罢丑别听听(AAG) is the national scholarly association to which the most geographers 鈥� including professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and professionals - in the US belong. Founded in 1904, it has members from over 100 countries and its total membership has fluctuated over the past two decades between about 8000 and 12,000.听听In addition to publishing several journals and a monthly听, the AAG hosts annual meetings, promotes discussion through more than sixty specialty groups, offers workshops and career information, provides support for its nine regional divisions, and advocates for geography in the public and policy realms.听听AAG is governed by a Council, which consists of elected regional and national Councilors, elected officers, the most recent past-president, and the executive director (ex officio).听听Day to day operations are run by Washington DC-based professional staff.
As of July 2021, I am serving a one-year term as President of the American Association of Geographers. This follows one year as Vice President and will be followed by an additional year on Council as the immediate Past President.听听I鈥檓 the third faculty member from the 兔子先生传媒文化作品 Geography Department to serve in this capacity (Ken Foote, now at the University of the Connecticut, was at CU while he was AAG president from 2010-11; and Risa Palm of Georgia State was AAG president from 1984-85, also while at CU).听听Due to the COVID19 pandemic, just about everything I鈥檝e participated in to date has taken place virtually 鈥� two virtual national conferences, virtual regional conferences, and many, many other meetings!听听I have yet to meet AAG staff or Council Members in person.听听The one exception was in October this year,听听when I traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska to attend the meeting of the Great Plains Rocky Mountain region. Fortunately, with COVID19 vaccines widely available, including finally for younger kids, the annual meeting in February 2022 will be a hybrid virtual and in-person event in New York City.
Department Chair Jennifer Fluri asked me to write about what it鈥檚 like to be AAG president.听In addition to attending Council Meetings to vote on numerous matters such as accepting slates of nominees and awardees and discussing broader strategic directions, the role entails writing monthly听听for AAG newsletter;听听participating in Regional meetings to give keynote addresses, attend business meetings, and in some cases, participating in Geography bowls; selecting a conference theme and organizing a presidential plenary (I鈥檝e chosen climate justice as both my theme and topic of the plenary); and serving as a member of the Healthy Departments Task Force to provide assistance for departments facing institutional threats.听Recently, for example, the executive director and I submitted a successful letter to oppose the carving out of GIS from Geography as a discipline to create a separate major in California Community Colleges.听The role also includes answering emails from members on a wide variety of issues, and getting involved in specific targeted initiatives.听听
One initiative I鈥檝e been deeply involved with is co-leading the AAG Climate Action Task Force to respond to a member petition to听听of the association鈥檚 annual national meetings by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030.听This has turned out to be a very complicated issue involving everything from contracts for large hotels that must be signed many years in advance, to finding alternative ways for students to gain opportunities for professional networking and mentoring, at a time when everyone is experiencing Zoom fatigue.听I鈥檝e also been closely involved in one of a number of pandemic rapid-response projects that AAG Council decided to implement, an initiative to help 鈥溙齜y providing funding for wifi hotspots, chromebooks and laptops for underserved students in Geography classes at Tribal Colleges and Universities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.听Furthermore, I鈥檓 looking forward to working with Executive Director Gary Langham in his upcoming Membership initiative, to expand AAG membership, particularly for physical geographers, geographers at community colleges, and professional geographers. If you have ideas about how AAG can better serve you, particularly beyond the scope of an in-person annual meeting, please don鈥檛 hesitate to email me.听