F. Burrill
1965–1966
Meredith F. Burrill
Geographer and cartographer, Meredith Burrill was a foremost authority on toponymy, the study of place names. For 30 years, he served as executive secretary of the United States Board on Geographic Names. A graduate of Bates College, he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in geography from Clark University. An AAG award for work that intersects research and application is named for him, endowed by a gift from his wife Betsy: Meredith F. Burrill Award
Edward B. Espenshade, Jr.
1964–1965
Edward B. Espenshade, Jr.
Cartographer Edward Espenshade, Jr., may be best known for his editorship of Goode’s World Atlas from 1949 to 1994. He earned his bachelors, masters and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago. He began his career working for the Illinois Geological Survey, then worked at his alma mater as map curator and geography instructor. During World War II, he worked as a map editor and intelligence specialist for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. He taught geography at Northwestern University. Recipient of many honors during his lifetime, Espenshade also served as chairman of the Earth Sciences Division of the National Research Council at the National Academy of Sciences. A former president of the Geographic Society of Chicago, he was elected its first Lifetime Director.
Arthur H. Robinson
1963–1964
Arthur H. Robinson
Arthur Robinson is among the most influential cartographers of the 20th century. During World War II, he directed the map division of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, where he was tasked with designing a 50-inch globe for President Franklin Roosevelt, nicknamed “The President’s Globe.” In 1961, Rand McNally asked Robinson to develop a projection for use as a world map. Dubbed the Robinson Projection, this map is still in use. A graduate of Miami University of Ohio, Robinson attended Wisconsin-Madison for his master’s degree and Ohio State University for his Ph.D. He taught for 33 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Arch C. Gerlach
1962–1963
Arch C. Gerlach
For much of his career, Arch Gerlach was chief of the Geography and Map Division at the Library of Congress. One of his longstanding projects was a summer geography employment program for students to bring uncategorized map materials into the collection. Under his supervision, some 2 million maps were documented, and 1 million duplicates were sent to other collections. During World War II, he worked at the Geography and Map Division of the U.S. Department of State. After the war, he taught geography for nearly four years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but soon returned to Washington, D.C., for the rest of his career. He remained connected to global contexts throughout his career, especially in his leadership as a member and president of the Pan American Institute of Geography.
Gilbert F. White
1961–1962
Gilbert F. White
Gilbert F. White’s work on natural hazards, especially flooding, were among the most important contributions by a geographer in the 20th century. In the 1980s, he also contributed to the literature on preventing nuclear proliferation and restoring geopolitical balance. The common thread was his dedication to “the human family” as he once described humanity. A Quaker and lifelong pacifist, White aspired, for example, to ensure safe water as a human right for all people. His devotion to sound water management earned him the title of “father of floodplain management.” He served six years in the New Deal administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later became the youngest-ever president of Haverford College. He then chaired the geography department at the University of Chicago, his alma mater, and joined the faculty of the University of Colorado in 1969, where he was affiliated until his death in 2006. A Fellow of AAG, White is the namesake of AAG’s Gilbert F. White Distinguished Public Service Honors.
Jan O. M. Broek
1960–1961
Jan O. M. Broek
Jan O.M. Broek was a social geographer specializing from early on in landscape change. Although he was born in 1904 in Utrecht, Netherlands, and received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Utrecht in 1932, he spent most of his career in the United States. He was initially supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and eventually as a professor in the Geography Department at the University of California-Berkeley. Former AAG president Carl Sauer was a major influence in bringing Broek to Berkeley. After returning to the Netherlands to serve as professor and director of the Social Geography Institute at the University of Utrecht, Broek subsequently became a professor at the University of Minnesota, where he also served as department chair and where his professional papers are archived.
Paul Siple
1959–1960
Paul Siple
We invoke American Antarctic explorer and geographer Paul Siple every winter when we speak of the wind chill factor: he invented the concept. He was the inaugural scientific leader at the U.S. Amundsen-South Pole Station, and one of the few people who sailed with Admiral Richard E Byrd on all five Antarctic expeditions. In fact, Siple journeyed for a sixth expedition without Byrd. The bulk of his career was spent in the U.S. Army Scientific Office. Recipient of several awards and honors, including the Byrd Antarctic medals, Siple attended Allegheny College and earned his Ph.D. at Clark University in 1939.
