The Forty-Eighth Meeting: Greensboro, North Carolina

Abstract

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, May 1994, pp. 67-68 THE FORTY-EIGHTH MEETING: GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Susan R. Brooker-Gross The forty-eighth meeting of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers was held at the downtown Sheraton Hotel in Greensboro , North Carolina, from November 21 through November 23, 1993. The Local Arrangements Committee, chaired by D. Gordon Bennett, and his colleagues at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, planned a meeting full of opportunities , including field trips and special events. The attendance at the meeting was a high for recent years, with 181 regular, 223 student attendees and 26 spouses. Field trips included Sunday tours of the region's historical geography (led by Dorothy Mason, North Carolina A&T), another of the metro Piedmont triad (Keith Debbage), and a third on the physical geography of the area (Jeffrey Patton). A few hardy souls unwound after the day's events with a 5K post-field trip job, led by Keith Debbage and Aaron Rhodes. Sunday's opening session was preceded by a reception sponsored by Omni Resources of Burlington, North Carolina, and followed by a social hour sponsored by the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina. The opening session itself focused on national urban policy, with panelists John W. Sommer, Knight Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; James H. Johnson, E. Maynard Adams Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Kingsley E. Haynes, Director, Public Policy Institute at George Mason University . John Rees moderated the panel. Papers submitted for the program included regular papers (with one special session organized), papers for the Honors competition, and undergraduate student papers submitted for the GTU special session. All but the GTU papers were reviewed in the normal process. Ofthe 78 papers submitted for review, one was withdrawn. Twenty-one Honors papers were presented at the meeting, six GTU papers, and 54 papers were presented in regular sessions. The number of Honors papers is a substantial increase over last year's eleven. In addition, a special panel was organized around "Challenges and Opportunities for University Geography Programs," by Howard G. Johnson. The special paper session was organized by Ann Oberhauser on "Doing Gender Research: Households, Communities , and Regions in Comparative Perspective." Papers on physical geography were particularly well represented this year on the program. Dr. Brooker-Gross is Associate Provostfor Undergraduate Programs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0115. 68Southeastern Geographer The World Geography Bowl was again a boisterous success, drawing students to the meeting from across the region. The state teams competed in preliminary rounds on Sunday afternoon, and the final round, held Monday late afternoon, ended with the University of South Carolina team, coached by Allaire Shaw Posey, the winner. The team will participate at the national meeting for an inter-regional showcase competition. After the Bowl, the Geography Club at UNC-Greensboro hosted a social hour for student participants and others. An opportunity for students to meet with representatives from graduate programs was available on Monday afternoon, and an open forum was held for information and discussion ofGamma Thêta Upsilon. In addition, a tour of Omni Resources was a site visit on Monday evening, and a workshop on "Project GeoSim" by Laurence Carstensen and Robert Morrill was held on the Greensboro campus on Monday night. The annual Honors Luncheon concluded the meeting on Tuesday. Jan Kodras , Chair of the Honors Committee announced the awards for student honors: Jeremy Williams, University of Tennessee, was awarded for the best masterslevel paper, and Wendy Shaw from the University of Georgia took the honors for the best doctoral-level paper. Senior Tina L. Johnson (West Virginia University) was awarded the Prunty Scholarship. In honors for professional geographers, Karl Raitz, University of Kentucky, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Robert Lloyd, University of South Carolina, the Outstanding Research Award, and James O. Wheeler, the Outstanding Service Award. A special award was presented to Karl Raitz for his work on the Professional Geographer by Stanley Brunn. The meeting came to a close after President ofthe Association ofAmerican Geographers Robert W. Kates presented the Honors Address: "Ending Hunger in...