In our Fabulous New Monroe, Joe and I have a Pollen Analysis Laboratory. Right now, it looks very bare – a huge fume hood, an emergency shower & eyewash, and stainless steel cabinets… soon we will fill it with mud and nasty chemicals, on our way to extracting pollen grains from the La Sal Mountains! In the Physical Prep Room, we’ve set up two microscopes… … Read the rest
It is my pleasure to announce the 2011 recipients of student research awards funded by the Geography 50th Anniversary Endowment. A committee of three faculty carefully reviewed student proposals and made the following awards:… Read the rest
Morgan Lamon (2012) is one of five undergraduates in the United States to win a $5,000 scholarship from the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF). Congratulations Morgan!… Read the rest
Quite a week! Now that classes are cancelled on this bright, clear, sunny day, we have a moment of calm after the hurricane, thunder storm, and earthquake. So, check out the pictures of our new labs, classrooms, and other spaces just waiting to be used.… Read the rest
The newly renovated but still 100 year-old Monroe Hall came through Virginia’s August 23 magnitude 5.8 earthquake extremely well (elsewhere, there are cracks in the plaster walls of Virginia Hall, the stairwells in Combs Hall, and parts of GW Hall; serious – but not enough to close those buildings). Faculty in the building did a double-take, but then kept on working – till campus police threw us out an hour later! Belmont, Gari Melchers’ Home & Studio in Falmouth, suffered … Read the rest
We’ve had a hazardous start to the semester, though I wouldn’t call it disastrous… Geography has moved back into Monroe Hall and we think you will all LOVE the new space – and our 100-year-old building came though the earthquake (8/23/11) with no problems! On the GEOG 240 Natural Hazards blog page I’ve posted seismograph/seismogram images and some news about the severe thunderstorm on Thursday (8/25/11) and Hurricane Irene (8/27/11). Now we’re waiting for the swarm of locusts – … Read the rest
The 2011 UMW Study Abroad Program in South Africa has been on the road for just over a week. So far, we have visted the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, some rural informal settlements in Northwest Province, we have taken a walking tour of Johannesburg’s City Center, we have visited (and chatted with some of the resident of) Alexandra Township, and we have visited Constitution Hill (site of an apartheid-era prison as well as South Africa’s Constitutional Court.)
We have spent most … Read the rest
. . . . and slowly unpacking and setting up in Monroe Hall. All faculty are now in their new offices and most of our classroom furniture has arrived. There’s still a lot of work to be done, however.… Read the rest
You may now sign up for Professor Donald Rallis’s Cambodi study abroad program. For details and instructions go to his website: http://www.regionalgeography.org/cambodia/?page_id=27… Read the rest
Finally, moving days are here. Our new furniture is being delivered as I type this and our books, lab equipment, maps, pictures, coffee maker and other vital supplies will be moved over to Monroe Hall next week. You’ll find some recent pictures below.… Read the rest