Lester E. Klimm
1958–1959
Lester E. Klimm
Lester Klimm was an economic geographer who served on the University of Pennsylvania’s faculty for 36 years. He was especially concerned with the function of ports, in his research. Over time these interests expanded to geographic philosophy and methodology. He received his bachelors degree from Columbia and his Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania.
Chauncy Harris
1957–1958
Chauncy Harris
American urban geographer and specialist in Soviet studies Chauncy Harris led a distinguished career of scholarship, applied geography, and service to the discipline of geography. After attending Brigham Young University he became its first Rhodes Scholar, studying at Oxford and later at the London School of Economics. He earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago, then returned to teach there and serve as dean of the Division of Social Sciences from 1954 to 1960. During World War II, he worked at the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Geographer, and in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. Besides serving as AAG’s President, he served as Vice President five years, and as a member of the Editorial board. He was also a founder of Soviet Geography at the American Geographical Society.
Clarence F. Jones
1956–1957
Clarence F. Jones
A veteran of both World Wars and professor at Clark University and Northwestern University for 38 years, “Pappy Jones” (as he was affectionately known) may be best noted for his textbooks. His first text book, Commerce of South America, combines his dual passions of Latin America and business. His textbook, Economic Geography, was the standard introductory text for thousands of students. Jones and former AAG President, Preston James, collaborated on another classic textbook, American Geography, Inventory and Prospect. Besides serving as AAG President, he served as councilor and twice as vice president.
Louis O. Quam
1955–1956
Louis O. Quam
Geologist and geographer Louis Quam was chief scientist at the National Science Foundation for many years, overseeing the Office of Polar Programs. Quam received his bachelors and masters degrees at the University of Colorado and his Ph.D. from Clark University. He served in the Navy during World War II after several years teaching geography and geology at Clark University and at the University of Denver. After the war, he taught at both the University of Virginia and George Washington University. Prior to his work with the National Science Foundation, he was director in the Office of Naval Research, where he worked in arctic research. In honor of his work on climate change at both Poles, a mountain range in the Antarctic is named for him.
Joseph A. Russell
1954–1955
Joseph A. Russell
Economic geographer Joseph Russell Smith was influential in the early years of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, organizing the Geography and Industry Department and distinguishing himself as one of the founders of modern economic geography. More astoundingly, he trained primarily as an economist and taught himself geography. In 1919, he became the chair of economic geography at the newly organized Columbia University School of Business. During this time he wrote perspectives on shipping for the Carnegie Endowment for Peace and was asked by President Hoover to lend his perspective to examining famine in post-war Russia. Author of many influential texts, his contributions extended to conservation and all levels of geography education.
Joe Russell Whitaker
1953–1954
Joe Russell Whitaker
Resource conservationist Joe Russell Whitaker lived a life as expansive as the field of geography—he was born in 1900 and lived until 2000. Raised in rural Bluegrass Kentucky, he went on to study under J. Paul Goode at the University of Chicago and to work with major conservationists such as Aldo Leopold. Whitaker deplored what he called the “fruitless effort to ‘define’ geography; a dead-end effort,” when he saw the field as dynamic and interdisciplinary to its core. His greatest passion was teaching, and he taught at numerous institutions, notably Marquette, and Peabody College. Writing became his focal point at age 68, when be began to write essays on science, philosophy, and cultural history, according to his obituary by Geoffrey J. Martin in The Annals of the American Association of Geography. He said, “Seneca came still closer to my attitude toward study and teaching when he wrote, over 1900 years ago, ‘I am glad to learn in order that I may teach’.”
Glenn Thomas Trewartha
1952–1953
Glenn Thomas Trewartha
Climatologist Glenn Trewartha took an interdisciplinary approach to his work, for example by taking an interest in settlement and population dynamics, by advocating for more study of population in geography, as he saw the discipline as already an anthropocentric one. He focused considerable attention on population, climate, mapping, and geography of Japan, influenced by his 1926 Guggenheim Fellowship, which took him to East Asia. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he remained to teach there for his entire career, although he was a guest professor at other institutions. His wife Sarita Ferebee, also a geographer, was his lifelong companion in work as well.
Preston E. James
1951–1952
Preston E. James
Preston James was a meteorologist, climatologist, and transportation geographer whose lifelong specialization in Latin America began while he was a doctoral student at Clark University. There, his studies with Ellen Semple led to his research interests and influenced him to adopt prevailing theories of environmental determinism. James served in military intelligence throughout his career, particularly in the period between and during World War II. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel as part of the Office of Strategic Services. In his teaching career, he began at the University of Michigan, eventually joining the geography faculty at Syracuse University, where he served as chair of the Department of Geology.
