ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS

EarthView is on display at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in the historic Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.
38° 55' 30" N
77° 03' 18" W
Thanks to Steve Morse for his wonderful lat/long finder!

EarthView team member Dr. Vernon Domingo is shown just a bit to the west of his native South Africa in the lobby of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. EarthView is at the AAG meeting as part of our effort to encourage geographic education at all levels in the United States.

Students from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica point to their homes in Jamaica and Trinidad.

AAG Executive Director Doug Richardson with EarthView.

AAG senior staff member Susan Gallagher played a key role in arranging for EarthView's arrival at the annual meeting.

The EarthView team poses with Wilbur Zelinksy, a world leader in cultural geography scholarship. (L to R: Vernon Domingo, Dr. Zelinsky, James Hayes-Bohanan, and Natalie Regan)

Dr. Michal LeVasseur, a leading geography educator and author who has worked with both National Geographic and the National Council for Geographic Education, points to the Andes Mountains.

Dr. Rick Bein of Indiana University and James Hayes-Bohanan pose in front of Brazil with Rodrigo Capelani, who was one of the first participants in BSC's US-Brazil Consortium on Urban Development (CAPES/FIPSE). Rodrigo completed a semester in Bridgewater before graduating from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. In May of this year, he will receive his master's degree from Miami University in Ohio, where Dr. Hayes-Bohanan received his master's in 1989.

Vernon Domingo (l) and James Hayes-Bohanan enjoyed showing EarthView to Kristin Alvarez, president of the National Council for Geographic Education and University of Redlands, California.

National Geographic intern Sarah Evans, who writes for the My Wonderful World blog, poses with EarthView team member James Hayes-Bohanan. My Wonderful World is an outreach program that -- thanks to creative geographers such as Sarah -- is doing a lot to build interest and enthusiasm around geography. Visit the My Wonderful World blog to find games, photos, maps, and videos that bring geography to life, and to participate in a nation-wide movement to expand geographic literacy. (Dr. Hayes-Bohanan first learned of the blog when it included a story about his teaching geography with coffee in 2008.)

Throughout the conference, geographers -- such as Christopher Shearer of National Geographic -- were encouraging each other to SPEAK UP for their discipline. At a time when the need to understand both human and physical geography could not be greater, the legislative and executive branches have failed to embrace geography as a key component of education. Meeting participants wrote letters urging the inclusion of geography in the reauthorized version of "No Child Left Behind" legislation. Without geography, many children will be left behind their peers in the rest of the world!

Along with a strong Geography Bowl appearance by student Kim Kirkwood and a number of research presentations by faculty members, EarthView ensured that the contribution of Bridgewater State College to the 2010 Annual Meeting will not soon be forgotten!

The perfect conclusion to a day of showing EarthView to thousands of geographers was being on hand when the AAG presented its first-ever Atlas Award to Dr. Jane Goodall. Her reflections on a lifetime of scholarship and humanitarian endeavors were deeply moving.