The Graduate Program began the new academic year well with the arrival of nine new students from as far away as Taiwan and as near as New Jersey. Their interests range from coastal geomorphology, resource management, and climate change to environmental justice and feminist theory. RAGGS members took new students on a two-day camping orientation to see highlights of the State. The first annual convocation in the Zimmerli Art Museum provided the opportunity for socializing and meeting the new executive dean of the Graduate School, Holly Smith. Short talks on the state of the discipline of geography were given by Elvin Wyly (for the faculty) and Verdie Robinson (for the students).
Bria Holcomb noted that the program includes students from India, Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Sweden, The U.K., The Ukraine, Turkey, the Gambia, and Mexico. Students are engaged in research in research in Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Brazil, the Caribbean, Armenia, Ecuador, the Philippines, Venezuela, Mexico and Pakistan inter alia.

Jan 25 Kiran Asher, Bates College
Feb 1 Humphrey Fellows Invitation Panel
Feb 8 Grant Saff, Hofstra University
Feb 15 Chris Mikolajczyk, Princeton Hydro
Feb 22 Alumni Panel - Life After Rutgers
Mar 1 Audrey Kobayashi, Queen's University
Mar 8 Rick Lathrop, Rutgers University
Mar 15 Humphrey Fellows Invitation Panel
Mar 22 AAG meetings in Los Angeles
Mar 29 To Be Announced
Apr 5 To Be Announced
Apr 12 Alan Taylor, Penn State University
Apr 19 Joann Mossa, University of Florida
Apr 26 Meghan Cope, University of Buffalo
May 3 John Paul Jones, University of Kentucky
The schedule is subject to change.

People, Places, & Patterns

Grad Student News
Chuck Colvard; John Dobosiewicz; Daniel Falvo; Peter Kabachnik; Junko Noguchi; Erika Poulsen; Bradley Wilson.

Chuck Colvard is keeping pretty busy these days after spending part of last summer on the road with Tom Estilow. For a record of their crosscountry adventure see: <geography.rutgers.edu/publiclands/lite> This fall he's back in the classroom teaching his famous field methods/rain monitoring course (that's a joke), in addition to...
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Geography is Discovery It should be evident from this newsletter that Geographers love to explore. Every Wednesday at 12:30pm, a member of the Department has been speaking about their travels at an informal "brown bag" lunch get together. It is a fun way to learn about some part of the world you may not have been to (yet). These were the topics from the Fall semester: "Egyptian Idyll in the first month of the Millennium." "Searching for Bats in the Central African Republic" "A Geo-Tourist in Jordan and Egypt" "Public Lands 2: The Manifest Destiny Tour" "Adventures Down Under" "Camels, Thieves, and Star Wars: September 1999, Tunisia" "History, Schmistory- Coffee as a Political Act: Scenes from Nicaragua and the Local Coffee Shop" "Up a Creek Down the Chesapeake" "Tree-Ring Investigations in Mongolia" "Winter Weather Preview" The Spring semester schedule is now being set up. Check the web for details. http://geography.rutgers.edu/features/brownbag.html Contact Joshua Halofsky or Peter Kabachnik if you'd like to give a talk.

Alumni News

Ken Bielen; Marla Emery; Hassan Hodges; Doracie Nantes; Michael Niosi; Melissa Pawlowski; Tamar Rothenberg; Lenore Slothower.

Ken Bielen ('71) writes: I continue to do grants writing for infrastructure improvements for small villages in Northwest Ohio. Whenever I work on maps or gather demographic data for the applications, I realize that my whole career has its basis in my undergraduate studies...

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