G. Donald Hudson
1950–1951
G. Donald Hudson
Born in 1897 in Osaka, Japan, G. Donald Hudson was the son of an American missionary who also farmed upon the family’s return to the United States. Hudson brought the influence of these experiences to his work as a student at the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. His dissertation advisor was former AAG President Dr. Charles Colby. Hudson was the principal geographer for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1934, and in 1935, he became chief of the Geography Section of the Land Planning and Housing Division. His work with the TVA inspired a lifelong interest in regional geography. In 1939, he became a professor in Northwestern University’s geography department, and later joined the geography faculty of the University of Washington.
Richard Hartshorne
1949–1950
Richard Hartshorne
Richard Hartshorne’s 1939 book The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past, is still considered a standard in the geography field. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago and taught at the University of Minnesota for 16 years. During World War II, he established the Geography Division in the Office of Strategic Services for the war effort. After the war, he accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught for 15 years. He contributed to the development of mid-20th century political and economic geography and the philosophy of geography.
Richard J. Russell
1948–1949
Richard J. Russell
As a geomorphologist specializing in river and floodplains, Richard Russell worked in the field across a range of place types, from Texas to the Rhine, as well as Anatolia, and the Amazon. At age 60, he changed direction to study beach morphology all over the world, at a time when most field scientists might retire. He founded the geography department and the Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University.
Charles F. Brooks
1947–1948
Charles F. Brooks
Climatologist and meteorologist Charles F. Brooks received his doctorate from Harvard, then taught at Yale and Clark University. He returned to his alma mater to teach meteorology, contributing significantly to the work of the Harvard Blue Hill Observatory. He is especially well known for his research on hurricanes and writings on weather.
John Kirtland Wright
1946–1947
John Kirtland Wright
John Kirtland Wright practiced in cartography and the history of geographical thought. In 1947, he developed the concept of geosophy, which covers the study of geographic knowledge from all points of view. Wright was especially enamored with what he called “God’s invisible creation” and the emotional links between people and places. He was very invested in the history of geography and the importance of accurate archival geographic records. Wright is also known for naming the term choropleth maps. He was awarded Founders Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, in 1955. He obtained his doctorate in history from Harvard.
Robert S. Platt
1945–1946
Robert S. Platt
Robert Platt graduated from Yale in 1914. After teaching at Yale for a year in China, he returned to the U.S. at the University of Chicago where he taught geography from 1920 to 1957, serving as department chairman for the last eight years. He firmly believed in the intensive study of small geographical areas that could then support broader generalizations on landforms and human occupancy. He was also well known for his interest in general geographical theory, besides the development of geography as a professional discipline. In addition to his role as AAG President, he also served as treasurer, vice-president and editor of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
Derwent Whittlesey
1944–1945
Derwent Whittlesey
Derwent Whittlesey received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1920, where he then taught until 1928. He joined Harvard’s geography faculty, teaching political geography, geography of the Boston region, and African geography. During World War II, he served as a consultant for the U.S. State, War, and Navy departments. Besides serving as President of the AAG, he edited the Annals of the American Association of Geographers for 12 years.
Hugh H. Bennett
1943–1944
Hugh H. Bennett
Hugh Bennett graduated from the University of North Carolina. After graduation, he became a soil surveyor. This position convinced him of the link between soil quality and erosion. During the Dust Bowl years, Bennett strongly advocated the importance of conservation and the dangers in soil erosion. For many years he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then the U.S. Department of the Interior. In these positions, he was influential in promoting legislation that helped protect land from erosion. Further, he helped farmers better understand the importance of soil conservation for their farming and for the country’s welfare. Over his lifetime, Bennett received numerous awards, including the Cullum Geographical Medal from the American Geographical Society. Bennett is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
J. Russell Smith
1942–1943
J. Russell Smith
Known as the father of the field of agroforestry, J. Russell Smith obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation he worked in the geography department at Penn, and then at Columbia University, where he chaired the Economic Geography program. During his tenure at Penn, Smith developed his textbooks for classes, including his most notable, Industrial and Commercial Geography, among the first collegiate books on economic geography. He traveled with Herbert Hoover to Russia to help address and manage the Russian famine of 1920-1921. In the late 1920s his book, Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture, was a precursor and foundation to the field of agroforestry. Smith received numerous awards over his lifetime including the Cullum Geographical Medal from the American Geographical Society.
