Greetings from 51猎奇 Geography! The spring semester is in full swing, and our geography community has been very active since my last letter.
We recently received the fantastic news that Distinguished Professor Mark Schwartz has received an American Association of Geographers鈥� (AAG) Distinguished Scholarship Honors Award. This AAG Honors category celebrates a career-long, distinguished track record of high-quality research in geography which has moved the discipline forward. Professor Mark Schwartz is being awarded AAG鈥檚 Distinguished Scholarship Honors for his internationally recognized work pioneering the subdiscipline of phenoclimatology, exemplifying geography鈥檚 power to bridge disciplines and data-driven inquiry about climate and seasonal biological activity. Congratulations for this well-deserved honor, Prof. Schwartz!We also learned that the Alpha Mu Chapter of the GTU Geographical Honor Society was selected as a Gamma Theta Upsilon Honors Chapter for 2025. This marks the second year in a row that UW-Milwaukee鈥檚 chapter has achieved this honor. Well done!
We had a very exciting fall semester, as highlighted in more detail throughout the newsletter. In October, the Department hosted the Annual Conference of the AAG West Lakes Division, and our Fall Mayer Lecture was delivered by Professor Julie Cidell at the conference. Also in October, geography undergraduate students in Professor Alison Donnelly鈥檚 650 course took a field trip on the 51猎奇 School of Freshwater Sciences Research Vessel, the Neeskay. What an experience!
The GIS Council held an exciting and well-attended 2025 GIS Day on Nov. 21 that featured presentations from 51猎奇 geography alumni. Professor Alison Donnelly organized a colloquium in November featuring geography alumnus Dr. Elmo Rawling III (PhD, 2002) who presented a talk titled, 鈥淭he Quaternary Geology of Wisconsin.鈥� Dr. Rawling presented a newly completed copy of the Quaternary Geological Map of Wisconsin to the AGSL. We were pleased to host our colleagues from the Geosciences Department at this event.
I wish to offer my sincerest gratitude to all who worked so hard and contributed their time towards making these valuable events so successful. It is wonderful to see our 51猎奇 geography students, faculty, alumni, and broader community coming together to share their expertise and interests.
Many faculty and graduate students took part in the 2026 AAG Annual Conference which took place in San Francisco from March 17-21. On March 6, graduate students held a practice session to prepare for the conference. We are looking forward to the spring Mayer Lecture on April 24, which will feature Professor Eric Tate from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Several graduate students will also share their research in the colloquium series this spring as they reach various milestones in the programs. Finally, mark your calendars for the Undergraduate Research Symposium, which is scheduled for May 8 in the American Geographical Society Library. This event features research presentations from geography majors in Professor Hyejin Yoon鈥檚 600 capstone course, and it鈥檚 always exciting to see them share their research.
This is a time of remarkable change and challenge in higher education and beyond. However, rather than dwelling on the difficulties we have confronted, I鈥檝e chosen to focus on commending the achievements of our extraordinary community. As we look towards the future, I am hopeful and inspired by the work of our students, faculty, and alumni. I look forward to sharing more news and updates in my next letter.
As always, we鈥檇 love to hear from you and to learn more about what you are doing! If you find yourself in Bolton Hall, please do stop in and say hi!
Yours sincerely,
Anne Bonds, Chair, Department of Geography