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Department Faculty Updates (continued from page 5) and hope we are able to make this field experience a reality. If the vote goes my way (and it should because I paid enough for it!) I hope to be elected as President of the Middle States Division of the AAG. This year’s MSD conference will be held here at Shippensburg University in November. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase our department and university to fellow geographers, and I am looking forward to making the 2012 MSDAAG conference a success. I was recently asked to become the editor of the Pioneer America Society’s online journal Pioneer America Society Transactions (PAST). This is a great organization and if you have an interest in North American history I would urge you to attend a meeting (Philadelphia in 2012). Along the same vein, I was also asked to be the editor of Middle States Division’s journal, the Middle States Geographer. Both should keep me busy, and by the end of all of this I will probably be ready for another sabbatical. For those who are keeping track, this year’s trout count was dismally low… I blame it on the rain and then the lack of rain… George Pomeroy After two challenging and enjoyable years serving as the SU’s Interim Director of the Institute for Public Service and Sponsored Programs, I am very glad to rejoin my colleagues and our students full-time in the department. While the administrative job was a wonderful learning experience, I can say that “hands down,” nothing beats being in the classroom engaging in ideas with students. Planning — local, city, town, environmental, and land use — continues to be a theme of my teaching and research. As Director of the Center for Land Use, I have played a role in cooperative efforts to plan along the I-81 Corridor and in the South Mountain Partnership, a large landscape conservation planning effort centered on the South Mountain region. Several student research and service projects, mostly through the Land Use, Environmental Land Use Planning (ELUP), and Geography Seminar courses, have spoken to these initiatives. As with the last newsletter, I can report another successful field course in China. In the summer of 2010, we (the students, our children Megan and Eileen, and, of course, Jennifer and I) again visited Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou. Again, I can safely say that the country is changing rapidly; modernizing at breakneck speed. A unique twist to the 2010 trip was our visit to Expo 2010 — the world’s fair. The fair’s theme — Better City, Better Life — featured city planning and was intended as a signal of Shanghai’s emergence as a global city. The day we visited so did 380,000 other people! We also made our first visit to Beijing’s Urban Planning Exposition Hall. Similar to the Shanghai’s urban planning museum, the exhibit features an impressive scale model of the city. A cultural first was our visit to Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum, where we respectively witnessed the remains of the Great Helmsman inside a crystal coffin for public viewing. As always, I am very glad to hear from alumni. Hearing from you allows us to inspire students, as they need role models (you), great case studies (your projects), and encouragement in their personal and career development. Jan Smith Greetings from Shippensburg! It is hard to believe that I am beginning my 10th year at Shippensburg this year — where has the time gone I have no trouble remembering the two years we spent in Gilbert Hall or the small and warm GIS lab in the basement of Horton Hall. Who could forget those, right But, it is hard to believe that we have been back in the renovated Shearer Hall for over five years. The GIS lab and the Ford lab are getting an incredible workout these days with more majors in our department as well as more students from across campus interested in learning GIS. Besides teaching GIS and Cartography, I continue to teach World Geography, the Geography of Europe, and, since 2011, have been teaching our Senior Capstone Seminar in the spring semester. As always, I am fortunate to get to work with the students from our department who are pursuing their degrees in Earth-Space Science and Geography-Social Studies education! I am involved in several other projects beyond the Shippensburg University classroom which keep my calendar relatively full. I serve as the Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Alliance for Geographic Education — a nonprofit organization which focuses on teaching and learning of geography at all levels and is funded, in part, by the National Geographic Education Foundation. We provide professional development opportunities for teachers across the state as well as other types of support for their teaching of geography. Over the past several years, I have been working with several colleagues from across the US developing a middle school geography textbook in conjunction with National Geographic Learning. The other major external project in my life recently has been my participation on an NSF funded grant entitled the “Road Map Project.” Essentially, this panel is working to develop an educational framework to enhance the teaching and learning of geography in our K-12 schools. I am sure I speak for everyone in the department—we love hearing from you and finding out what you have been doing since leaving Ship. Please keep in touch and come back and visit! Kay Williams I continue teaching the courses I have in the past and am rotating fall semesters between teaching Biogeography and Problems of the Atmospheric Environment graduate class, as well as Conservation of Natural Resources and Physical Geography. I had not taught biogeography for three years so it gave me a chance to redesign the course which now includes a PowerPoint presentation, outside activities and a research paper. If we can get the transportation situation better, I would also take them to Waggoner’s Gap in the Kittatinny Ridge for a field trip as I have in the past. My responsibilities as Treasurer for the Pennsylvania Geographical Society (PGS) have decreased somewhat since we are finally moving into the 21 st Century and are accepting membership and conference payments online, including with PayPal. The website, www.thepgs.org, has been updated and improved. If you are not a member of the society, I encourage you to join which can be done online. Our annual meeting this year will be held on November 2 & 3, 2012 in Salisbury, MD, the home school of our Executive Director, Brent Zaprowski. This will be our second visit to the Eastern Shore and I’m sure it will be as successful as in the past. It will be a joint meeting with MADAAG. 6 Down to Earth News 2012
