Zooming into a meeting time

Thanks for your replies, to the group and to me.

It appears that not many from our Committee will be at DC.  So, first a request to those who are not planning to attend the meetings: Will you please email me or the group any specific items you have in mind that you would want this Committee to follow-up on? 
Note that the items are not only for the rest of this year, but to also set the agenda for the next year or two.  Which means, even if your suggestions imply a longer time-horizon for discussions, well, all the better :)

Now, regarding the meeting time:
From Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon, there is only a very, very, narrow window of opportunity to get everybody together at the same time.  I haven't heard from our ex-officio member, Michael.  It will be neat if he can be present as well.

So, considering all the constraints, here are two options, both for Saturday, and we are looking at about 60 to 90 minutes of conversations:

• Option 1:
  We meet on Saturday morning, preferably a eat-and-talk meeting.  Will a 8:00 time be ok?  Let me know if 8:00 is ok, or if you prefer even earlier at 7:30.
• Option 2:
  We meet at lunch time on Saturday, about 12:00 or 12:30.

Once I hear from you, we will figure out the rest of the logistics.

Have a fantastic weekend

sriram

When to meet while at DC?

Hi everybody, the AAG has made available the preliminary program for the DC meeting.

There is a chance that you are not attending the annual meeting; I have emails from two members on this note.

For those attending, it is highly possible that your schedule there will be like mine, in that we will not be there from early Wednesday until late Sunday. 

So, assuming that Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be when we might have the greatest overlap, please send me/us a note with the following info, if you are planning to attend the meeting:

• Your three preferred time slots--about 60 to 90 minutes--for us to get together.  And make sure the listing reflects the higher preference first.  You may also give us a blank check of sorts--like, anytime on Friday.
• If you have any preference for a meeting-only, or a meeting @ some eating time (breakfast meeting, meeting at lunch time, .... )
  
• Any particular item you would like to include in the agenda for that meeting.

sriram

A happy new year, and more ....

My new year greetings to you.

I suppose some of us--including me--are getting ready for classes that start on Monday.  Perhaps some of you have a week or two more to go before you get back into the classroom.

When I read this NY Times report, I thought this committee's members might be interested in it.  One of the toughest questions we might get from prospective geography majors/minors is a simple one: how much will it help finding a job after graduation?  I suspect that this question by itself is the driving force behind business and criminal justice as the fastest growing majors at our campus.

This paragraph in the NY Times report summarizes the kind of typical statements about relatively "under-performing" accademic departments:

When Louisiana’s regents voted to eliminate the philosophy major last spring, they agreed with faculty members that the subject is “a traditional core program of a broad-based liberal arts and science institution.” But they noted that, on average, 3.4 students had graduated as philosophy majors in the previous five years; in 2008, there were none. “One cannot help but recognize that philosophy as an essential undergraduate program has lost some credence among students,” the board concluded.

At the same time, groups like the Association of American Colleges and Universities have been defending the value of disciplines like ours:

There’s evidence, though, that employers also don’t want students specializing too soon. The Association of American Colleges and Universities recently asked employers who hire at least 25 percent of their workforce from two- or four-year colleges what they want institutions to teach. The answers did not suggest a narrow focus. Instead, 89 percent said they wanted more emphasis on “the ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing,” 81 percent asked for better “critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills” and 70 percent were looking for “the ability to innovate and be creative.”
“It’s not about what you should major in, but that no matter what you major in, you need good writing skills and good speaking skills,” says Debra Humphreys, a vice president at the association.

Perhaps our biggest challenge is to figure out how to convince students and their parents about the reality of career:

“The truth is,” she says, “students think too much about majors. But the major isn’t nearly as important as the toolbox of skills you come out with and the experiences you have.”

I remain convinced about the merits of liberal education, but I am equally aware of how much a career-focus drives higher education.  Geography is one of the academic departments that often has to defend its budgetary existence, as much as philosophy departments have to.  This Committee, therefore, is a wonderful opportunity for interested geographers to think through some of the issues. 

