Announcements

Spring Cleaning

Students and faculty volunteered for community service on April 21st to help clean Black Creek which is a National Scenic Waterway just south of Hattiesburg.  The cleaup is an annual event organized by environmentalists with the DeSoto National Forest.

On May 5th more faculty and students spent the day volunteering to clean the beaches on West Ship Island.  The annual cleanup is organized by the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Department of the Interior.

Students in the News

• Amber Butler (Geology senior) was awarded the 2012 L.F. Boland Scholarship by the Mississippi Geological Society.  The award included a $1,000 check.
• Stu Hamilton (Ph.D., Geography 2011) received the 2012 Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Student Award for the College of Science and Technology.
• Caleb Smith (doctoral student, Geography) received the William Carey University Faculty Research Award for 2012.
• Brian Blickenstaff (M.S., Geography 2010) has had several international sports pieces published recently, you may want to see Qatar Football Dreams.
• Heather Boucher (B.S., Geography 2010) was recently hired to work with Google Maps, Inc. in San Diego.

Vanity Fair

You may want to check out some of the cool cartography Derek Watkins (BS '10) is creating.  One of his recent projects is highlighted in Vanity Fair.  Derek is now a graduate student at The University of Oregon and you should check out his site for more cartographical interestes.  Derek brings life to the language of maps.

Association of American Geographers International Education and Geography Project

Mark Miller and David Cochran recently completed a survey and media presentation of the interactions between international travels and research and geographic education.  Have a look at their presentation.

Planning at Southern Miss

On March 28th, Geography hosted a seminar on career and intership opportunities in planning.  Presenters included Pattie Brantley, AICP, Director of the Department of Urban Development for Hattiesburg and Kara Drane, AICP, Director for Forerest County Planning.  The event was sponsored by the Department of Geography and Geology and Gamma Theta Upsilon and co-hosted by the Department of Economic and Workforce Development and the Trent Lott National Center.  Contact Professor Mark Miller at 601.266.4729 is you want to know more about planning at Southern Miss.

Economic Mapping in Petal

Last month Dr. Miller and 15 geography students joined Petal, MS development managers for a day of mapping the town's assets.  The list included museums, parks, schools, natural resources and historically significant structures.  They worked with the Main Street Association and photographed various economic and cultural assets; they GPS located structures, and helped make rankings of the community's assests for a long-term strategic development plan.  You can read more about it.

FOG - Friends of Geography

Southern Miss and the Hattiesburg community are working on a planned future for Midtown Hattiesburg.  Have a look at their concepts and our ever expanding campus community.

Speak Up For Geography

The National Geographic Society (NGS) is campaigning to accrue 10,000 letters in support of the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act (TGIF) by November 18th.  Senator Cochran (MS) introduced the bill and Senator Harper has co-sponsored it.  Geography is recognized as a "core academic subject" but is the only core subject with no federal funding dedicated to advancing the discipline.  The request in TGIF is $15 million.  NGS hs made it very easy to contact our members of congress by clicking at TGIF. 

Geography in London, 2012 British Studies Program

In the summer of 2012, David Cochran (Geography) and Miranda Grieder (Architectural Engineering Technology) will co-teach London Inside Out as part of the Southern Miss British Studies Program.  Focusing on built form and spatial design at scales ranging from a single building to the metropolitan region as a whole, this course will introduce students to London as an urban system and spatial construct on the landscape.

For more information, contact David Cochran at david.cochran@usm.edu or Miranda Grieder at miranda.grieder@usm.edu or Southern Miss International Programs at 601.266.4344 or at Study Abroad.

Geography's 100th Anniversary

The geography program was established at The University of Southern Mississippi in 1912, the same year the school opened its doors to students.  Geography at Southern Miss has been an active discipline for 99 years and next year marks our centennial.  In recognition of that anniversary, the department is planning a year long celebration with a seminar series with invited speakers, release of information pertaining to the history of geography as a science at The University of Southern Mississippi and other public functions to be announced.  In recognition of the anniversary, the department is planning a year-long celebration with a seminar series.  Release of information pertaining to the history of geography as a science at The University of Southern Mississippi and other public functions will be announced.  Please revisit our site to learn more about this centennial celebration.

James Joe Ferguson

September 11, 2011 marked the 10th anniversary of 9/11; on that day ten years ago Joe Ferguson was aboard the flight that hit the Pentagon Building.  Joe was a geography alum and worked for the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.  Over the last ten years, the Southern Miss Foundation and the Geography Program have established the James Joe Ferguson Memorial Scholarship.  Joe was passionate about geographic education and Southern Miss.  If you would like to know more about this scholarship, please contact our department chair, Dr. Clifton Dixon.

Upcoming Professional Meetings

• GSA. Southeastern Section of the Association of American Geologists.  4.1.2012 - 4.2.2012.  Asheville, North Carolina
• SEDAAG.  Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers.  11.18.2012 - 11.20.2.12.  Asheville, North Carolina

Department News and Faculty Updates

5.16.2012
Grant Hobgood (GHY BS '11) has received a position as a GIS Tech with Magnolia-River in Huntsville, Alabama.  You can learn more about the company at Magnolia-River.

4.20.2012

• Mississippi Geography - Joby Bass took two van loads of students on the Geography of Mississippi field trip during our Spring Break.  They traveled up the river to the delta, across the state to Tupelo and back down to the coastal plain.  The trip has become a very popular tour de state that opens the senses to the hidden geography of our state.
• Soutwest Volcanology - Lin Pope took three vans loads of students on a week long trip through the southwest focusing upon the regional geology and volcanic history.

11.17.2011
Former gradaute student Joslyn Zale is now the 911 Coordinator for Nassau County, FL.  She heads up the GIS/cartography operations with dispatch maps.

11.16.2011
Dr. Andy Reese and Dr. David Cochran are the new co-editors of the journal Southeastern Geographer.  The management of the journal will be housed in our department for the next four years.  The journal is the professional research outlet for the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers.

10.5.2011
Dr. Holt and his students have also assisted the City of Long Beach, MS to recover valuable information lost when Katrina's storm surge heavily damaged the city's 100 year old cemetery and related public records kept at City Hall were washed away.  The project, funded by a $7,250 grant from the Learn and Serve America program, involved more than 50 geography students mapping with GIS to relocate headstones, markers, and grave sites.  More information can be found at cemetraries.

10.5.2011
Dr. Frank Heitmuller, an Assistant Professor of Geology at Southern Miss received a National Science Foundation RAPID research grant to examine the impact of sedimentation along the lower Mississippi River floodplain following spring floods.  The focus of the research is to determine how much sediment was deposited onto the floodplain which over time decreases the potential volume of flood capacity within the levee system.  The impact of such sedimentation will eventually cause floods of equal magnitude as to this spring's floods to breach the levees causing widespread flooding and economic loss.

Colloquium Schedule

Date:  11.4.2011
Place:  WSB 229
Time:  1:00pm
Speaker: SEDAAG Presentations
Affiliation: USM GHY Graduate Students
Topic: TBA