Griffith Taylor
1941–1942
Griffith Taylor
T. Griffith Taylor was born in England and received his doctorate from the University of Sydney in Australia, where we went on to direct its geography program. Later in his career, from 1929 until 1951, he held geography positions in North America, first at the University of Chicago and then at the University of Toronto. A highlight of his work was when he accompanied the Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica from 1910 to 1913, leading the team of mappers who created the first maps and geological interpretations of that continent. Taylor authored more than 20 books and 200 scientific articles, most of them from the standpoint of environmental determinism and theories of scientific racism. He also proposed dire and controversial limits for Australia’s population by the end of the 20th century. He was nonetheless honored throughout his life, including with an Australian postage stamp in 1976.
Carl O. Sauer
1940–1941
Carl O. Sauer
Often called the dean of American historical geography, Carl Sauer was the founding chairman of the geography department at University of California-Berkeley, and pivotal to the development of its graduate program. He was an outspoken opponent of the environmental determinism of his day, proposing instead theories that emphasized landscape and culture instead of genetics. As a professor at the University of Michigan before he joined the UC-Berkeley faculty, he first became engaged with the study of planning and the impacts of clearcutting. These set the tone for his continuing concern regarding human impacts on places. He studied geography at the University of Chicago, earning his Ph.D. in 1915.
Claude H. Birdseye
1939–1940
Claude H. Birdseye
One of the most widely known engineers of his time, Claude Birdseye was the first chief topographic engineer of the U.S. Geological Society and the first president of the American Society of Photogrammetry. In 1923, he led a geological survey expedition through the Grand Canyon to collect information on hydrology, topography and geology of the Colorado River. The data from this difficult exploration contributed to planning for the use of the river’s waters for energy production and economic development of several western states. He received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and did post-graduate work at the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oberlin and the Charles B. Daly Medal from the American Geographical Society.
Vernor C. Finch
1938–1939
Vernor C. Finch
Born in Michigan in 1883, Vernor Finch was an economic and agricultural geographer whose best known work was the Geography of World Agriculture, co-authored with Oliver Baker, working under the auspices of the USDA. Finch also collaborated with Ray Whitbeck in the college textbook Economic Geography and co-authored The Elements of Geography, with Glenn Trewartha. Besides his service as AAG President, Finch served as treasurer and as editor of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. He was a professor for 40 years at the University of Wisconsin, where he received his Ph.D. In 1948, he was awarded the Geographic Society of Chicago’s Helen Culver medal for his distinguished service in economic geography.
W. L. G. Joerg
1937–1938
W. L. G. Joerg
W. L. G. Joerg served as chief archivist of the Division of Maps and Charts in the Cartographic Records Branch of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Fluent in numerous languages, Joerg studied in Germany at Thomas Gymnasium and the University of Leipzig, then at Columbia University in New York, where he pursued geography and surveying studies, and then ultimately for five years at University of Göttingen. Joerg’s influence in geography was especially pronounced in the Arctic and Antarctic, as he was considered the world’s preeminent authority for these regions.
William Herbert Hobbs
1936–1937
William Herbert Hobbs
Born in Massachusetts in 1864, geologist William Herbert Hobbs led four expeditions to Greenland during his career. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, then graduated from Heidelberg University a year later. Hobbs taught at University of Wisconsin, where he also served nearly concurrently at the United States Geological Society and the University of Michigan, where he taught geology for 26 years. His frequent research trips to Europe and Canada included opportunities to study the Calabrian earthquake in Spain (1905), the eruption of Vesuvius (1906), and glaciers in the Canadian Rockies (1909), Swedish Lapland, and Finse, Norway (1910).
Charles C. Colby
1935–1936
Charles C. Colby
Born in Michigan in 1884, Charles Colby’s academic career started at Michigan State Normal College, where he studied under former AAG President Mark Jefferson. He then sought further training at the University of Chicago, and became a member of the faculty there for the next 33 years. An economic geographer, Colby was also a food geographer in his early career, with a special interest in the economies of growing and distributing fruit. He also took an interest in urban geography and in geographic field techniques. He became more and more engaged with the use of geography in planning and international affairs, spending the last half of his career consulting with many government agencies.