I welcome your thoughts, particularly with the idea of shaping an agenda for next year, and when we meet at the upcoming AAG annual meeting.

Developing an agenda

Hi folks, a week ago I was in San Diego for the annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers.  It was wonderful to catch up with people, listen to presentations and discuss related intellectual issues .... and to, of course, enjoy the fantastic San Diego weather :-)


This is my third year as a member of this committee, and the initial appointment was for a three-year term.  I have no idea about AAG's policies on re-appointment and, therefore, I do not know whether I will be able to participate in discussions after June 2010.  Perhaps Michael can clarify this.
Over the last two years, I have come to understand that this Committee has less of a responsibility to initiate AAG actions, but is more about responding to ideas that the AAG plans to pursue.  Despite that limited scope, over the last two years, the Committee's chairs and a few of us tried to do something above and beyond.  (Let me know if you want details on what we tried.)  But the reality is also that we did not accomplish some of the larger goals we thought were possible.  And given my relatively late start here as the Chair for this year, I am not sure whether it is prudent to launch anything big.

So, here are a few suggestions that maybe we can start with:

• First, we will try our best to meet in DC at the AAG Annual Meeting.  My first year, we did manage to meet for an hour or so.  Even if that did not result in any specific actions, we could at least get a clearer idea of geography--from different people and places--as it relates to college and careers.
• Second, I wonder if even now--or at least by the AAG meeting--we might be able to (s)elect a chair for 2010-2011.  A first- or a second-year member will definitely return to the Committee next year, and with an earlier identification of a Chair, more productive discussions might be possible.  Again, Michael could clarify for us whether such a procedure will be consistent with AAG's operational policies.
• One of the advantages to such a head-start is that we might even be able to sponsor sessions at the AAG, or even call for papers focused on themes that are related to this Committee.  We attempted to do this last year and were moderately successful despite the limited time we had.  
• Finally, Michael, is there anything from the AAG that this Committee needs to think about and respond to?
  

I will wait for your feedback and suggestions before I bug you with more :-)

A quick note of welcome

Hi everybody:

Am glad to serve as the chair of the AAG's Committee on College Geography and Careers.
I am an associate professor at Western Oregon University.  Prior to this I was in Bakersfield, California.  I have been a US citizen for a while now, after immigrating from India in what seems like a long time ago now :-)  More details at my work home page.
A few words of self-intro from you, maybe?

In a couple of days, I will contact you and initiate discussions on what we might want to accomplish this year and into the future.  For now, a few communication/administration notes:

• To make it easy for us to address the Committee, I have set up an email distribution list.  So, to email the Committee, you do not have to put together email addresses anymore; all you need to do is address the email to: aag-cgc@wou.edu
• There is one other advantage with such a distribution list: the emails will always have a prefix in the subject line: [AAG-CGC].  This will make it convenient to keep track of conversations related to this Committee.
• I have also created a blog for this Committee.  In fact, this email itself is coming to you directly from the blog, which is at http://aag-cgc.blogspot.com/
  I have already blogged there the Committee's responsibilities and membership.  (I have intentionally not listed your email addresses.)  Let me know if you have suggestions on items to include at the blog.
  
• If you also prefer to blog your input and/or responses, please let me know.  I will add you to the list of bloggers there.

Looking forward to productive conversations.

Committee Membership

The Committee's members for 2009-2010 are:

Name	Institution	Year term expires	Comments
Phil Klein	U of Northern Colorado	2012	Member
Dagmar Budikova	Illinois State University	2012	Member-Council
Michael Solem	AAG	Indef.	Ex-Officio
Ann Johnson	ESRI	2010	Member
Diana Casey	Muskegon Community College	2010	Member
Jeffrey Osleeb	University of Connecticut	2010	Member
Sriram Khé	Western Oregon University	2010	Chair
John Knox	University of Georgia	2011	Member
Jennifer Rahn	Samford University	2011	Member
Jeffrey Young	LizardTech	2012	Member
Steve Cunha	Humboldt State University	2012	Member