AWG Board Meeting Minutes
16 November, 2002
(Past) AWG Board Meeting
(October 26, 2002; Minutes)
Meeting was hosted on the Everett C.C. campus, 16 November 2002. Meeting
held for one and one-half hour (10:30am to 11:30am).
AWG Board Members Present:
Patrick Buckley, President
J.W. Harrington, Vice President
Todd R. Wright, Secretary
Kerry Lyste (AWG Secretary 99' - 01')
Items Discussed:
OLD BUSINESS
- Report on Meeting with the Washington Geographic Alliance on October
26th Since most of the board members in attendance were also at the joint
meeting no special report was needed. Membership can consult
the minutes
of this meeting on the web page.
- Additional work on Finalizing the Meeting Schedule through Spring
2004
- Spring Meeting, 2003
The AWG 2003 Spring meeting, to be held on the Everett Community College
campus, Saturday 12 April, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Registration shall take
place from 9:a.m. - 10 a.m.) Registration fees shall include the cost of
coffee and pastries in addition to a delivered lunch (pizza?). $5.00 or
so was the expected cost.
Kerry Lyste volunteered to secure up to three conference rooms. Two rooms
shall provide space for presentations, the third for a presentation on
ArcVoyager. In addition, Kerry will also reserve A/V equipment and
possibly a computer lab for the K-12 workshop.
Agenda:
Keynote Speaker: Andrew Bach, Associate Professor, Western Washington
University, was nominated as the tentative keynote speaker. President
Buckley will submit AWG's request to Dr. Bach, suggesting he present his
findings on "The role of geosciences in sustainable development" (based on
later communication: Prof. Bach accepted this task and will speak on his
research concerning the unsustainable "mining" of glaciers for our
regional water supply).
Target Audience: College students and faculty plus K-12 Geography
teachers have been identified as the target audience.
Paper and Poster Sessions: Students and Faculty will be invited to
present
their current research. As at the past meetings there will be a
competition for best papers and posters by undergraduate and graduate
students.
K-12 Workshop with clocktime: In addition, AWG anticipates
targeting K-12
teachers with two one-hour sessions: First hour, will demonstrate the
possibilities of using ArcVoyager within the K-12 classroom. This will be
facilitated by Kerry Lyste. The second hour, will demonstrate free web
based electronic atlas and thematic mappers available for classroom use.
This will be facilitated by Pat Buckley.
- Fall Meeting, 2003
Talks on holding a Seattle field trip continued. A tour of the Port of
Seattle remains the primary idea, in addition to a keynote talk by Doug
Fleming. (JW will contact Doug Flemming and Troy Brown and submit the
AWG's request.)
College students and faculty, K-12 teachers, and 'professional
geographers' in the region have been identified as the target audience.
In terms of 'professional geographers', discussions also included the idea
of providing a different theme, i.e. "Planning and GIS", with perhaps Tim
Nyerges serving as a keynote speaker. However, the thought then arose
that perhaps these are really two ideas for two separate meetings.
If the field trip to the Port of Seattle remains carried out, logistics
would then include acquiring transportation (bus and driver), which may
require a more extensive amount of funds then, the nominal cost of past
meetings. JW indicated he would seek further council on the issue from
Doug Fleming and Troy Brown.
- Spring Meeting, 2004
The University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV) located in Abbortsford,
BC Canada, has offered to host the AWG's Fall 2003 meeting. We agreed to
accept their invitation.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Joint Newsletter with the Washington Geographic Alliance
(Needs to go out soon!)
Decided to send out two issues of the newsletter before the Spring
meeting, the first to concentrate on bringing the membership up to date on
current activities by the AWG and the send a call for papers especially to
students for the Spring Meeting.
The second one will be sent out several weeks before the Spring Meeting,
to remind the membership.
It was agreed that given the current financial constraints that the
Geographic Alliance faces (see minutes of October 26th meeting with
Alliance leadership), that a page in the newsletter be devoted to the
Alliance and that this combined newsletter be mailed to the approximately
200 Alliance Teaching Consultants. It was determined that our current
budget would support such a mailing at least for the current year. This
should be reviewed again next year.
Possible contents for the first newsletter include:
- News item activity since the last AWG Fall Meeting.
- Any new Geography staff hires at colleges around the state.
[who would poll people to acquire this information?]
- Improving AWG connections regarding career development
[JW offered to write on this issue]
- Announce a contest for a new AWG logo design.
- Pat Buckley to provide a news item.
2. Canadian Association of Geographers Meeting at the University of
Victoria, May 27 -- June 1.
University of Victoria will host the Spring 2003 Canadian Association of
Geographers Meeting. AWG has been invited to participate in a "cross
border panel" at the meeting. Buckley indicated that WWU would be glad to
organize such a panel and has already discussed the possibility with
University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV). The board decided to
accept this invitation, and all interested in participation should contact
Buckley.
3.Geography Bee
Buckley has been in contact with the Washington State Coordinator for the
Bee, Evelyn McNeal, and offered to have AWG provide a lunchtime speaker at
the event. McNeal was very pleased to accept the offer.
It was pointed-out that this is the biggest single Geography event in the
state that brings together K-12 students, their families, and teachers.
It will be the perfect time to show that Geography is far more than "capes
and bays", and discuss the possibility of having a career in the field.
For this Spring's Bee Buckley will speak on the Environmental Issues in
China and especially the Three Gorges Project, a site he has focused
classes on and taken WWU students to on three separate occasions.
It is hoped that a speaker at the Bee will become a regular AWG event.
Further, it is hoped that the AWG will provide more volunteer judges and
others for the annual event.
Next Scheduled Board Meeting January 11th, 2003