Wallace Walter Atwood
1934–1935
Wallace Walter Atwood
Geographer, geologist, conservationist, and environmentalist Wallace Walter Atwood once said, “Nature has determined through the variety in soils, in landscapes, in climate, and in peoples, the interdependence of one part of the earth upon another and of one people upon the activities of another.” He received his bachelors, masters, and Ph.D from the University of Chicago. He went on to become president of Clark University for 26 years, where he was also responsible for developing the Graduate School of Geography. His service to AAG was supplemented by terms as president of the international Film Foundation and the National Parks Association.
François E. Matthes
1933–1934
François E. Matthes
Geologist and cartographer François Matthes was born in the Netherlands in 1874. One of the founding members of AAG, he also served as treasurer before working as president. Fluent in four languages—Dutch, French, German and English—he graduated from MIT and began his career in Vermont, creating detailed topographic surveys for the City of Rutland. He then joined the United States Geological Survey where he worked for half a century mapping much of the American West and Northwest, including the Grand Canyon, Colorado River, part of the Rocky Mountains, Yosemite, and Mount Rainier. These efforts coincided with the development of the National Parks. Matthes’s essays, including several on Yosemite, were especially popular. His detailed explanation on the geological origin of Yosemite is considered a treasured classic for its comprehensiveness and exactness.
Oliver E. Baker
1932–1933
Oliver E. Baker
World renowned agricultural geographer and population expert Oliver Baker was co-author of the Atlas of World Geography, published in 1917. Baker later also produced the Atlas of American Agriculture. Earning his master’s in geography at Columbia, Baker pursued additional studies in forestry at Yale and agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1912, Baker took a position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he worked off and on for the next 30 years. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1921, and taught part time at Clark University from 1923 to 1927. His focus was on regional agricultural geography and farm populations. He was particularly interested in the migration of rural youth into urban areas, and in improving the standards for American farmers. His research on population problems stemmed from his interest in what he saw as the most valuable farm product: outstanding citizens. In the early 1940s Baker established the Department of Geography at the University of Maryland.
Isaiah Bowman
1931–1932
Isaiah Bowman
Born in 1876 in Ontario Canada, Isaiah Bowman became a U.S. citizen in 1900. He studied under AAG’s first President, William Morris Davis, at Harvard, then pursued his Ph.D. at Yale. Early in his career, his work focused on physical geography, population, and settlement. His book Forest Physiography (1911) was the first comprehensive work published on American physiographic divisions. He did extensive field studies in the Andes mountains in 1907, 1911, and 1913. In 1915, Bowman became first Director of the American Geographical Society. In 1918, he played a critical role under President Woodrow Wilson determining land areas and national borders, especially in the Balkans, after World War I. This experience caused him to turn away from the environmental determinism that had previously driven his work, and made him one of the first political geographers. From 1911 to 1937, he produced several significant publications, including The New World: Problems in Political Geography (1928). In 1935, he became Johns Hopkins’s fifth President.
Almon E. Parkins
1930–1931
Almon E. Parkins
A dedicated and beloved teacher, Almon Parkins received his earliest training in geography through experience as a wheelman on the Great Lakes during the summers of his youth. Born in 1879, Parkins obtained his bachelors at Michigan Normal College, and his masters and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After receiving his doctorate, he became an instructor in geography and geology at the University of Missouri, joining the faculty at George Peabody College for Teachers two years later, where he taught for 23 years. He was an avid traveler, and he took many teaching trips with students. With his wife Elanora, he traveled through much of North America and Europe. He was a longtime editor of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
Lawrence Martin
1929–1930
Lawrence Martin
A geomorphologist and cartographer, Lawrence Martin began his undergraduate career at Cornell, where he returned to earn his Ph.D. While studying for his master’s at Harvard, Martin worked under AAG’s first president, William Morris Davis. Subsequently, he worked at the U.S. Geological Service for 14 years as an expert in landforms. Martin then served in multiple positions at the University of Wisconsin. He authored significant works on the physiography of Wisconsin. Later he served in the U.S. Military Intelligence Division. His map instruction, interpretation, and production expertise assisted in redrawing U.S. boundaries after World War I and served as the basis for establishing Burgenland, the ninth state of Austria.
Douglas W. Johnson
1928–1929
Douglas W. Johnson
Known as a meticulous scholar and an important editor of William Morris Davis’s work, Douglas Johnson was also an early student of Clarence Luther Herrick at the University of New Mexico. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University during the first decade of the 20th century, specializing in geomorphology. His expertise was in the Atlantic coasts of North America and Europe.
