In the Department

Retirement

Professor Ed Malecki officially retired as of May 31, 2018, and has been named an emeritus professor in the Department of Geography. We are grateful to him for his loyal and valued service to the department since 2001 and to recognize his enormous contributions over the span of his distinguished career to his field of Economic Geography, Urban Geography, and the Impacts of Technology.

His illustrious career spanned several institutions and impacted the careers of great faculty members, undergraduates, and graduate students alike. He began as an Assistant Professor of Geography at University of Oklahoma (1975- 1981). He was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma in 1981. In 1983, Professor Ed Malecki moved to the University of Florida. In 1987, Ed Malecki was promoted to Full Professor of Geography at the University of Florida (1987-2001) where he also served as Department chair from 1988 to 1995.

In 2001, Professor Malecki transitioned to The Ohio State University, returning to the department where he had received his BA, MA, and PhD. During his time at Ohio State, he served as Affiliate Faculty in the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. In addition, he had a Courtesy appointment in City and Regional Planning, School of Public Policy and Management, and was an Affiliated Faculty member at Battelle Center for Science and Technology Policy. He served as Director for the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis from 2001- 2005. His service to the department spanned many roles. His most recent was the Personnel Committee Chair where he mentored and guided young faculty through the start of their careers and the Promotion and Tenure process. His insight and guidance will be missed.

During his tenure at Ohio State, Ed Malecki supervised the successful programs of a combined 15 MA and PhD students. Their research topics ranged from Marriage Migration of Women and Making a Multicultural Society in South Korea (Minkyung Koh) to Music all over the map: Specialized cultural economies across the rural-urban continuum (Robert Klein). His students encompassed varied interests and research topics to span the spectrum of the discipline of geography. Professor Ed Malecki will be sorely missed but we hope he finds all the enjoyment and fulfillment in retirement that he deserves.

In memoriam

Emilio Casetti January 12, 2018

Emilio was an exceptionally influential member of the department. Emilio studied Law at Sapienza University of Rome and the Government of Italy. He received his doctorate in Mathematical Modeling from Northwestern University.

Emilio joined the Department of Geography in 1963, and retired as an Emeritus Professor in 1993. He was recognized with AAG Honors in 1984, and as a Distinguished Scholar at The Ohio State University in 1992. He was a valued editor of Geographical Analysis. He was a very serious, deep thinker with a sharp legal mind. During his distinguished career, he guided many graduate students and had a remarkable record of success through their subsequent careers.

Department Advisors

The department welcomes two new advisors. The first, Nancy Cosica, comes to the Department of Geography with an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University; an M.Ed. of Higher Education from the University of South Carolina and a BA in English from Mars Hill College in North Carolina.

Nancy Coscia serves as the primary academic advisor in the department. She began working with the department in May 2017. Previously, she worked as an academic advisor at The Ohio State University Newark campus. Nancy’s professional career has been focused in higher education and academic advising is the latest area of work in her professional journey. Prior to serving as an academic advisor, she spent 20 years working in student activities, orientation, residence life, student leadership and student services. The department is excited to welcome Nancy and her various talents to geography.

The department would also like to welcome Jocelyn Nevel. Jocelyn, who holds a BA in Photography from The Ohio State University and an MFA in Photography from Columbia College, joins our department advising students in our Air Transportation major. After earning degrees in Photography, Jocelyn taught photography at many schools including: The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Cornell University, The University of New Mexico and The University of Colorado at Denver. Her personal art work frequently uses fiber based materials or 19th century photographic processes. Jocelyn has been an academic advisor for approximately four years, formerly in the Department of Economics and now in geography. We are excited and pleased to welcome Jocelyn Nevel to the department.

2017-2018 Speaker Series

Each year, the Department of Geography invites individuals at the top of their field to give engaging and innovative lectures. This year, the focus centered on climate change and individuals from across varying disciplines gave insights as to how climate change affected their particular field.

Steven Quiring – The Ohio State University – September 15, 2017 Drought and Land-Atmosphere Interactions in a Changing Climate

Christopher Justice – University of Maryland – October 5, 2017 {The Arthur H. Robinson Colloquium Speaker} Global Agricultural Monitoring: Detecting the Impact of Extreme Climate Events

Karen O’Brien – University of Oslo – November 16, 2017 {The Edward J. “Ned” Taaffe Colloquium Speaker} Is the 1.5°C Target Possible? Exploring the Dynamics of Deliberate Social Transformations

Michael Mann – Pennsylvania State University – February 9, 2018 Influence of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Planetary Wave Resonance and Extreme Weather events

The 2018-2019 will focus on “Global Africa” and discuss issues of global processes that are transforming Africa from climate change to political economy (among others), as well as engage in the question of Africa’s place in our global world.

Graduate Student Awards

E. Willard & Ruby S. Miller Fellowship Award The highest recognition the department can bestow on a graduate student. Given in recognition of potential to make a major contribution to geography particularly through scholarship and scholarly writing. Nora Sylvander, Ning Zhang

Fenburr Travel Scholarship for Outstanding Graduate Award Offsets the costs of travel for professional development activities related to the conduct or dissemination of research, such as training workshops, conferences or fieldwork. Sohyun Park, Ariel Rawson, Jerry Zou

T.R. Lakshmanan & Lata Chatterjee Award Recognizes a distinguished PhD student in geography who is either from the Global South (Asia, Africa or Latin America) or carrying out research on the Global South, focused on issues of benefit to humanity and has demonstrated professional promise. Emilio Mateo, Scarlett Jin, Guillermo Bervejillo

Rayner Scholarship for Field Work Supports fieldwork by graduate students – data generation including expenses related to travel to a field site, supply or equipment costs, access fees or other research-related expenses. Deondre Smiles

Undergraduate Awards

Fenburr Scholarship for Women and Underrepresented Groups Emily Lill Madison Taylot Tevian Whitehurst

Edward J. “Ned” Taaffe Scholarship - Outstanding Undergraduate in ASP Stephen Maldonado John Morgan Manos

Sharpe Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduates Provides need based scholarships with preference give to those students from the state of Ohio. Mason Estep, Kelli Grice, Eric Hegedus, Bryan Troyer

CC Huntington Memorial Fund Awards Scholarship provided to an outstanding student in geography. Megan Russell Andrea Stanic

Faculty Awards

Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellow: Madhumita Dutta

Staff Awards

S. Earl Brown Outstanding Staff: Jim DeGrand