Archive for 2009
Jobs for Geographers
One of department chair Mark Bjelland’s goals is to better connect Gustavus geography majors with job opportunities and with department alumni who can provide job leads. Today’s tip: searching under GIS and Minneapolis at http://www.indeed.com produced 17 local jobs, including one with the CIA. A search under “social research” turned up some duds but also [...]
100% Scandinavian Film to Premier October 11 and 12
Award-winning Swedish filmmaker Stefan Quinth is premiering his new film on Scandinavian American culture and places at the American Swedish Institute on October 11 and at Gustavus Adolphus College on October 12. Advance information suggests Saint Peter and Gustavus Adolphus College are featured in the film. Read more at: http://www.cameraq.com/eminnesotatour.htm
French Canadian Fur Trader surfaces in Saint Peter
Gustavus students discovered a French-Canadian fur trader near the Minnesota River in Saint Peter. His English was poor but they think he said his name was Louis Provencalle.
Geography Prof. Bob Douglas Welcomes International Students
Dressed as the early Saint Peter settler Captain Dodd, Dr. Bob Douglas led new international students on a tour of the Saint Peter area. As always Bob’s tours take students to the Minnesota River landing where it all began. Bob’s tour focused on the downtown and the town’s historical geography.
Gusties go for Geographer Graf
Geographer Will Graf of the University of South Carolina gave the culminating lecture at the Nobel Conference 45 Banquet on October 7. His talk, “Where the Wild Things Are: Dams, Rivers, and Wildlife Preservation,” was a beautifully structured and informative overview of the state of dams and welfare of wildlife dependent on river systems in [...]
Geographer Dr. Will Graf is featured Nobel Conference Banquet Speaker
Geographer Dr. Will Graf will be the featured speaker at the October 7 evening banquet during the 2009 Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College. Dr. Graf is the University Foundation Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina where he also chairs the Geography Department. Will Graf will speak on the state of [...]
Collecting Oral Histories in Haiti
This summer, Dr. Anna Versluis continued to study land change, especially agricultural expansion into former pine forest, in a watershed in southeast Haiti. In a previous study, Anna and a colleague used satellite images to document the region’s transition from a mixed forest and agriculture landscape in the 1970s to a landscape dominated by agriculture [...]
View Gustavus Weather Online
Now you can check on the Saint Peter weather from the comfort of your home. The Geography Department has operated a campus weather station for decades. Students use the data for projects during GEG-108: Weather and Climate and for research projects on solar power, wind energy, hydrology, and plant growth in Saint Peter. But in [...]
Alumnus Featured in Article on Stream Restoration Work
Mac Cafferty (‘00) is the Environmental Resources Manager for the City of Lakeville, MN and was quoted in a July 29, 2009 StarTribune article about efforts he has led to restore meanders to the Vermillion River in order to improve trout habitat. Mac has been involved since 1999 in efforts to restore natural meanders to [...]
Art Exhibition in NYC Relies on Geographic Information Systems
Damon Rich, an artist/urban designer has created an exhibit on the foreclosure crisis for the Queens Museum in New York City. He used a geographic information system to compute the foreclosure rate block by block for the entire region. Then, he used an old 9,000 square foot model of the city and placed plastic symbols [...]