Marius R. Campbell
1927–1928
Marius R. Campbell
Marius Campbell was born in Iowa to a Quaker farming family. He studied business before turning his focus to geology, especially economic geography and coal. He was a civil engineer for the U.S. Geodetic Survey, with many publications to his name.
John Paul Goode
1926–1927
John Paul Goode
American cartographer and geographer John Paul Goode earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving his doctorate, Goode worked at the University of Chicago from 1901 to 1928. He is credited with offering an alternative to the “Evil Mercator” which has a significant distortion at the poles and northern latitudes. Goode’s mapping gives the Earth a slightly rounded edge. For his day, this was revolutionary and is still applied today. In 1923, Goode’s School Atlas was first published by Rand McNally. Later it was retitled Goode’s World Atlas, which is still published and in use.
Ray H. Whitbeck
1925–1926
Ray H. Whitbeck
Geographer, professor, and author, Ray Whitbeck was noted as an excellent teacher and trainer of geography teachers. After graduating from Cornell University in 1901, he served as professor of geography for many years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was editor of the journal of Geography from 1910 to 1919, a period that spanned the years of World War I. He was also author of several textbooks and articles on geography, especially about Wisconsin. These include Geography and Resources of Wisconsin, Geography of the Fox River Valley, and Geography and Economic Development of Southeastern Wisconsin.
Curtis F. Marbut
1924–1925
Curtis F. Marbut
A pioneer in modern soil science whose work contributed to advancements in soil classification, agriculture, and geography, Curtis Marbut grew up on the family’s farm in Missouri, where he stated he learned “to plow and sow, to reap and to mow, and to be a farmer’s boy.” Earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology at the University of Missouri and Harvard, respectively, he taught Physiography at Missouri for 15 years and directed the state soil survey. In 1909, his wife died unexpectedly of double pneumonia, leaving Marbut with their five children. He took a leave of absence from his duties and joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a soil scientist, where he spent his remaining time on fieldwork, lectures, and travel.
Ellsworth Huntington
1923–1924
Ellsworth Huntington
A geographer and climate determinist, Ellsworth Huntington traveled extensively through Asia and Europe during his career. Like many geographers of his generation, he relied heavily on theories of environmental determinism and eugenics that led to false conclusions about racial and cultural “fitness,” and scientific racism. Although he acknowledged instances when the data contradicted his theories, he did not categorically use his findings to justify white supremacy. As an instructor at Euphrates College in Turkey, he explored the canyons of the Euphrates River in 1901. He also supported AAG’s first President William Morris Davis on an expedition to Turkestan. He earned degrees from Beloit and Harvard before earning his Ph.D. at Yale. He spent nearly 30 years teaching at Yale, continuing to travel and write extensively. He also worked in research at the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C., focusing on the influence of climate on landforms, geological and historical changes, and human settlements.
Harlan H. Barrows
1922–1923
Harlan H. Barrows
Harlan H. Barrows contributed major findings in historical geography and natural resources conservation. Barrows was a teacher of geography and history at Ferris Institute at the beginning of his career, where he taught Isaiah Bowman, who became a life-long friend, as well as also later becoming an AAG President. Barrows attended the University of Chicago just as its Department of Geography was being formed under the direction of former AAG President, Rollin D. Salisbury. During his tenure at the U. of Chicago, Barrows held positions as professor, chairman, and professor emeritus. His essay, “Geography in Human Ecology,” given as his Presidential address before the annual meeting of AAG, is his best-known and most-quoted work.
Ellen Churchill Semple
1921–1922
Ellen Churchill Semple
AAG’s first woman president and a founding member, Ellen Churchill Semple was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1863. She attended Vassar for her bachelors and master’s degrees, then studied at the University of Leipzig under the influential, controversial geographer and ethnographer Friedrich Ratzel. Because she was a woman, she was not allowed to receive a Ph.D. for her work conducted at Leipzig. Her work raised awareness about human geography, which she described as “the changing relationship between the unresting man and the unstable earth.” She was also instrumental in promoting early theories of environmental determinism, now largely discredited by geographers, as it was used to justify ethnic and racial pseudoscience. Her two geography textbooks were widely used by countless students in the early 20th century. Her first book, American History and its Geographic Condition, published in 1903, brought her national recognition.