Department Faculty Updates On a more personal note, my daughter Lydia decided to continue her education and is currently enrolled in the master’s program Psychological Sciences, a new degree. She acquired an undergraduate degree in psychology here at Ship in 2003 and took many science classes between then and now. She is hoping to teach. She and I had a nice visit to the University of Georgia the first weekend in January to attend the retirement party of my mentors, advisors and friends, Al and Kathy Parker. We were just there a weekend, but it was great to see them and was nice going back after 17 years! My grandsons are now 7 (Alex, second grade) and almost 3 (Zack). With Lydia back in school and taking night classes, Fred and I pick up the boys until their dad gets off work the two nights she has class. It is really fun watching them grow up. Christopher Woltemade I have recently completed some research with Kurt Fuellhart addressing the potential for residential water conservation programs in the Shippensburg area. The study examines the economic costs and benefits of various conservation programs. We presented papers on the research at both the AAG and the American Water Resources Association conferences and a paper is scheduled to be published this year in The Professional Geographer. I’m also working together with Nate Bennett (MS, Geoenvironmental Studies) on a stream restoration project on Larry’s Creek in Lycoming County, PA. A highly-eroded reach of the creek will be reconstructed in 2012. The broader project includes monitoring of baseline conditions and post-project geomorphic monitoring. I’m really hoping to involve some students in related projects in the watershed — there are lots of possibilities! Personally, I’m keeping very fit by cycling with the SU Cycling Club. Since every year I get a year older and the students are always young and fit, let’s just say I get my money’s worth at our weekly training ride. After dipping my toe back into the road racing scene last fall, I’m hoping to participate in a few more road races this year. At least they have master’s categories where I don’t have to race against 20-year-olds! Joseph Zume It’s been a remarkable journey here at Shippensburg University. I am now in my fifth year here and still enjoying every moment of it. The Department of Geography and Earth Science is the BEST!! The atmosphere around here is the most conducive for productivity; I have very exciting and dependable colleagues, and a 20- year department chair that is totally awesome! Once again, I am thankful to be a part of this great department. My teaching has remained on schedule. I have continued to teach Hydrology, Atmosphere, World Geography, and the Regional Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa. This summer (2012), I will have the privilege of teaching a field techniques course focused on Geophysics, a very exciting opportunity. A graduate-level course on groundwater flow and contaminant transport is still on my radar in the near future. Also on track is the implementation of geophysics into our geoenvironmental studies curriculum, a product of an NSF grant that I spearheaded two years ago. I have also been making significant strides in the area of scholarship. Over the past two years, I have published two articles in top-flight international journals, a journal editorial, and two other manuscripts are nearing submission. Similarly, I have continued to present my research at, at least, two national and/or regional conferences a year. I’m also gradually increasing the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in my research effort. Service has continued to be another area of priority to me. On campus, I still serve as co-chair of the APSCUF/SU Student Affairs Committee in addition to serving on many other committees. To the discipline, I currently serve as Outreach Director for the Pennsylvania Geographical Society (PGS) and Finance Director for the Africa Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). This is in addition to serving as a peer reviewer to several academic journals and a grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF). I also remain in the active membership of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), National Groundwater Association (NGWA), American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the Pennsylvania Geographical Society (PGS), and the American Water Resources Association (AWRA). Needless to say, my multi-tasking and time management skills are awesome! Despite the heavy demand on my time, I still find time to spend with my beloved daughters, Ngodoo and Nguveren. We spend lots of time cooking, going to the gym, riding bikes, row boating, etc. Those girls make life much more enjoyable for me and I thank God for blessing me with them!! Emeritus Faculty Update From Ron McCall Mr. Ron McCall and his wife Dorothy have been keeping busy and are in great spirits these days. For the last couple of years, Ron and Dorothy have been coming to campus on Fridays to lunch with current faculty and students at the Century Café in Old Main. We value those lunches and hope they will continue. Ron writes that his activities are numerous and include volunteering at their church’s clothing center, working on his parent’s families genealogies, traveling, and keeping up with family members. He and Dorothy enjoy meeting with retired geography faculty once a month for breakfast. As many as possible gather when they are in town. (Apparently there are some Emeritus Faculty who don’t like Shippensburg’s warm winters!) Besides the McCalls, those attending the monthly breakfasts are Drs. Benhart, DeVitis, and Ehemann, and former department secretary Chris Ocker Salisbury. Ron reports that Dr. Kermit Laidig is also doing well. Our best wishes to all of our Emeritus Faculty members. We are grateful for your health and appreciative of your continued support of students and current faculty. Our department could not and would not be what it is today without you! Please keep us posted and let us know how you are doing! Down to Earth News 2012 7
Page 1 and 2: 2012 The alumni newsletter of the D
Page 3 and 4: Department Faculty Updates Mike App
Page 5: Department Faculty Updates Kurt Fue
Page 9 and 10: GEOGRAPHY-EARTH SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
Page 11 and 12: Field Courses Honorable Mention Sea
Page 13 and 14: Field Courses Grants/Publications (
Page 15 and 16: PA Alliance Brings Giant North Amer

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