GEOGRAPHY UNIVERSITY of OREGON
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DEPARTMENT of GEOGRAPHY UNIVERSITY of OREGON WINTER 2004 that organization transitions into a new Notes from the century. Susan Hardwick has been lead- Remembering Bill Loy Department Head ing the changes that are taking place in (1936-2003) geographic education at UO and beyond. She and Don Holtgrieve offered our fi rst his is a year of transition for the ill Loy died November 15 of complica- web-based course (Historical Landscapes department and for many of us per- Btions from cancer. He was an extraor- T of North America) during the summer ses- sonally. We are deeply saddened by the dinary individual, a splendid colleague, sion. Jim Meacham and the InfoGraphics recent death of our colleague and friend and an inspiring teacher. His family, col- Lab are building on the enormous success Bill Loy. Over the years, Bill shared with leagues, former students, and friends miss of the Atlas of Oregon by starting two us his love of geography and appreciation him dearly. new atlas projects. Ron Wixman travels of good cartography. He also taught us Bill was on our faculty from 1967 to to some of the most remote places on about our responsibility as geographers 1997, and as Professor Emeritus, he was the planet, which involves inevitable to educate and enlighten students, and an active member of UO Geography right transitions. Shaul Cohen’s book Planting he inspired us to be better citizens within up until his death. Thousands of students Nature will be published this year and the department, university, and the com- learned about physical geography and he has started new research in north- munity. Bill’s legacy to Geography will Oregon’s landscapes from Professor Loy, ern Ireland. Lise Nelson begins a new be enduring and long remembered by and he trained a generation of cartogra- study of Hispanic communities in the his students, colleagues, and friends. phers who now hold prominent positions Willamette Valley, while writing a book Transitions provide opportunities to in the private and public sectors. Bill based on her previous work in Mexico. explore new directions. It has been a served as Director and Cartographer of Peter Walker fi nishes his research on pleasure getting to know Hugh Howard, the fi rst edition of the Atlas of Oregon urban development in the Sierra Nevada our visiting professor in GIS, but his in 1976, and 25 years later that standard and fi nds interesting connections to his arrival was the result of losing Aileen was surpassed with the second edition of research in Africa. And, Pat Bartlein Buckley who assumed a research posi- Continued on page 3. and Pat McDowell have made the tran- tion at ESRI. We will be hiring a new sition back to academics after stimulat- faculty member in cartography and geo- ing sabbaticals of travel and research. graphic visualization next year to carry In the last four years, we have improved on the cartographic tradition set by Bill our Condon Hall space in important Loy, Jim Meacham, and Aileen. Alec ways. We now have state-of-the-art facili- Murphy begins his role as President of the ties for students and faculty, including the American Association of Geographers as InfoGraphics Lab, Kariel Research Lab, Bill Loy Teaching Lab, and Sam Dicken Conference Room. We are nearly fi nished with the Tea Room renovation thanks to Inside: the generous donations of alumni and Meet Hugh Howard friends. Gone is the orange carpet and Carroll Visiting Professor gold walls of the last thirty years and in their place are natural woods and muted Alec Murphy’s Visit to Iran greens. It is a wonderful place for lunch, News from InfoGraphics reading, and conversation. We are gather- UO Party at the AAG ing images and photos for the room that Alumni Update will help capture the history of the depart- ment, so let us know if you have good pic- News from the Front Offi ce tures from your years in the department. UO Geography Education UO Geography continues to attract News from the Faculty attention within the University, the dis- cipline and beyond, as people to try to Honor Roll of Donors understand our rapidly changing world. Recent Graduates We have grown in size: eleven faculty, Notes from Department Head (continued) their interests and aspirations. Under- four research associates, three adminis- graduates majoring in geography can now trative staff, 42 graduate students, and focus on environmental geography; cul- about 120 undergraduate majors. In ture, politics, and place; geographic edu- spring, fifteen students finished their cation; or geographic information science. master’s and Ph.D. degrees, and this fall This is my final year as Department we welcomed nine new students to the Head, and I look forward to the transi- graduate program. Recent graduates went tion back to research and teaching. I’ve off to academic positions at University of enjoyed the