Herbert E. Gregory
1920–1921
Herbert E. Gregory
Born in Michigan in 1869, Herbert E. Gregory was educated as an undergraduate at Harvard College, where he studied with AAG’s first president, William Morris Davis. he then earned his master’s and Ph.D. at Yale, where he would go on to teach. Renowned for his early explorations of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona and Utah, his work included mapping the bedrock geology in those areas. As director of the Geology Department at Yale, he expanded human geography studies. He was also the first to name and describe the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, which is famous for preserving fossils of the Late Triassic.
Charles R. Dryer
1919–1920
Charles R. Dryer
“The eclectic life of Charles Redway Dryer began in Victor, New York, with his birth on August 31, 1850,” says an unnamed biographer in the note on his collected papers at Indiana State University. Raised in upstate New York, he graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., in 1871, subsequently working as a school teacher, law clerk, and doctor (although he apparently never practiced medicine). After a stint in the Indiana Geological Service, he joined the faculty at the Indiana State Normal School, and became a professor of geography and geology at the Terre Haute School, where he taught for 20 years. He resigned his post in 1913 but remained a prolific scholar, publishing more than 250 books, articles, and pamphlets, including many for education. “The distribution of ideas and emotions is as truly a part of geography as that of rainfall or corn crops,” he once wrote.
Nevin M. Fenneman
1918–1919
Nevin M. Fenneman
American geologist Nevin Fenneman was the University of Colorado’s first professor of geology. He went on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then to a long career as a professor at the University of Cincinnati. His primary contribution to the discipline was creating a three-tier system of U.S. physiography that is still in use today, and which advanced the large-scale geographical understanding of American geology. He received his master’s degree and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Widely published and influential, his study of American physiography became his life’s work.
Robert DeCourcy Ward
1917–1918
Robert DeCourcy Ward
Robert DeCourcy Ward was the first-ever professor of climatology in the United States, and possibly the first person to emphasize the understanding of climate as a dynamic concept, rather than the previously held static view. He was an 1898 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. AAG acknowledges that Ward also fashioned a second career as an advocate for racist eugenics. He co-founded the influential Immigration Restriction League early in his career, and was instrumental in restricting Jewish as well as Italian, Greek, and other Southern European immigration to the U.S. under the Immigration Act of 1924. He was the first president of the American Meteorological Society as well as president of AAG.
Mark Jefferson
1916–1917
Mark Jefferson
Mark Jefferson’s career began in astronomy. After working at Argentina’s Observatorio Nacional for six years, he became a high school teacher, principal, and superintendent in his home state of Massachusetts. He earned his master’s degree from Harvard University, “then a Mecca for young geographers,” under the influence of William Morris Davis, according to Jefferson’s former student Isaiah Bowman. Following the devastation of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Jefferson the chief cartographer of the American Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Jefferson and his team created as many as 5,000 maps to chart Europe’s shared values, commerce, language families, and natural features in the hopes that this would help envision peace for the continent. Jefferson was also the head of the geography department at Michigan State Normal College (MSNC), now Eastern Michigan University (EMU), from 1901-1939, and offered one of the nation’s first college courses in urban geography. A building was named for him on campus in 1967.
Richard E. Dodge
1915–1916
Richard E. Dodge
Richard Dodge graduated from Beloit and Harvard before earning his Ph.D. at Yale. He supported AAG’s first President William Morris Davis during an expedition to Turkestan, and traveled extensively through Asia and Europe. He collected considerable data on geographic features and archeological sites. Later he taught at Yale and also conducted an expedition to Palestine.
Albert Perry Brigham
1914–1915
Albert Perry Brigham
American geologist Albert Perry Brigham was educated at Colgate College, Hamilton Theological Seminary, and Harvard University. He was the author of numerous books on geography, including A Text-Book of Geology, Geographic Influences in American History, Student’s Laboratory Manual of Physical Geography, From Trail to Railway through the Appalachians, Commercial Geography, and Essentials of Geography.
Henry G. Bryant
1913–1914
Henry G. Bryant
Explorer and writer Henry Bryant was born in 1859, and grew up in Philadelphia. An alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Bryant attended Princeton University, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees there. He also earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania. Bryant conducted numerous expeditions in his lifetime, notably the exploration of Grand Falls in Labrador and the relief team and follow-up expeditions to Greenland in the wake of the famous expedition by Robert Peary.
