Events
- Annual Convention
- Great Teaching Round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- Webinars
"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision."
Events: 2009 Geography/Anthropology Schedule
Geography/Anthropology Summary
Friday, 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
"River of Learning - How to Use Your Local River to Teach Geography"
Speaker: James Kimmel,
Professor of Geography, Texas State University-San Marcos
Saturday, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
"Teaching Anthropology: Integrating Field Work & the Classroom"
Speaker: Pearce Paul Creasman,
Instructor of Anthropology, Blinn College—Bryan Campus
Friday, February 20th, 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
"River of Learning - How to Use Your Local River to Teach Geography"
Speaker: James Kimmel,
Professor of Geography and Assistant Director, River Systems Institute, Texas State University-San Marcos
Part of the power of geography is its holistic character, contrasted to the reductionism of most other intellectual perspectives. However, holism is hard to teach because it offers little focus. A river and its catchment basin provide a venue in which we can consider a wide range of geographic factors and processes within the context of the basin. Rivers reflect climate, geology, geomorphology, soils, biogeography, hydrology, resource use, settlement patterns, transportation, cultural values, politics -- on and on. The spatial context of the river basin allows us to illustrate the connections between these factors and processes. This presentation will offer concepts and specific methods that can be used in community college geography courses to help convey the holistic character of geography and make geography relevant by encouraging students to use geographic concepts to understand their own surroundings.
Biography:
Jim Kimmel is a professor of geography at Texas State University-San Marcos and recently served as the Jones Professor of Southwestern Studies. He also works with the River Systems Institute at Texas State and is Director of the Research Center for River Recreation and Tourism. Kimmel earned degrees at Baylor University, Yale University, and the University of Texas-Austin. He taught in secondary school as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana. His current research and teaching focus on the interpretation of rivers – how to help students and the public understand the geographic functions of rivers. With his photographer wife, Jerry Touchstone Kimmel, he wrote The San Marcos: A River’s Story, published by the Texas A&M University Press in 2006. Their book about the Brazos River is currently being prepared for publication by the TAMU Press.
Saturday, February 21st, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
"Teaching Anthropology: Integrating Field Work & the Classroom"
Speaker: Pearce Paul Creasman,
Instructor of Anthropology, Blinn College—Bryan Campus
Fieldwork is a hallmark of anthropology. Many anthropologists have explored several branches of the discipline and continue to make pilgrimages to the field as often as possible. In many cases, it is the fieldwork that anthropologists enjoy most. It is this enthusiasm for fieldwork that when harnessed in creative and exciting ways can be used as a tool to retain the attention of the students in the classroom.
Teaching is an opportunity to impart that enthusiasm for the field to others on a regular basis. The allure of fieldwork in foreign lands or with interesting people is a powerful recruiting tool, to which this presenter succumbed long ago. The presenter has had the opportunity to participate in a variety of anthropological field projects, including: living with an aboriginal tribe in Australia, conducting underwater archaeological surveys in Portugal, and other projects in Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere.
This talk will explore the ways in which the presenter incorporates his fieldwork into the classroom, and takes the classroom into the field in a community college setting.
Biography:
Pearce Paul Creasman holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and philosophy from the University of Maine, a master’s degree in nautical archaeology from Texas A&M University, and is scheduled to receive his doctorate in anthropology from Texas A&M University in 2009. His primary research emphasis is in seafaring societies of the Middle East and Mediterranean.
Geography Section Co-Chair: Susan Slowey, Blinn College
Anthropology Section Co-Chair: Randy Allison, Blinn College