last four years more than I Minnesota, University of Utah, University could have imagined. It has been reward- of Illinois, and Indiana State University. ing to meet so many former students and Two graduates are working as cartogra- friends of UO Geography and realize your phers at The Washington Post and The deep affection for our department—your New York Times. Another is a hydrolo- confidence inspires us to do better. Those gist for the U.S. Forest Service, two of us who work in Condon Hall are contin- others work for environmental consulting ually aware that we are part of a network organizations, and one is in the Peace of UO geographers that extends from our Corps in Belize. We’re very proud of newest student to our oldest alum. I hope our graduates and share their excitement that we will hear from you in the coming at facing new careers as geographers. year that you will join us for lunch in the Our undergraduate program has nearly new Tea Room when you are in town. I doubled in size. Students discover geogra- especially want to thank you for invest- phy for a variety reasons—a lifelong love ing in our department through your of maps, a concern about the environment, gifts. Your contributions have helped or an abiding interest in travel to exotic us maintain excellence in our graduate and undergraduate programs, and we are places. They see geography as field that The physical geographers celebrated the truly indebted to you for your support. provides philosophical grounding as well visit of two Chilean scientists last spring. as applied training in job-related skills. We work with each student individually Cathy Whitlock to choose a program that best addresses Department Head System for Cartographic Design Educa- priateness of the user’s design decisions, Geography Welcomes tion. SMARTcart teaches students the using 65 rules of cartographic design, and Visiting Professor basic rules of cartographic design by displays the results in the form of scores. allowing them to actively create thematic You can test your cartographic skills at maps. The program evaluates the appro- http://www.geog.ku.edu/smartcart. e are pleased to have Hugh Howard Hugh contributed to a recent car- on our faculty this year to teach geo- W tographic textbook entitled graphic techniques, including cartogra- Thematic phy and introductory and advanced GIS. Cartography and Geographic Visualiza- (2003). He also par- Hugh comes to us from the University of tion, Second Edition ticipated in the development of a 3D GIS Kansas where he recently finished his dis- project of downtown Lawrence, Kansas sertation, but his roots are in California. and has used GIS to interpret high-level As an undergraduate and then a master’s chert gravels. student at San Francisco State University, Hugh plans to continue teaching and Hugh combined his interests in map doing research in cartography, geographic design, geographic techniques, and arid visualization, and GIS. He is currently lands to produce an interactive multi- working with the University of Kansas media atlas of Death Valley, California Medical Center on a grant to measure called Death Valley: An Animated Atlas. the geographic dimensions of obesity He then moved to Stanford University and associated health problems. He also where he received a master’s degree in envisions researching the effectiveness of geology. His thesis involved the creation SMARTcart in the classroom. Hugh is a of a dynamic three-dimensional model to guitarist and played professionally before simulate and visualize alluvial fan growth attending college. In his spare time, he and coalescence. Hugh Howard is a visiting professor this has enjoyed biking and hiking around At Kansas, Hugh designed SMARTcart, year. He is teaching Introduction to GIS Oregon. a cartographic educational tool, for his and Advanced GIS this year. dissertation, Development of an Expert 2 GEOGRAPHY AT OREGON WINTER 2004 3 Remembering Bill Loy (continued) sity of Oregon (2002), Oregon Scientist of Charlotte Loy; brother, Merrill Loy; son, the Year (1997) from the Oregon Academy David Loy; daughter Ellen Loy Schroer; the Atlas for which Bill was editor. Both of Science, Distinguished Service Award son-in-law Frank Schroer; step-daughter, books won numerous awards, including from the Association of Pacific Coast Debbi Caldwell Vanlandingham; step- the Globe Book Award from the Asso- Geographers (1991), and the Distin- son-in-law Stanley Vanlandingham; and ciation of American Geographers (2001) guished Alumnus Award from the Uni- four grandchildren. He is also survived and the Best Book and Atlas Award versity of Minnesota, Duluth (1990). He by his first mother-in-law, Alice Korpi, from the American Congress on Survey- was active in the American Association of and brother-in-law, John Korpi, and ing and Mapping (2002), and both have Geographers, the American Cartographic extended family, June and Warner Kirlin.