Rollin D. Salisbury
1912–1913
Rollin D. Salisbury
American geologist and educator Rollin Salisbury was an academic prodigy in his youth, completing his studies at the Whitewater State Normal School in Whitewater, Wisc., in just over two years instead of four. He joined the faculty of Beloit College immediately after receiving his bachelor’s degree from the school in 1881. He became chair of the geology department just three years later. He served on the U.S. Geological Survey from 1882 onwards. In 1892 he was one of the scholars on the Peary Relief Expedition to Greenland. From 1899 until his death, he served as dean of the Ogden Graduate School of Science at the University of Chicago, where he organized the first notable department of geography in the U.S. in 1903.
Ralph Stockman Tarr
1911–1912
Ralph Stockman Tarr
American geographer Ralph Stockman Tarr died tragically of a brief illness at age 48, just after serving his term as AAG president. Born in Gloucester, Mass., and educated at Harvard, Tarr spent much of his career as a professor of geology at Cornell University. He was in charge of the 1896 Cornell expedition to Greenland to study glaciology, while being attached to the Peary expedition’s goal to retrieve a large iron meteorite. He produced numerous text books and studies on physical and economic geographies throughout his career, and on Greenland and Alaska.
Henry C. Cowles
1910–1911
Henry C. Cowles
American botanist and ecological pioneer Henry Chandler Cowles was a professor at the University of Chicago. His study of ecological succession in the Indiana Dunes of Northwest Indiana led to priorities for their protection and preservation. Through his work as an ecologist, he connected the power of topography, soil study, and geography in conservation efforts. The Cowles Bog National Natural Landmark is named for him. Among his works is The ecological relations of the vegetation on the sand dunes of Lake Michigan. His theories of succession and climax formation (when an ecology reaches a stable status) are still used in the study of ecology. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, created in 1966, is one important longterm outcome of his work.
William Morris Davis
1909–1910
William Morris Davis
American geographer, geologist, geomorphologist, and meteorologist William Morris Davis was AAG’s founding president. Born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Davis was the son of Edward M. Davis and Maria Mott Davis (daughter of the women’s advocate Lucretia Mott). Davis studied geology and geography at Harvard’s Lawrence Scientific School, graduating in 1869 and then receiving a master’s in mining engineering in the following year. He contributed significantly to the field of geomorphology, including his work on how water and wind influence land forms, but also advanced theories of scientific racism and environmental determinism in his writings about physical geography.
Grove Karl Gilbert
1908–1909
Grove Karl Gilbert
American geologist and author of an important monograph, The Geology of the Henry Mountains (1877), Grove Karl Gilbert graduated from the University of Rochester in 1871. He served as the first geologist on the Wheeler Survey, one of the sweeping surveys of the American West conducted by the U.S. government from 1871-1879, led by George M. Wheeler. Gilbert also served on the Powell Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region from 1874-1879, becoming Powell’s primary assistant. After the creation of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879, Gilbert was appointed to the position of Senior Geologist and worked for the USGS until his death in 1918.
Angelo Heilprin
1907
Angelo Heilprin
American geologist, geographer, paleontologist, naturalist, and explorer Angelo Helprin was likely the first Jewish president of the AAG. He was born in Hungary and emigrated to the United States with his family at age 3, in 1856. He took part in the Peary expedition to Greenland in 1891–1892 and personally documented the 1902 eruption of Montagne Pelée in Martinique. An accomplished mountaineer and painter, he taught and curated science throughout the U.S. and exhibited his art in Philadelphia and Boston. He also worked on expeditions in Florida, the Bermudas, and Mexico. He died unexpectedly and tragically at age 54 during his term. Future president Ralph Stockman Tarr stepped in to preside in his place.
Cyrus C. Adams
1906–1907
Cyrus C. Adams
Cyrus C. Adams, born in Naperville, Ill., was a journalist who became knowledgeable in both African and Arctic geography, and was one of the earliest people to examine economic geography. He was a founding member and council member of the AAG before becoming president, and was also highly influential as a member of the American Geographical Society, laying the groundwork for AGS’s journal The Geographical Review.
William Morris Davis
1904–1906
William Morris Davis
American geographer, geologist, geomorphologist, and meteorologist William Morris Davis was AAG’s founding president. Born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Davis was the son of Edward M. Davis and Maria Mott Davis (daughter of the women’s advocate Lucretia Mott). Davis studied geology and geography at Harvard’s Lawrence Scientific School, graduating in 1869 and then receiving a master’s in mining engineering in the following year. He contributed significantly to the field of geomorphology, including his work on how water and wind influence land forms, but also advanced theories of scientific racism and environmental determinism in his writings about physical geography.