AWG Fall 2013 Meeting Saturday 12 October 8:30 AM

Greetings!

The following is what we have so far for the agenda.  If you know what you will be discussing at the round table session, please let me know and I will add you to the list.  (I made a list so that people would be tantalized by the  meeting potential).  If your name is not on the list you are not excluded!

AWG Fall meeting DRAFT Agenda

Saturday Oct 12 in Room D273 at Bellevue College. 

Coffee and something tasty                                                   8:30am

1) AWG necessities                                                                9am

·        Approval of Spring 2013 minutes (includes $15 membership fee with students free)

·        AWG president, vice president, secretary, treasurer positions (and possibly one other: webpage)

·        AWG Facebook page and AWG webpage

·        Spring meeting date/location (UW Tacoma?)

2) Feature: Tim Scharks “Tanzania study abroad”                 10 - 10:20 am                         

3) Round table including:                                                        10:30 – noon

·         Pat Buckley, WWU: Extended programs study tour to Honolulu in December through the Great Cities Class

·        John Bowen, EWU: Strengthening connections among the various geography programs across the state

·        Susan Digby, Olympic College: Common course numbers for physical geography and a marine debris program in Puget Sound (hopefully two quite distinct projects)

·        Rich Tebbetts (Bellevue College): Five mountains

·        Tim Scharks (Green River):  Developing a new on-line geography text

Lunch … at some tasty location for those who can stay.

Susan Digby, PhD

Geography, MESH

Olympic College

Bremerton, WA 98337-1699

http://faculty.olympic.edu/sdigby

Save the date!

The fall 2012 AWG meeting will be held on Saturday 6 October in conjunction with the APCG meeting in Olympia.  The time, agenda and venue are TBD.

Spring 2013 meeting date is TBD but will be hosted by Central.  (It is likely to consist of a dynamic and comprehensive program which will more than amply justify the travel for westerners!)

I hope everyone’s summer is doing well.

All the best, Susan

Susan Digby, PhD

Geography, MESH

Olympic College

Fall 2011 Meeting

Association of Washington Geographers 
Fall 2011 Meeting Minutes 
October 22, 2011 

Many thanks to Bellevue College Geography for hosting our Fall meeting! 
President Tim Scharks called the meeting to order at 9:05 AM. 

The meeting began with an introduction by George Walker (Bellevue College) to the WCCCSA Study Abroad program he led to Florence, Italy last academic year. George then welcomed four of his students from that trip who each presented one of their class projects: 

• Tony Stockl: Cinque Terre's Sciacchetra Wine 
• Kiersten Snell: Dolce far Niente-A Geography of Bliss 
• Michelle Erickson: How the Environment Affects What We Eat 
• George Goodall: The Artisans of the Oltrano-The Third Italy (Via Toscanella: Work as Life) 

Many thanks to these students for their entertaining and informative presentations!

At 10:30 we began a roundtable discussion on study abroad. Brief notes follow:

• Shoreline Community College is moving to tour groups instead of credit courses for study abroad-targeting community members for abroad experiences instead of credit-seeking students. 
• Bellevue College-student clubs are eligible for student activity funds; BC Geography club uses these funds for their geography trips. 
• Scholarships are available through various sources, Florence students reported having success at applying for and receiving these funds. 
• Bellevue College has used Intrepid Travel to take care of logistics for their geography club trips, this takes much of the headache out of planning and running a student trip.
• George Walker suggested the AWG consider forming a geography-specific consortium to cross-promote/co-promote our study abroad program. 
• Questions were raised about trip organization and liability concerns: for WCCCSA program, AIFS is contracted to take care of logistics and program details. 

In a meeting of general membership, the agenda turned to the composition of the Board. Nominations were solicited and the following slate of candidates was proposed:

• Sue Digby-President 
• George Walker-Vice President 
• Tim Scharks-moving to Past President, nominated for Secretary 
• Rich Tebbetts-continuing as Treasurer 

A motion was made to accept this slate. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

The membership set the date of the Spring AWG meeting to the second Saturday of March, March 10. The board will contact WWU to encourage participation by four-year and graduate students and in honor of WWU geography's active involvement in the AWG. 

Suggestions for the Spring meeting: 

• Focus on student presentations with room for faculty presentations 
• Find a keynote speaker as in previous years 
• Solicit involvement from UW and its branch campuses (Bothell and Tacoma) 
• Consider faculty research presentations on topics interesting to a general geography students 

Other ideas for increasing membership and participation:

• Create a quarterly mailing list 
• Send postcard meeting announcements to departments as there have been problems with email 

Newly crowned Past President Tim Scharks adjourned the meeting at 1:12 PM. 

Thank you everyone and we are looking forward to seeing you all again in March!


PS: Informally announced at the meeting and important to geography education in the state, there have been three additional geography courses approved for Common Course Numbering at Washington community colleges: 


Economic geography, GEOG&207
Geography of the Pacific Northwest, GEOG&250
World regional geography, GEOG&102