Spring 2025 Newsletter

Celebrating 100 Years

The Department of Geography (now Geography, Society & Environment) will celebrate its 100th anniversary during the 2025-26 academic year, making our department one of the oldest in the country. The department, which started when Darrell Davis arrived from the University of Michigan in 1925, initially was housed in Burton Hall with four faculty. These four faculty wrote some of the most influential works of that period, including Ralph Brown’s “Mirror for Americans”, and when Richard Hartshorne completed much of his work on “The Nature of Geography.” 

Later, the growing department moved first to Ford Hall in 1950 and to the newly-completed West Bank Social Science Building in the early 1960s. By 2000, the department had grown to 22 faculty covering all aspects of the discipline of geography and has been, over the past fifty years, consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation.

With the world in flux, rarely have the interdisciplinary insights of geography seemed more salient. To celebrate our centennial and call attention to the planetary challenges we confront, the department will host a year-long series on “The Geography of Environmental Futures” with speakers focusing on the human-social, biophysical, and methodological perspectives of the topic along with many other scholarly and social events. 

Stay tuned for additional information on the series, including invitations to join us for one or more of these events. For more information, please contact the chair of the 100th anniversary celebration, Robert McMaster, at [email protected].

And may serenity strike you every now and then!

Warm regards,
Vinay Gidwani
Professor and Chair

Alumni, Put Your Geography Story on the Map

As the Department of Geography, Environment & Society celebrates its centennial in 2025-2026, we're creating a story map to showcase our alumni's global influence.

You, our alumni, have taken your geographic perspective into education, government, business, and nonprofits. Now, we invite you to put yourself on our map by sharing where you've landed and the work you've done since graduation.

This map serves a dual purpose: celebrating our collective impact and showing current and prospective students the diverse career paths available with a geography degree. When students ask, "What can I do with geography?", your stories will provide powerful, tangible answers.

The more alumni who participate, the more inspiring our visualization will be. Join us in this mapping project to help future geographers imagine what's possible with their degree.

Questions? Contact Ivan Bialostosky, senior academic advisor of undergraduate studies and alum of our PhD program, at [email protected]. It would be great to reconnect and hear how geography has shaped your journey.

Geography Ranks 30th in 2024 Global Shanghai Rankings

The Department of Geography, Environment & Society has demonstrated its world-class status in the 2024 Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects. As part of the University of Minnesota's impressive showing—where 36 subjects ranked among the top 100 globally—we maintain our position as a leading program on the world stage. This achievement comes as the University as a whole saw 29 of its 48 ranked subjects climb higher in this year's global assessment, which evaluates more than 1,900 universities across 96 countries using rigorous academic indicators. 

Our continued excellence contributes to the University's strong global reputation. This recognition reflects the dedication of our faculty and graduate students, researchers, and alumni in advancing geographic knowledge and addressing critical global challenges.

In Memoriam

We recently lost three influential faculty emeriti: Phil Porter (a UMN faculty member from 1958 to 2000), John S. Adams (from 1970 to 2007), and John Fraser Hart (from 1967 to 2015). We wanted to recognize these colleagues and teachers and share our condolences with those who are feeling their loss